rd people. There is no one animal so wise as Collie, the farmer's
dog, and all the rest love him and mind him when he is sent to bring
them up from the pasture or to drive them to the water. Still, he does
not spend his days in barn or field and only comes with his master or
for a visit now and then.

You may remember how the Garter Snake and the old Tree Frog were the
leaders in the meadow, and how in the forest all looked up to the Ground
Hog. These people were patient and old, and partly because they were old
and had had many years in which to think about life, they were very
wise. In the farmyard the Oxen were the most patient and the oldest, and
it was to them that all the animals went when they were in trouble.

There were also the Horses, fine strong creatures, always helping
somebody else and working all day during most of the year. They drew the
reaper through the tall grain, and where in the morning had been a field
of waving golden wheat, at sunset were bundles or sheaves of gathered
grain, and the stubble was ready for the fowls. They were busy people;
and sometimes during the winter they liked to remind their neighbors how
much they had done.

Then again, there were the Cows, who are the sisters of the Oxen. They
are large and there are many of them, yet they are not so wise, and that
is easily understood. All that they have to do on the farm is to give
milk for the butter-and cheese-making, and for the farmer's children to
drink. No farmer could get along without his Cows, but they do not work
like their brothers. They have so easy a time that they do not learn
much. You know, when people work, they have to think, and when people
think enough useful thoughts it makes them wise. That is one of the many
reasons why it is so foolish to be lazy.

Truly, it would be hard to say which farmyard family is the most
important, but there is no trouble at all in telling which family think
themselves the most so. If you ask any Goose, she will tell you that one
of their flock is worth five Horses or a dozen Cows. Nobody else would
tell you this, and if you should speak of it to the span of Bays, or the
Dappled Gray, or even the youngest Colt in the stable, they would answer
you only with a hearty Horse laugh. The Cows would smile and reply,
"What a Goose she was to say that!"

There has always been a flock of Geese on the farm, and their neighbors
are so used to their queer ways that they only smile when the Geese