The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-07-06

looking first to quantity and rich
ness of milk. The two must be COM
bined for the best results-and they
may be. 1t is true that the greatest
mixers seldom give the richest
milk, but many OF them yield milk
of excellent guilty. These cows
should of course be well shaped and
of good constitution, free from
swollen glands in the fianks, thick
through the heart, and good hand
lers. Nothing gives SO correct an
idea of cows health as
her hide. 1t is hard to describe
how it should feel, but easy to say
how it should not. 1t must not stick
to the ribs, nor be thick or lumpy,
nor must it be thin and flabby, and
the hair must not be dead and clam
my, nor harsh and wiry. A soft,
mellow, mobile hide, unctions of the
touch, yielding to pressure, yet
elastic and loose upon the sides, but
with hair not unnecessarily fine and
soft, but fresh and healthy, furry
and elastic. Such hide and hair
indicates good constitution and at
the same time good health. No one
can judge of the constitution of an
animal, if from any cause it is not
quite well.
Men of Genius Before and After
Marriage.
1The Gentleman's MagaZine.1
The love-makipg of men of genius,
before and after marriage, with or
without it, are tempting subjects of
inquiry, and all the information of
this sort we can get, if it does some
times no more than amuse an idle Gu
riosity, may be, ,and generally is, as in
structive as it is entertaining. With
fuller information than we have
about the private relationshipssbe-
tween Socrates and Xanitippe, we
should understand better than we
do the public work of the great
father of Greek philosophy. A food
of light, which would otherwise be
wanting, is thrown ON the mys-
tic schOlasticism of Abelard by
the extant records of his deal
ings with Eloise. If as much were
known from their points of view, of
Beatrice and Laura as we know of
Dante's and Petrarch's written
praises of them, perhaps our esti-
mate OF the mems manhood would
be somewhat different from what it
is, though our admiration for the
poets poetry might remain the same;
and from all authentic biography of
Anne Hathaway. all but the more
pedantic Shakespeareans would be
willing to surrender two or three of
his less memorable plays. Coming
down to our own century, it will
suffice to hint at the scientific value
of the little that has been dis
closed respecting Clothilde
de Vaux in calculating
the position of Auguste Comte as a
great teacher. Everywhere and al
ways mans worth must be gagged
to some extent, though only in part,
by his dOmesticity. Some of the
best work done in the world has,
or course, been done by men of
small private worth. A man of
genius is not to be judged by ordi-
tricity. The duties it imposes on
its pOssessors may make it their
duty to neglect duties imposed by
custom, or something more authori-
tative than custom, on common
folks; and their highest virtue
may consist OF or not be in
harmonious with disregard of
conventional virtues. But for all
that men are men before they
are anything else, whether poets or
philosophers, warriors or statesmen;
and among the fundamental con-
ditiOns of human life the instincts
that lead to love making and marry
ing are hardly less fundamental
than those that oblige statesmen,
warriors, philosophers. poets and
all such prodigies to eat and sleep
pretty much as plowboys do. If the
common laws of human life are va
ried from, there must be reason for
the variation, and-reverting to
men of genius-it is useful to know,
not merely what variation there is,
If there is any variation at all, but
yet more how it affects their stand
ing and influence in the world.