Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-06-01
DAILY COMMERCIAL.
BALTIMORE, MD.
Rounds With A HVet."
From Chambers Journal

From Chambers Journal
[Concluded.l
could not help fancying that his voice
| resembled that of poor Robson, when he used
10 play IN pathetic dramas but there was real
trouble IN this mans quivering tone, and n
real ruined home at the back of the scene.
WIN trembling hand he pointed silently to a
| nelo ABOUT quarter of a mile distant. where
q huge letter l was described by the arranoa.
ment of forty great mounds. In the rra9es
under those mounds lay forty animals and
| buried with them the thrift and industry of
| forty years of the farmers life Newspapers
| give graphic accounts, no doubt, but | had
| never realized the cattle-plague until then. [
looked out over the felds-perhaps somewhat
| longer than necessary--in order to give the
farmer an opportunity of steadying his voice;
and glancing at the Government Inspector, |
detected him fitting his hat little more out of
the perpendicular than usual in an uneasy
hdgety way. One cow was dying in an isolated
| shed in the yard. We went to look at her
| passing more of the empty stalls that gave so
| chill an aspect to the place. the poor beast
| lay PROSTATE, her TANKS heavng, her protuber-
| ant bones scarcely covered with skin and her
RIBS raised with horrible distinctness above her
| lallen and almost fleshless Sides She was in
| a pluable state, and had lain thus Tor MANY
| days, until she became covered with sores.
The former inspector, CARVING out some
absurd notions of his own, had said that she
need not be destroyed; and so the wretched
animal had been inhumanly left to- terrible
lingering death. Some young arm-laborers
standing round were trying to induce her to
| eat, anXiously watching her, though hope was
gone, for she had been the pride of the dairy
My companion after examining the COW, with
an expression of concern on his face that n
London physician might have coveted, turned
to the farmer and said, as gently as he could:
81 am afraid she must be killed it is i'm
possible for her to recover"
The poor man sorrowfully nodded assent
Here, said l., (Which of you fellows
will do twill you"' he inquired of one of
the laborers near.
The lad shook his head
"Noo,' replied he, 'oi Gonna do thot," with
a tone meant to convey that he usually was
ready for any amount of slaughter but on this
occasion he was not i the vein.
Here, will your said the inspector, turn
| ing to another Of them; but he only received
| the same answer. damn it them said the
| inspector, ''fetch me an axe" | confess |
have never looked upon the expletive damn
| IT with the proper amount of right-minded
horror, and have always, am ashamed to
| say, secretly admired the many delicate shades
| OF infection the pronunciation of it is capable
OF receiving. On this occasion there was such
world OF kindly sympathy expressed in the
tone IN which 1t was uttered. that the recording
angel might have mistaken the vague curse for
a blessing, and never have even entered it in
ms volume. They brought a clumsy, heavy
| hatchet, and gave it to my friend. He sprang
over the rail that fenced in the shed, asking
me to draw the dying cows head forward to
receive the blow. did so, mot feeling at all
like butcher, and in another moment the
young doctor had eased his patient sufferings
Tor ever. We fetched cart-horse, and placed
a chain round the dead animal neck, in order
that 1t might be dragged away to add to the
size Of the monster L. There was positively
bare path worn across the meadow, by the
number of bodies drawn down it for burial.
The horse, mournfully fulfilling his novel
duties, slowly moved off "The best mich
cow l ever had!" the old man sadly said, as
his favorite-dead, and oh! SO wretched-
looking, with strained neck, and glazed eye
passed at his feet. / remembered another
funeral oration-one had learned at school
of far more grandiloquent character; COM
parison seemed grotesque, but the ruined
farmers parting eulogium touched me far
more nearly than the elaborate speech of one
| Marcus Antonius had ever been able to do.
| 1t was very painful scene; the deserted
| yard the vacant sheds, the silent dairy, and
! hstless unoccupied herdsmen, composed q
| saddening picture, which might have been
| APPLY entitled "Trouble." Expressing our
| sorrow for the misfortunes that had befallen
| him, and mentioning the compensation he
| would receive for the last animal he had lost
| "a sum that would scarcely pay the expense
OF digging that terrible ~, we took leave of
the poor farmer; but the hospitality of his
| class struggled through his grief, and he in
| sisted on procuring for US a goblet of home
made wine before our departure. We then
| visited another farm, and another; all had
| been attacked by the plague, and all had
| suffered severely: at alive beheld the wretched
| desolatiOn this awful murrain had caused. At
| one alone the tenant had been fortunate he
| had died on the day the plague commenced.
| The farmers received us well, and were ready
TO listen to and accept any advice my friend
| offered them as to precautionary measures they
| should take whereby future infection might be
| prevented. But all their capital had been
| invested in cattle, all their cattle had been
destroyed, and very dark future opening
| before them, they all seemed overwhelmed and
| paralyzed; though, as far as [ could observe,
| they were patient and accomplishing enough
| and this not because they had no blame to lay
| on teIlow-men, for grevOuS injuries have been
| in many instances inflicted on them. Tales
of atrocity are already limited at and in years
| to come, when the story of the murrain is told
| in the chimney corner Of homesteads, they will
be remembered and related.
1t was late when we drove homewards. I
was not so much inclined for conversation as
when we set out, and my companions flow of
anecdote had somewhat abated. He had not
previously seen the phase in the cattle plague
we had then witnessed. The infected farms
he had visited in his own district were either
| held by wealthy amateurs, who, after trying
expensive experiments, and losing all their
stock, declared with disgust that they would
give up farming;" or else by men who could
turn for consolation to well-flled stackyards,
| and determine to buy no more cattle until the
| disease had subsidized. But to these poor
| farmers the cara boum was no mere gentle
manly pastime, nor had they bursting barns'
| to comfort them.
Unlike the man who claimed to be an
authority on the theory Of projectiles, because
his leg had been carried away by a cannon
ball, do not pretend to have gained any
knowledge of the cattle plague because l have
seen its effects, but have gained a knowledge
of the ruin epidemic may cause; and l
would rather othear any more bad conundrums
| ba