The Smiling Hill-Top - And Other California Sketches by Julia M. Sloane
page 11 of 86 (12%)
page 11 of 86 (12%)
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POPPY
It would doubtless be the proper thing for me to begin by quoting Stevenson: "The friendly cow, all red and white, I love with all my heart," etc. but I'd rather not. In the first place she wasn't, and in the second place I didn't. The only thing about it that fits is the color scheme; Poppy was a red-and-white cow, but I'd rather not. In the first place she wasn't, and in the second place I didn't. The only thing about it that fits is the color scheme; Poppy was a red-and-white cow, or rather a kind of strawberry roan. Perhaps she didn't like being inherited (she came to us with "The Smiling Hill-Top"), or maybe she was lonely on the hillside and felt that it was too far from town. Almost all the natives of the village feel that way; or perhaps she took one of those aversions to me that aren't founded on anything in particular. At any rate, I never saw any expression but resentment in her eye, so that no warm friendship ever grew up between us. The only other cow we ever boarded--I use the word advisedly--did not feel any more drawn to me than Poppy. Evidently I am not the type that cows entwine their affections about. She was Pennsylvania Dutch and shared Poppy's sturdy appetite, though it all went to figure. Two quaint maiden ladies next door took care of her and handed the milk over our fence, while it was still foaming in the pail. Miss Tabitha and Miss Letitia--how patient they were with me in my abysmal ignorance of the really vital things of life, such as milking, preserving, and pickling! |
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