The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-07-22
More Stories OF Animal Instinct.

MORE than forty years ago, writes a
Canadian gentleman to the New
York EreHi7g Post, my fathers clear
ing, near what is now the city of Guelph,
was surrounded for many miles BY an
almost unbrOken forest, where leeks,
cOw-cabbage and the spring foliage of
young naples and Eastwood supplied
abundant food for cattle. At that time
it was my fortune or misfortune to
drive a yoke of oxen, Golden" and
"Spark" by name, who at sunset were
turned into the bush with the rest of
the herd. Morning found the cows
near home; but very rarely on working
days were the oxen with them. with
many a weary step and many grOan "
has the writer hunted the sly abSentees
and found them usually in some dense
thicket on the edge of an interminable
swamp. On Sunday mornings they
came home with the cows and Law down
in the barnyard with the calm confidence
born of a clear conscience and assured
rest. On six mornings in the week they
almost always hid themselves; ON the
seventh they returned with the herd.
How did they know the Chris tian day
of rest except by actual count of the in
tervening days?
"Spark Was a cOnSummate hypO-
critic and a genius withaL | grieve to
say he was the most breachy brute in
the township, and his code of morals
was strictly Spartan or commercial; his
sense of sin being awakened not by his
wickedness, but by the discovery of it.
With head and foot tied together he
used to plant his "head's antipOdes -"
against a fence; not for the sake of
scratching "where' er he did itch, but
with the fell purpose, too often success
full, by direct pressure and humping,
to break down the barrier between
himself and paradise of growing oats
or wheat in the ear. Peace to his
memory! He made good beef.
In 1885 a neighbOr living about three
miles away bought a COW at the half
yearly Guelph cattle fair. A few even
ings afterward the purchaser, hearing
the tinkle of the cracked COW bell, sent
his ten-year old barefoot Polly to bring
Daisy home. Entering the dense gloom
of the solemn old forest, Polly lost her
bearing, but found her COW. Grasping
the tail of Daisy she hurried her captive
hOmeward; but impelled by a sudden
impulse to visit the home of her calf
hood, Daisy led the child a weary night
walk through swamp and upland. Sa-
gacious Polly retained her hold, and the
next morning was safely landed at the
shanty of Daisy's former owner, having
walked at least fourteen miles, barefoot,
in teh dead of night, through an IN
broken forest. Polly was cOmfOrted by
warm new milk and brown bread, and
was soon nesting among straw in an
OK cart, with Daisy tied behind, and
Hans driving her home, where they
arrived in the afternoon, to find the set
tiers, for miles around, with tin horns
and dustpans. securing the woods in
search of the missing child When
asked if she was hungry in the night,
she said, "Oh, no! Just coaxed Daisy
to stop, and MIXED into my mouth"
Now, pig will find its way for miles
to an old haunt; but like Seunachrib,
he always turns back by the way that
he came Daisy had travelled east to
Guelph, thence south to POlly's. By
what faculty was she able to strike
Decline through a painless forest from
her new home to her old home?