The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-15
PRENATAL INFLUENCES.
The Story of Two Very Remarkable Curiosi-
ties i'll Michigan.

ties i'll Michigan.
Saginaw Courier.
Allen Williams, who resides near Long Rap
Ids, Alpena county is the owner of one of the
most remarkable curiosites of which natural
history affords any description Williams is
Massachusetts Yankee, and he tells the story, or
rather the introductory part of it, as follows;
when | left Berkshire to come to this place
my wife prevailed on Inc to bring with us fine
Jersey heifer nearly two years old at that time
and with calf from the finest Jersey bull in the
State. thought great deal of the heifer, and
it was not hard to persuade me to make her
part of our effects to be brought to the
woods. She did well on the cars,
and we all landed safe at Reed City.
At that place 1 unloaded my goods,
horses wagons, etc, and came directly to this
place. hiring boy to drive the heifer. On the
way here from Reed City we met large mum
Der of teams, driven by rough backwoods-
men. At the first sight of OK team my
heifer became so frightened that She was merry
Gus and weak as a child. She lay down, and
we were obliged to lift her into wagon and
haul her the rest of the way She was per-
fectly helpless and entirely overcome Here
he ceased and told the gentleman that he would
show him the sequel on the following morning
The curiosity of the visitor aroused, and
he was up early. True to his word, Mr. Will
Jams led the way to a small barn, at the door of
which stood small cow-the Jersey spoken of
the previous evening The Courier will let the
gentleman describe what he saw In his
language: HE then opened a door
and we entered, and he pointed to large stall
whore | saw what l thought very small yoke
of oxen. He told me to examine them wallsed
up to them and found that they were a we'll
formed pair of calves, perfect in every respect
though very small On their necks was a per
feet yoke, with regular bows and keys to hold
the same in position, together with a staple and
ring, and in that ring was hooked a perfect
chain, with hook at one end and ring at the
other. The chain was composed of thirty links
all perfect and complete What surprised me
most was that each member of this combination
of living matter was "A separate and distinct ami
NAL. The yoke was as perfect as if made by
hand. The hole through which the bows
passed was regular and in good shape, even
the keys that held the bows in position were in
no wise connected with any other part. Each
link in the chain was separate animal, all GOV
cred with a fine coat of hair ! asked him once
if he ever unyoked them. He said that he did,
but he did not think that it was good for the
fixtures of the outfit He told me that the chain
and all the other fixtures lived by absorption
and that their life depended upon the nearness
of the calves, and that if they were separated
a part would perish. He thinks that the
calves would live if separated from the rest of
the fixtures but the fixtures could not live with
out the calves. This natural yoke seems to have
large bone running its entire length. The
bows have a circular bone in them. In short
every part is perfect