The Abandoned Farmer

ut I never could get her to see what a needless worry and waste of time it was to try to locate it, or ho

aining to look backwards at the irrevocable past, the past that is called back by various carefully entered items

ural page for the Observer, and Marion was poring over her account boo

inning to stiffen, for I judged from her tone that s

"and what do you think I find? We've actually paid more for butter and

ommented, trying t

ritating. "You're only pretending to listen," she said, "an

rted up indignantly. "While

tupid. Now I'll try again to get your attention. Do you remember what you said[P

easier to run, so I had urged Marion not to go to the expense of a lawn-mower, re

oss to know what was coming, "I

ed to hire or borrow one of Peter's

romise. I said it would b

s as long as hay. Wh

mony better than being forced to walk the plank with measured tread, yet if I protest against[Pg 107] this Socratic method of arriving at conclusions she tells me with pained surprise that it is for my

t would have looked foolish to offer to pay Peter for letting me feed his cow,

all, I think"—a merry light danced in her eyes—"I'll forgive you. There

gasped, in

it to you gently, but you don't seem to understand. I've come r

g

mething to be thankful for that she did not insist upon beginning with a goat. Then there was the possibility that a cow might grow into a herd; that would mean a hired man, horse

od we awaited his answer with breathless anxiety. He half-closed his eyes, studying the mud

go up there on the clay where the pastures is dried up and the farmers is feedin' hay at fifteen dollars

eded to name some of his customers "on the

ter's?" I asked, wi

ead fright how them two men hate each other! I believe Pete

avoided giving him a chance to add to the exorbitant rent that I paid him, and he could scarcely conceal glances of sour disappointment in my p

on my round, so I can give you a lift if you like to come along with me. Of course," he added, taking a sidelong survey of me, "John can't skin a man q

g slightly to the butcher, simultaneously with a faint movement of one eyelid. Marion, misunderstanding my sil

ssment, all pretension to unusual lore, but the b

y. "I know his cows is mostly fresh

ip; Marion followed me. "Henry," she inquired, in a c

consult my books of reference, but I had no time even to collect my thoughts properly. I was in the awkward predicament of the schoolboy who knows he knows the

, "is one—in the prime—of life—and—and vigor; a strippe

e kitchen doorway gazing after me with the expression of one who is prevented from seeing the bottom o

numerous other varieties of cattle. My answers were brief and guarded, and when I tottered I was so swift to recover my balance that my errors were not apparent to my companion. On such occasions I may sometimes be suspected of not being familiar with a subject, but I would defy anyon

able of choosing a cow, but I concealed my fears under a ma

etween a stocker and a springer, like most city men, I'd say to buy your cow off of some oth

o sell, and these I instantly decided not to buy. Even had I not been warned by the butcher I would have mistrusted John Waydean, for his face had not the prepossessing appearance of his brother's, and his manner[Pg 114] was surly and suspicious. I examined each of the animals with a critical air, ignoring his evident desire to make me believe that an ugly creature resembling a bison was the finest cow, and finally chose a graceful, neat-limbed, fawn-colored Jersey. The reluctance

ern incisiveness, "is that ani

it should be made into veal she would insist upon its being kept, then I would have a tangible nucleus toward the realization of my dream of owning a herd of dairy cows. I closed the bargain hurriedly, with the proviso that he was to hitch up his team and deliver my purchases at Waydean. In a few minutes the calf was hoisted into the wagon, bleating dismally. I looked for some demonstration of sympathy from its mother, but she appeared quite unconcerned and would not follow until she had been tied to the rear of the vehicle. I thought this rather peculiar, but the old man explained that she had always showed a great fondness for home and

* *

I do believe it's hungry, Henry

should not be allowed to associate with the mother was, I explained, founded upon true scientific laws. A calf brought up on a milk-pail would learn to take its food at stated intervals, escape indigestion, heaves and hollow horn, and grow up in

hat I was talking rubbish, and that the natural way of feeding anything was the right way. Hadn't I better get th

e stable beside me, uttering ecstatic exclamations of delight because I had bought a cow so beautiful to behold and the dearest little calf that I must never mention in connection with veal again; now, in my black despair over this disagreement, I hated the innocent cause of it. If Marion had tried persuasion, I would hav

t with the empty pail, my dismay was increased by the sideways leaps of joyful anticipation indulged in by the calf in the next stall. Something had to be done to fill up that creature, and I realized with a sense of utter desolation that I was left alone to do it. A word of advice, a protest, tears or angry reprisals, would alike have been sweet to my ears at that moment, but I knew Marion too

rd to be squeamish, and I prepared to smuggle our small supply of milk out of the pantry and add it up with water to make a sufficient bulk. As I passed through the kitchen I glanced furtively at Marion in the faint hope that she might be ready to hold out the olive branch, but when I saw that she did not deign to notice my exis

plosion and upheaval,—a blank followed, then I discovered that I was standing in the stable doorway frantically squeezing three of my fingers between my knees to deaden the pain, while the calf stood outside looking at me with an expression of incredulous wonder, its legs sticking out in four different directions like props. I wonder whether it was blown ou

22]followed hungrily. She trotted toward the open gate, the calf gamboling in pursuit; suddenly her tail straightened and she broke into a mad gallop,—so did t

ake my movable property a mile further down the road, where our

said with a chuckle, after listening to my tale, "

I shouted. "D

you it was this cow's

he did. He said I'd better take

ed to give me for a twenty dollar account he owes me. I'm sorry—dashed sorry—that you've been took in, but

ut I won't stand any told-you-so business. You ought

Well sir, it wasn't three minutes till I did. Of course I swore a bit, but when I went into the kitchen and the missis asked me first how I done it, and the

e twenty dollars for the cow, but promised to frighten John Waydean into silence

ndid opinion about the calf. If I decided to raise

eluctant to answer, "you mostly can't tell what kind of a cow a calf will m

modic sneeze; he turned his face away, his body shaking convulsively, then with obvious diffic

at?" I cried, i

aned over the edge of the wagon-seat with his whip hand shie

he whispered.<