McAllister did was well and completely done. He
was kind-hearted, generous, ready to do or sacrifice anything for the
real good of his patients; but his rules once laid down became
immutable laws, not to be transgressed by any. His constant
supervision and enforcement of rules affected every department of the
hospital. In my own, I had only to report a dereliction of duty, and
the fate of the culprit was sealed. If a woman, I had orders to
discharge her; if a man, the next train bore him to his regiment or to
the office of the medical director, upon whose tender mercies no
wrong-doer could rely.

Consequently, I had only to go to my well-ordered kitchen to find
ready the food which it had been my first care to have prepared in
view of the (as I hoped) temporary absence of the cooks. The departing
men had all taken marching rations with them, but there was still
plenty of food on hand. A bakery was attached to the Buckner. We also
owned several cows. In the bakery was plenty of corn-bread and some
loaves of flour-bread, although flour was even then becoming scarce.

The cows, with full udders, stood lowing at the bars of the pen. Among
the doubts and fears that had assailed me, the idea that I might have
trouble with these cows never occurred to my mind. During my childhood
my mother had owned several. I had often seen them milked. One had
only to seize the teats firmly, pull quietly downward, and two streams
of rich milk would follow. Oh, yes! I could do that easily. But when I
arrived at the pen, a tin bucket in one hand, a milking-stool in the
other, and letting down the bars, crept inside, the cows eyed me with
evident distrust and even shook their horns in a menacing manner which
quite alarmed me. However, I marched up to the one which appeared the
mildest-looking, and sitting down by her side, seized two of the
teats, fully expecting to hear the musical sound of two white
streamlets as they fell upon the bottom of the tin bucket. _Not a drop
could I get_. My caressing words and gentle remonstrances had not the
slightest effect. If it is possible for an animal to feel and show
contempt, it was revealed in the gaze that cow cast upon me as she
turned her head to observe my manoeuvres. I had heard that some cows
have a bad habit of holding back their milk. Perhaps this was one of
them. I would try another. Removing the stool to the side of another
meek-looking animal, I essayed to milk _her_. But she switched her
ta