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Tale of Muley Cow

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<h3>XXIII</h3><h3>THE VOW OF A COW</h3> All the cows in the barn were much upset. They had heard some news that didn't please them. Farmer Green was going to buy a milking machine! "He'll never use it on me," the Muley Cow declared. "None of my family has ever been milked by a machine; and I don't intend to be the first." Her companions all felt just as she did. If Farmer Green could have listened to their mutterings and rumblings and murmurings he might not have dared bring home any milking machine. But he never dreamed that the whole herd was against[Pg 107] one. As for his son Johnnie—and even the hired man—they had said all along that they thought a milking machine would be a fine thing to have. The hired man had milked cows all his life—millions of them, so he said! And he told Johnnie that he no longer found any fun in turning out of a warm bed on a cold winter's morning long before daylight, to milk cows. Now, Johnnie Green had only learned to milk during the summer before. But strange to say, he had already begun to feel somewhat as the hired man did. Milking was not half the sport that it was in the beginning. The great day came at last when the milking machine arrived. There was an unusual bustle in the cow barn while it was being set up and tested. Since it was winter, the cows had little else to do but[Pg 108] watch what was going on—and grumble. They all felt just as they had when they first heard about the new machine—that is, all but the little red cow, who always stood next to the Muley Cow when they were in the barn. To everybody's surprise the little red cow announced that she was glad the milking machine had come. "You're behind the times," she said to the Muley Cow. "You prefer to be milked by hand, the old-fashioned way. But I like new-fangled things. And folks say that milking machines are very stylish this winter." For a few moments the Muley Cow gazed, open-mouthed, at the little red cow. "You don't mean to say," she gasped at last, as soon as she could speak, "you don't mean to say you're going to let them hitch that machine to you, do you?" "Certainly I am!" cried the little red[Pg 109] cow. "If I want to be fashionable I'm sure it's nobody else's affair." The Muley Cow turned to the big white cow, who stood listening eagerly to every word. "We'd better ask Farmer Green to move us," the Muley Cow said to her. "This neighborhood is getting too fashionable for us." "Not for me!" the big white cow replied. "I quite agree with the lady on the other side of you. And we really ought to speak to Farmer Green about changing our places—she and I. For it's not half stylish enough for us here." When she saw how both the little red cow and the big white one felt about the milking machine, more than ever the Muley Cow vowed that she would never be milked by it. No, never! <hr style="width: 65%;" />[Pg 110] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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