Western Railway, one mile South of German Valley. Naturally we
talked about cows, and we discussed the different breeds of cattle,
especially the Buffalo cows of the present-day Egypt, and the Apis of
four thousand years ago, which according to the representations, on
the monuments, was more like the Devon breed than the Buffalo. The
names which he gave to his cows were somewhat poetic. One, for
example, was named "Gold Bud;" and another, called "Sweet Violet,"
owing to her fine build, was sold for $3,705. As the conversation
drifted, sometimes into things serious, and then into a lighter vein,
Mr. Coffman told a story about a man who had three fine calves. One of
them died, and, when his foreman told him, he said he was sorry, but
no doubt it was "all for the best." "Skin him," said he, "and sell his
hide." Another one died, and he said the same thing. When the last and
the best died, his wife said to him, "Now the Lord is punishing you
for your meanness!" His reply was, "If the Lord will take it out in
calves it is not so bad." I could not but moralise that the Divine
judgments on us, for our sins, are not as severe as they might be,
and that few of us get what we deserve in the way of punishment or
chastening. I also met a horse dealer, who said that he shipped some
sixty horses every week to a commission merchant in Buffalo. The
latter made three dollars per head for selling them. They brought
about $60 a piece. When shipped at New York, by English buyers, for
France, South Africa, and elsewhere, they cost about $190 a head. The
farmers of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin, are getting rich from
horse culture and the raising of cattle. He said that fifteen years
ago, the farmers, in many instances, had heavy notes discounted in the
banks. Now they have no such indebtedness. When formerly he entered a
town he would go to a bank and find out from the cashier who had notes
there; and then he would go and buy the horses of such men at reduced
rates. All is different now. The European demand has helped the