after one defeat or two
defeats would she yield the championship. The boss cow, when overcome,
seems to brood over her disgrace, and day after day will meet her rival
in fierce combat.

A friend of mine, a pastoral philosopher, whom I have consulted in
regard to the master cow, thinks it is seldom the case that one rules
all the herd, if it number many, but that there is often one that will
rule nearly all. "Curiously enough," he says, "a case like this will
often occur: No. 1 will whip No. 2; No. 2 whips No. 3; and No. 3 whips
No. 1; so around in a circle. This is not a mistake; it is often the
case. I remember," he continued, "we once had feeding out of a large bin
in the centre of the yard six oxen who mastered right through in
succession from No. 1 to No. 6; _but No. 6 paid off the score by
whipping No. 1_. I often watched them when they were all trying to feed
out of the box, and of course trying, dog-in-the-manger fashion, each to
prevent any other he could. They would often get in the order to do it
very systematically, since they could keep rotating about the box till
the chain happened to get broken somewhere, when there would be
confusion. Their mastership, you know, like that between nations, is
constantly changing. But there are always Napoleons who hold their own
through many vicissitudes; but the ordinary cow is continually liable to
lose her foothold. Some cow she has always despised, and has often sent
tossing across the yard at her horns' ends, some pleasant morning will
return the compliment and pay off old scores."

But my own observation has been that in herds in which there have been
no important changes for several years, the question of might gets
pretty well settled, and some one cow becomes the acknowledged ruler.

The bully of the yard is never the master, but usually a second or
third-rate pusher that never loses an opportunity to hook those beneath
her, or to gore the masters if she can get them in a tight place. If
such a one can get loose in the stable, she is quite certain to do
mischief. She delights to pause in the open bars and turn and keep those
at bay behind her till she sees a pair of threatening horns pressing
toward her, when she quickly passes on. As one cow masters all, so there
is one cow that is mastered by all. These are the two extremes of the
herd, the head and the tail. Between them are all grades of authority,
with none so poor but hath some poorer to do her reverence.