was informed that we must not deprive her of it for a week. However, I
am bound to confess that our first week's farming turned out badly,
for the cow would not be milked, quietly, and every morning we were
informed that two men were obliged to be called in to hold her while
she was milked. At the end of the week we sold the calf for five
dollars, and after a month the cow became on quite friendly terms with
her milker, and has proved ever since very profitable to our small
diary.

We did not contemplate making butter with one cow, as we thought so
large a household would consume all the milk. Very soon, however,
"nurse" complained that "the milk was 'too rich' for the children; it
was not in the least like London milk; it must either be watered or
skimmed for the little ones: but she would rather have it skimmed."
That was done, and for a whole fortnight H. and myself used nothing
but cream in our tea and coffee. At first this was a great luxury, and
we said continually to each other, how delightful it was to have such
a dainty in profusion. Soon, like the children, we began to discover
it was "too good for us," and found that we liked plenty of new milk
much better for general use; besides, consume as much as we would, we
had still more than was wanted: so we invested fifteen dollars in a
churn and other requisites, and thought with great satisfaction of the
saving we should effect in our expenses by making our own butter. But
now arose a difficulty which had not previously occurred to us: Who
was to make it? Our domestic servants both declared that they could
not do so; and the elder one, who had been many years in the family,
was born and bred in London, and detested the country and everything
connected with it, gave her opinion in the most decided manner, that
there was quite enough "muck" in the house already, without making
more work with butter-making, which she said confidently, would only