IV
ANIMALS USED FOR FOOD AND CLOTHING

When we think of the many things man does with the animals he has tamed, the first that comes into our minds is their use in hunting and as house guards and pets. But we must not forget how useful they are as workers, in the fields and in the roads, in war and in peace. For long ages they were the only helpers that men had in work and travel. Only within our own times have we found out how to put the forces of nature at work for us and how much stronger those are than any animals. The animals kept by us have one value for which the forces of nature can never serve. That is their value for food. While we can use the power of the winds and of coal and iron in doing work, we cannot feed upon these or anything of this kind. To live we must have food, and this we can get only from the world of plants and animals. We also use the skins and furs of animals for clothing, and weave warm cloths out of their wool and hair. These are the things I now propose to talk about.

THE CATTLE OF THE FIELD

Is there anything that adds more to the beauty of a scene in the country than the grazing cows that give life to the fields, now cropping the grass, now resting under the shade of the trees, now wading in cool streams, now lying in midday rest? They are so mild and gentle, and look at us so quietly out of their big, kindly eyes that we cannot help keeping a soft spot for them in our hearts.

They wear horns, but they do not use them, and we can walk through a herd of these large animals as safely as through a grove of trees; that is, if they are all cows, if there is not a bull among them. The bull, the male form of the cattle tribe, is a creature we must watch. If he happens to be cross and bad-tempered, as is often the case, he is not safe to trust. It is certainly not wise to wear a red coat or hat in a field where a bull is kept, for he seems to look on this color as a challenge to battle. To have to run from a bull is no fun, at least not if he gets close enough to help you over a fence with his horns.

But we seldom see a savage cow. These are quiet, dull animals, that have no thought of anything but to crop the grass and flick off the flies from their skin with their waving tails. They do not have to take care of themselves. Their masters and mistresses take care of them, so they have nothing to do or think of but to grow fat and yield milk.

There are wild cattle in various parts of the earth, and these have to take care of themselves, but the cattle of our fields have been kept tame so long that it is hard to tell from what wild species they came. We know that they were kept by the people of Egypt and China thousands of years ago, and that the Egyptians had certain bulls which they worshiped as gods. The bull and the cow are sacred animals in India and are never killed for food by the Hindu people.

In modern times the cow has been kept chiefly for the milk she gives. She is also kept as a food animal, but is not made to work, like the bull and the ox. The animal that is killed for food is a large, well-fed beast, with straight back and well developed body. As for the bull, its savage nature is made use of in the bull-fights of Spain and it is also used in the "bull-races" of the South of France.

Cows, as well as bulls and oxen, have two horns on their head. In some breeds these are very long and powerful, but there are others that have no horns and in fighting use their heads to butt with. In this way they can give a powerful blow. With his head, his horns and his hoofs an angry bull is an animal that it is best to keep away from.

Cattle are of many colors and it is this which gives beauty to many of them. Among them we find such colors as black, white, yellow, brown, fawn, reddish brown, black-spotted and other hues, this variety of colors giving new beauty to a herd of grazing cows. It is a pretty sight to see them strolling up the leafy lane in the evening to the milking shed, with a boy and a dog to keep them moving.

MILK-GIVING COWS

There are a number of animals from which men get milk, but chief of all these is the cow. Those are breeds of cows which are kept only for milk-giving and which have been brought to yield so much and such rich milk as to make them of great value. In all history we read of the milkmaid, the girl whose duty it is to milk the cows, one of the chief duties on a farm. Nowadays we do not hear so much about the milkmaid. She has for the most part gone out of business.

No doubt, many of my young friends have seen how milking is done, the cow with its full udders, the white stream of milk which flows from the teats when pressed, and the large quantity of this rich fluid which some cows will give. Perhaps some of you may have tried the art yourselves, but it is an art that needs to be learned, and many cows will not yield their milk to awkward fingers. Some of them, indeed, when they do not like the milker, will kick over the full bucket and now and then the milker with it.

In some way the cow turns part of the grass she eats into this rich fluid, so useful to mankind, not only as a drink, but for the butter and cheese it yields. Nature provides milk to all animals of the class known as mammals as food for their young, but by long usage the cow has been brought to give milk at all times and thus helps to feed her keepers as well as her calves.

I hardly need tell you that milk is a white fluid in which float small globes of fat. This fat is the butter of which we make so much use. If the milk is let stand, the butter floats to the top and is skimmed off in a rich fluid we call cream. By various modes of churning the butter is got out of the cream, leaving a thin liquid behind called buttermilk.

Butter is not the only thing got from milk. Cheese is another product of much use. It is made from the solid parts of the milk. When an acid, or a substance called rennet, which is obtained from the calf's stomach, is put into the milk, the solids come together in a soft, white jelly, leaving a greenish, watery liquid called whey. It is from this jelly, or curd, that cheese is made by pressing out the whey and leaving a hard, solid mass. There are many ways of making cheese and many different kinds of cheese, often so unlike that we can scarcely think they came from the same source.

Now let me say something about the various breeds of milk-giving or dairy cows. They differ very much. Some give a great deal of milk; some much less. There are cows that have given as much as twenty-four quarts of milk a day. Think of six gallons from one cow in one day, enough to fill a vessel of large size! Others may give only ten quarts or even less.

But the cow that gives the most milk does not always give the best, for there is great difference in the richness of milk. Thus the best butter makers may not be those that fill the fullest pail. The quantity of milk depends on the food eaten, the kind and plenty of grass in the fields or hay in the stables. But the amount of butter in it seems to come from something in the animal herself.

You have often heard, and perhaps often seen, the different breeds of dairy cows, the Jerseys and others. There are many of these breeds. The Dutch cattle, those that come from Holland, are mostly good milk-givers, also those of Holstein and Friesland yield a very full pail, and there are splendid milk-givers elsewhere.

All of us must have seen the beautiful cows from the Channel Islands, near the coast of France, known as Jerseys and Guernseys, often called Alderneys, now so common in our fields and which give such rich milk, from which splendid butter is made. We may also speak of the Ayrshire cow of Scotland, which is of high value to the cheese-maker. All these and other cows have been brought in numbers to this country, which has no good breeds of its own.

Did any of my readers ever try to churn cream into butter? Those who have done so did not find it very easy work. To lift a long rod up and down or turn a handle till your arms feel ready to drop off is never the best of fun. In past times all butter-making had to be done in this way, with some sort of churn, but now in large dairies a small engine is used to do the work. In our days great part of the butter is made in creameries to which the farmers take their milk. Here the cream from 600 or 800 cows may be dealt with by one skilful butter-maker, who handles it with great care, so that we get a better quality of butter than was of old made on most of the farms.

This way of getting the butter from the cream was started in the United States, where now there are thousands of creameries in the many states. From this country it has spread to many parts of Europe, but there most of the butter is still made on the farm. Cheese is also made in the same wholesale way and American cheese is sold in many parts of the world.

We use here so much milk and butter that it is not easy for us to see how people anywhere can do without it. Yet there are parts of the world where cow's milk is not used. Thus if one should go to China he would find the people making no use of the milk of their cows. And in India the milk of the buffalo is liked better than that of the cow. Even in parts of Europe little use is made of milk and butter. This is the case in Italy, where olive oil takes the place of butter. But almost everywhere, except in India, much use is made of cattle for food, and of this something must now be said.

BEEF-MAKING CATTLE

In the United States the raising of cattle for meat is a great business. For years past this country has fed its own people and helped to feed those of Europe. The meat of cattle killed in Chicago and other cities is sold in the markets of London and other parts of England and the people of that country have long been growing fat on American beef. This is not so much the case in Germany, France, and Russia, for great numbers of cattle are raised there, but at times we could find the beef of our country on the tables of most of these lands.

When the white man went to America he found no cattle there. But it was not long before there were plenty of them, brought from Spain, France, England and other countries. These spread all over the continent until there were cattle everywhere. But these were not the best of cattle. There were no fine breeds raised here as in Europe.

This is the reason why so many Jersey, Ayrshire, Dutch and other fine milk-givers have been brought here from Europe. Meat-making cattle have also been brought, those known as Shorthorns, Herefords, and others, and now we can find in our fields great numbers of fine, fat animals, which are taking the place of the old poor stock.

Good beef cattle are large and square in shape, full and broad over the back, with thick legs, short necks, and well rounded bodies. The eye is bright, the face short, the skin soft, the flesh mellow and rich.

Cattle of this kind are to be seen now in numbers in our fields. But the great cattle-raising sections of this country are the broad grassy plains of the West and the vast fields of Texas. Here may be seen the great ranges, where for long years past cattle have been kept by the millions, roaming about, feeding on the rich grass, and growing fat and juicy.

Here also is the home of the cowboy, the man who lives on the horse and rides as if horse and man were one animal. His duty it is to ride among the great herds, keep them in order, stop them when they run away in mad fright, and live among them as the sheep-dog lives among the sheep. Brave fellows and splendid riders are these cowboys, among the best in the world.

If you should go west to-day you would not find the open cattle range of the past. The cattle-owners have found it best to fence in their ground, and wire fences may now be seen all over that once open country. But the fields thus made are very large and the cowboy still finds plenty to keep him busy.

If we seek other parts of the world we shall find cattle-ranges like those of the United States. In South America there are two great regions of this kind. One of these is in Venezuela. Here are great open plains called llanos, covered with rich, thick grass on which millions of cattle feed. The same is the case with the pampas of Argentina, vast prairies over which cattle roam in countless numbers.

On those great plains dwell the brothers of the cowboy, daring riders whose lives are spent in the care of the grazing herds. The Gauchos, as the cattlemen of Argentina are called, are not the sons of civilized fathers like our cowboys. They are a race by themselves, bold and hardy, but ignorant, many of them part Indian. But they are born and bred to the saddle and no riders can surpass them in handling their swift horses.

Of the other countries where great herds of cattle are to be found we may name South Africa and Russia. Mongolia, in the Asiatic part of Russia, is a land of vast plains, called steppes. This may have been the first region in which cattle were kept. As far back as history goes the herdsmen of this great region have been roaming about with their cattle, horses and other animals, living in tents, and moving from place to place seeking new fields of grass when the old ones are cropped. This was their life thousands of years ago and this is their life to-day, and they seem no more civilized now than they were then.

We do not care to talk about the killing of these fat herds. That has nothing to do with Home-Life, except in so far as we find their meat on our tables, for the killing is mostly done in great sheds and pens built for that purpose. It will be enough to say that the animals we have been talking about are of the greatest use to man. They work for him, they feed him with their milk and flesh, and after their death nearly every part of them is of use. From their skins leather is made and we walk upon their hides in our shoes. From the bones glue and gelatine are obtained, and when the bones are ground they are used to fertilize our fields. In fact use is made of nearly all parts of the animal and hardly a scrap of it goes to waste.

IN THE BULL RING

The bull is not a nice animal to deal with. It is often surly and savage, and few of us care to be in the same field with it. In some parts of the world its courage is made use of in a brutal kind of sport. In former times what was called bull-baiting was very common in England, and might be to-day only for the laws. A bull was driven into a closed-in place and dogs were sent in to fight with him. Sometimes, to make him furious, pepper was blown into his nose before he was set free.

At times a dozen or more dogs were sent in at once. At other times the bull was tied to a stake by a rope of some length, and bulldogs were set upon him, one at a time. They were trained to seize the fierce animal by the nose, which was called "pinning the bull." But the best fun to the lookers-on was when the bull lowered his head to the ground, caught a dog on his horns and tossed him a long distance away. Bull-baiting was kept up until 1835, when laws were passed to stop this cruel sport.

But bull-fighting, which has long been very common in Spain, is still kept up in that country. In ancient times fights between bulls and men were common in Greece and Rome, but in modern times they have been held only in Spain and its colonies. They may be seen to-day in the cities of Spain and Mexico.

As we have a baseball season in this country so they have a bull-fight season in Spain. In the city of Madrid it lasts from April to November, there being at least one fight every week. The fights are held in a kind of circus, with seats for 10,000 or 15,000 people, who have to pay well to see the brutal game.

There are three classes of men who take part in a bull-fight. The first of these are the "picadores." These fight on horseback, each of them with a lance. If the bull is a coward they crowd upon and kill it. If it is brave they often have to fight for their own lives. The bull may lift the poor horse on its horns or may throw the rider, who is sometimes killed.

When the picadore is in danger the second class, the "chulos," run in. They wear bright-colored cloaks and gay ribbons and draw the bull after them by waving their bright cloaks in his face. When the bull shows signs of being tired these men throw darts at him which stick into his neck. Some of these bear fire-crackers, the noise of which makes the bull furious.

Now the third man comes in, the "matadore." He is on foot and carries a sword, and in his left hand is a short stick with a piece of red silk tied to it. When the angry bull sees this red stick he rushes at it, for he hates anything red. Now the matadore has his chance. With one quick stroke he thrusts the sword into the animal between the shoulder-blade and the spine, driving it in to the hilt, and the poor bull falls dead.

Then a team of mules, gay with flags and bells, enter and drag out the dead bull, another is driven in, and the fight begins again. The horses and bulls are the chief sufferers, it being said that about 2500 bulls and 3500 horses are killed every year in the bull-fights of Spain. The horses used are poor creatures, only fit to end their lives in a bull-fight.

The people cheer the matadore for his victory; but they are quite as ready to cheer the bull that has killed his man. But it is a rare thing for a man to be killed in the fight, usually it is only the poor animals that suffer. The other nations of Europe and the people of this country do not like bull-fights. They look on them as cruel and unfit for civilized times. But the people of Spain love them and will not give them up.

THE WOOL-CLAD SHEEP

Long, long ago, hundreds of years before men began to write history, perhaps before they had tamed any other animal, the woolly creature called the sheep began to share the home-life of man. In the first pages of the Bible we find its name. Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve, was a keeper of sheep before he was killed by his brother Cain. It may have been kept in very early times in all parts of the earth, for the sheep can live in all climates, from hot to cold, and its meat and wool are of great use for food and clothing.

Also it is easily tamed, and in the ages of the past it became so used to being taken care of that it has long forgotten how to take care of itself. Thus the sheep that crop the grass in our fields have come to be stupid animals. But this is not the case with the wild sheep which are found in various parts of the earth. These are quite able to fight their own battles and are sharp-witted, like most wild animals.

It is only the female sheep, the ewe, that is so dull. We all know that the male sheep, the ram, is much more wide-awake. These often have very large horns, and the wild ram knows quite well how to take care of himself and his family. They will run from danger if they have to, but if cornered can make a very good fight. Even one of our field rams has at times shown itself a good match for a bull. While much smaller in size, it is far more active and can hit a very hard blow with its bony head and big horns.

Have you ever seen a fighting ram? One of them has been known to throw a bull to the ground at the first rush. It can fight dogs, too, and is always ready to defend itself and its flock. Rams also fight one another, and when two of them come together at full run, their heads crack like the sound of a musket and their hind parts are lifted into the air. Many sheep have no horns, and these are not so fond of fighting, as the horns are a great help to them.

Men keep sheep for two things, their wool and their meat. The same is the case with cattle, which are also kept for two things, their milk and their meat. All over the earth people are fond of mutton, or the meat of the sheep, while the wool is used wherever warm clothes are needed. In some cold countries the skin of the sheep, with its woolly coat, is used as a cloak and is found a warm covering.

The wool of wild sheep is short and lies below an outside coat of long, straight hair. But this hair is lost in the tame animals and a coat of long, thick wool takes its place. Wool, you should know, differs from hair in having a scaly surface, which causes its fibres to cling together. This makes it good for twisting into yarn and weaving into cloth, also for felting, as in the making of felt hats and rugs.

Of course very many of you have seen the sheep in the field, walking slowly about all day long, cropping, cropping, cropping, as if eating were all it lived for. This is the case all over the earth, for sheep are the most common of our farm animals and are kept in vast multitudes in various countries. So tame and gentle are they that the shepherd and his dog can easily keep a large flock in order. He has to guard them in some countries against wolves and also against sheep-killing dogs.

The sheep is a mountain animal, not a native of the level plains like the horse and the ox. The wild sheep do not live on level ground but among the lofty hills and are often found in very high places. We have one species in our own country, the Big-horn or Rocky Mountain Sheep, which can climb over the roughest cliffs and plunge down steep places without hurting itself. There are other species in Asia and Africa, with the same habits.

From this we know why tame sheep are so fond of hill climbing and why they do so well in such rough regions as the Highlands of Scotland. Young lambs are very fond of climbing every little hill they see. When feeding, sheep like mountain sides better than they do plains. Here they nibble away at the short, fine grasses, which they like better than any other food.

You may have read of troubles and fights between the shepherds and cowboys of our western plains. This comes from the close nibbling of the sheep, which cuts the grass down to its roots and leaves no food for the cattle. On this account the cattlemen hate the sheep-men and in some cases kill large flocks of sheep. The sheep are said to do harm also on the mountain sides, clipping the grass so close with their sharp teeth that the rains carry away the soil, and leave none for the trees to take root in.

There are a number of countries in which sheep are kept in mighty flocks. These are the United States, Europe, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. There are numbers of them also in Asia and Africa and here there are several queer kinds, which would seem very strange to us. The oddest of these is the fat-tailed sheep. The tail of this animal grows to a very great size and has been known to weigh 70 or 80 pounds. It is a big bunch of fat of which the people of those countries are very fond. In some cases, to keep it from being hurt by dragging on the ground, little wagons are used and the sheep go about dragging their tail behind them in a sort of baby carriage.

There is another kind with a huge hump of fat on its hind-quarters and hardly any tail at all. On the other hand the Circassian sheep has a tail so long that it trails behind on the grass and is covered with fine, long wool. There is a kind of sheep in Africa with very long legs and hanging ears, and in several places they have odd kinds of horns. Those of the sheep of Wallachia make a complete turn and then rise up from the head to a great length. The Iceland sheep and some of those of Russia has three, four, and even five horns.

In Europe sheep have been kept during many centuries and a number of useful breeds are now to be found in the different countries, some with fine, thick wool, some with rich, juicy meat. All of the sheep of this country were brought from Europe, and many of the best breeds are kept here, among them the Southdown of England, which is of value for its splendid mutton.

But nearly the whole of our sheep came from the Merinos of Spain, a kind of sheep which has been kept in that country from the past ages on account of its fine, soft wool. The Merino may now be found all over America and Europe and also in Australia, so that it is the most common kind of sheep on the earth. The first of them were brought to our country in 1801 and we have now many millions of their descendants.

There is much more that could be said about sheep. No meat is more common on our tables than mutton and in all cold countries woolen clothing is worn. In Bokhara, a country of Central Asia, is a sheep which yields the valuable astrakhan fur. This is not taken from the full-grown sheep, but from the lambs. When very young these bear a short, fine wool, curled all over them in small locks. To make it curl better they are sewn up, while very young, in another skin or a piece of coarse linen. Long hairs soon grow through the wool and to prevent this the lambs are killed when they are only a few days old.

There is still another use to which sheep are put. This is the making of cheese. There is a breed in the south of France which are milked and from their milk is made the famous Roquefort cheese. In making this layers of moist bread crumbs, ground to powder, are placed between layers of the milk curds. This mixture is pressed and salted and then kept for a month or more in dark mountain caves. There the cheese ripens and gets the special flavor for which it is liked.

WOOL SHEARING AND WEAVING

Sheep are of value for various things: their meat, which so many like; their skins, from which parchment and fine leather are made; their bones, used in making buttons; their fat, for soap and candles; but most of all their wool, which has long been the most valued product. So here I must tell the story of this very useful animal fibre.

Go back as far as we can in history we read of the sheep-shearing. You may find it spoken of in the early parts of the Bible as a time of feasting and merry-making. In many countries it is a festival time. In past ages people seem to have cared more for the wool than for the meat, though now sheep are kept as much for their mutton as for their wool.

In the past the custom was to pull the wool from the sheep at the molting season. This is the time when the sheep shed their wool and when it comes out easily. But it is at times a cruel process, as the skin may come off with the wool. It is still done in Ireland and in parts of Europe, but the common custom in these days is to cut the wool with a sort of tool or machine. This cuts the wool in a smooth and even manner and does not hurt the sheep. It also can be done in much less time. When in the old way it took half an hour to shear a sheep, in the new way it can be done in ten minutes or less.

The sheep should be washed and the wool cleaned before they are sheared and this is done in our country and in some others. But in many places it is not done and the fleece is cut with all the grease and sweat in it. Of course, these fleeces have to be washed by the buyers, and do not bring so good a price.

Shall I say something about the uses of wool? In all times it has been used for making cloth for clothing, and spinning and weaving are very old duties of the household. If wool is made damp and then pounded it clings together so as to form a kind of felt, and in our times much wool is used in this way to make felts for hats, carpets and shoes.

Felting is a simple process, but in weaving there are many things to be done. The wool has to be combed out, spun into yarn, and handled in other ways before it can be woven into cloth and fitted for making into clothes.

All this business of yarn-making and weaving is now done in great factories, fitted with machines, which rattle and roar as they swiftly change the rough fleeces of wool into smooth sheets of cloth. But all this work in former times had to be done at home, in a much slower way, from which there came a rough, coarse cloth called homespun.

This was the way in use in this country in the times of the colonies. Many of the old spinning-wheels, by which the wool was spun into yarn, are still kept and may be seen in museums, and some of the old looms by which the yarn was woven into cloth are also to be seen.

It was hard work for the women of the house to make the clothing of the family in this slow way. A suit of clothes then had to be worn for a long time, for they took too much labor in the making to be thrown aside as quickly as they now are. It was in these homespun clothes that our soldiers won freedom in the Revolution, and they were woven after that date. But in time the factory came, cloth grew plentiful and cheap, and the rattle of the old spinning-wheel was no longer heard in the land.

THE BEARDED GOAT

Now we come to an animal in some ways much like the sheep, but in other ways very little like it. This is the goat, a more vigorous and hardy animal. Unlike the sheep, it wears a beard under its chin. It is not kept much in our country, for it is not well fitted for cold climates, but likes best the warm airs of Southern Europe and Asia and Northern Africa. Some of my readers may only know this animal from taking a ride in a goat carriage when young. Or they may have seen it roaming about in rough places eating anything it could find, for that is the way with the goat. It will even eat tobacco and seems to think this a fine diet.

The wild goat, like the wild sheep, is a dweller in the mountains. It is still more daring than the sheep. No peaks are too high for it to climb, and when chased by the hunter it will make long jumps from one pointed rock to another where no man would dare to follow. No other animal can equal the goat in climbing and leaping. It is even said that some kinds of goats will jump down from a high place and save themselves by falling on their strong horns. But I do not know if anybody ever saw this done.

A well-known wild goat is the Ibex of the Alps. This is a splendid fellow, with long and strong horns but no beard. It used to be very common, but has been shot at so much that very few are left. The Chamois of the Alps is an antelope, but is much like the goat, and is a wonderful jumper. It thinks nothing of leaping over a ravine sixteen or eighteen feet wide, or over a wall fourteen feet high, or of running up and down very steep hills. But the hunters have killed most of these animals also. They think it fine sport to shoot a poor chamois and let it fall to die in a deep abyss where no one can reach it to get its body. There are many who do not think this good sport.

Goats, like sheep, were tamed and made natives of the home and farm very long ago, no one knows how long. The tame kind comes from the wild goat of Southern Asia, but it has grown smaller in size and its horns have become shorter. It was kept in Bible times and by the old Greeks and Romans. These kept it for its milk and the cheese made from it, and also for its meat. The flesh of the kid, or young goat, is very good, but that of the old goat has a strong and unpleasant smell which few people can endure.

In modern times Greece and its islands have more goats than they have people and there are many in Malta and Corsica, Italy and Spain. They are not kept largely in the United States, there being about one goat to every fifty sheep.

The goat will thrive where the ox and the sheep would starve, as on rocky hill-sides or thin, poor soil. There is little they will not eat, though you had best not believe that they are fond of old tin cans or any diet of this kind. One bad habit they have is to gnaw the young shoots of trees, of which they are very fond. This makes them deadly to forests, for no young trees can grow where they are kept. The goat has done much to kill out the trees on the hills of southern Europe and Asia and thus to destroy the forests of those regions. It is also fond of the grape-vine, and on this account, in ancient times, it was sacrificed to Bacchus, the god of wine.

The goat is far from being so dull and stupid an animal as the sheep. It makes friends with its keepers and is a cunning and curious brute, though too fond of using its horns. This is often done in play, but in a way that is not very funny, except to those who look on. It will rear up and pretend to attack you with its head and horns, but this is only its way to ask you to play with it. The playful pranks of the kid, or young goat, are often spoken of in poetry. It is a gay little creature, fond of capering about in an amusing way.

In fact the goat is not at all stupid and has often shown sense and cunning. There is a story of a goat that rang a door bell when hungry for its dinner, by hooking its horn in the wire. Another story is of two goats that came face to face on a narrow ridge in the rocks. There was no room to pass and after looking at each other for some minutes one of them lay down and let the other walk over its body. Two men could not have done better than that. The long-eared Syrian goat is trained to do all sorts of tricks. One of these is to balance itself on a pile of small wooden blocks built up to a height of several feet. Fancy a sheep doing this!

If it be asked what are goats kept for, the answer would be, chiefly for their milk. Goats' milk is very rich and is easy to digest and this makes it of much use for sick or feeble persons, to whom cows' milk is at times dangerous. It is very good for consumptive people. In parts of Europe it is thought that certain diseases of horses and cattle will not come when goats are with them, so they are often kept in stables and cow-barns to ward off disease.

Though the goat is a small animal it gives a large quantity of milk, often from four to six quarts a day and sometimes more than this. There are cases where twelve quarts a day have been given. The milk is apt to have a bitter taste and an unpleasant odor, but that comes from the way the animals are fed and kept. With good care and food, the milk will lose this taste. The goats of Syria and Palestine give sweet milk and goats' milk is much used in that part of the world, as it was in the old Bible times. The Arabs have a great dislike for cows' milk.

The milk of the Syrian goats is also very good for making butter and cheese, which are said to be of very fine quality. Much butter and cheese are also made in Europe from goats' milk. These have a special taste of their own, but are much eaten, for one soon gets used to the taste.

Goats are made use of for other things than for their milk, butter, cheese and meat. In early times the goat-skin was used for clothing, and it still is in some countries. The skins are also used by the wandering tribes of Asia as vessels to hold drinking water, and also, tightly sewed and blown out with air, as a sort of boat for crossing or floating down rivers.

In our days the skins of goats are made into leather. Kid skins are used for gloves and shoes, and goat skins for morocco, shagreen, and other fine kinds of leather. The hair is made into ropes which may be kept in the water without injury; also in England to make wigs for judges and others, the hair of white goats being used for this. Goats' hair is also used to make brushes and hats. Knife-handles and other things are made from the horns, and the fat is better than that of the ox for candles.

I must now speak of two kinds of goats of use for their wool. One of these is the Cashmere goat, from the wool of which the fine cashmere shawls are made. This goat has a coat of long, stiff hair, but under this is a very fine, soft, fleecy wool, white or gray in color. Of this each goat yields from one to one and a half pounds. To make a shawl a yard long, takes the wool of twenty to twenty-five goats. They were formerly made in large numbers but in our days few of them are to be seen.

The other wool-yielder is the Angora goat, well known in this country. This yields a thick and fine wool, soft and silky and slightly curled. The color is mostly snow-white, though at times there are dark patches. It is shed in great locks in summer, but soon grows again. During the hot weather the goats are constantly washed and combed, to add to the beauty of their wool. The finest Angora wool, called Mohair, comes from goats a year old. All its value is lost at six years of age.

IN THE PIG-STY

Let us now take a glance at that grunting brute known to us by the various names of pig, hog, and swine, which dwells in the pig-sty when tame and in the forest when wild. Clad in bristles, with thick skin, short legs, curled-up tail, no neck, and round snout, no one would buy the pig for a beauty. But in his case use goes ahead of beauty, and who will say that he is not of use?

Though the pig is a very docile brute in man's care, he is far from mild and gentle in his wild state. In fact, the wild hog is not an animal to be played with, nor is it a safe one to fight with. Hardy and active, fierce and bold as a lion, with a strong head and long, sharp tusks in his large jaw, the hunter who goes out to seek him in his lair must do so with care and skill or the pig will get the best of the hunt.

Most of the beasts of the wildwood let the hog alone. He is not safe game. But for many long years he has been hunted by man, who likes a game that has a spice of danger. In the days of old Rome the chase of the hog was a favorite sport, and it was the same in later times, when the lords and dukes of England and Germany were very fond of hunting the wild boar. In our days "pig-sticking" is a common sport of the English in India.

Mounted on trained horses and armed with long, sharp lances, the hunters seek to bring down their game from the saddle. But if by any foul chance the hunter should be thrown from his horse near the hunted brute his chance for life is not good. The furious brute will rush upon him, and with one thrust of its strong jaws may rip his body open with a deadly wound. Great nobles and warriors have met with death in this base way and the wild hog has held his own bravely among his enemies.

Is this fierce fighter of the forest the same animal as the lazy grunter of the pig-sty? There is no doubt of it. His long life under man's care has taken all the fight out of him. Only in one way does he show his old temper. He is the most obstinate of all the animals we know. He does not like to be driven and will do his best to go just where you do not want him to. But he no longer fights to win his way; he only grunts or squeals and holds back.

Try to drive a pig and you will find this out. You will soon be in a fret over the stubborn brute. If you want him to go forward you may find it best to try and drive him backward. An Irishman tells us that this is the only way to "persuade" a pig.

It takes a Chinaman to make little piggy go the right way, and this is done by putting him in a basket and carrying him. Two men carry this basket, hung on a pole. It is a sort of cradle in which piggy goes to market. The only time the pig can show his obstinate temper is when he is asked to go into the cradle. He holds back, as usual, but the cunning Chinaman knows what to do. He takes hold of the pig's tail and gives it a hard pull as if trying to drag him backward and the stubborn brute at once rushes forward into his cradle.

The pig will eat almost anything. By nature he is a plant feeder and in his wild state will roam the forest feeding on plants, fruits, and roots of all kinds. His hard snout helps him to dig into the ground in search of favorite roots and his keen sense of smell aids him in finding them. Thus he likes wet, shady places where the ground is soft and such plants grow.

In France and Italy the pig is trained to hunt for truffles, a kind of fungus which grows under ground and which makes good eating. He finds the truffles by his sense of smell and roots them up with his snout. In some places dogs are trained to do the same. The truffle found, the pig's master rescues it for his own table.

Pigs are fond of mast, the name given to the acorns and beech nuts that cover the ground in the nutting season in oak and beech woods. In ancient times it was the common practice to fatten the pigs on these nuts in the proper season.

A hungry pig is not particular about his food. If no plants are to be had he will feed on worms, snakes, and small animals of any kind. Pigs in the pen are often fed on animal refuse, all sorts of kitchen slops being poured into their troughs. They will swallow this stuff greedily enough, but it is not good for them, or at least for those who eat their flesh, for this loses in flavor and is not so wholesome as when they are fed on good vegetable food.

Corn and clover are two of the things the pig likes best. Turn him out into a clover field and he will have a joyful time of his own in this rich food and put plenty of good fat on his ribs. He does no harm to the field if not left there too long and it does good to him. In fattening pigs corn is freely given. It is not best to give corn alone, but it makes a good dessert after he has had the run of the pasture or clover field, and is the best fattener when he is being put in order for the market.

In visiting a farm the pig-pen is one of the things we are shown. It is not a pleasant place for a morning call, for the smell is not a sweet perfume and the mire in which the pig rolls is not nice. We are apt to go away with the feeling that this animal is a dirty brute.

This is giving poor piggy a bad name which he does not deserve. It is his owner more than himself that is to blame. If he had his own way he would be clean enough. Like all thick-skinned animals the pig loves to wallow in the mire and cover himself with mud to protect him against insects. But left to himself he will keep his sleeping place clean. Those who know how to keep pigs soon learn this and supply the animals with dry and clean places to sleep in.