Wichita eagle., 1888-05-01
THE MILKY WAY.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE cows PROD
uCT AMONG THE NATIONS.

System in the United States-London's
Musical vender-Belgium's Dog Carts
Sweden and SwitzerIand-Paris' Supply.
The Daily Cow in India.
| Those who have lived near q dairy in this
or any other American town viii not require
| a description of what it is TO be awakened at
| 4:30 or a. m. by the milk carts starting on
their rounds To turn over. mutter a few
eursory remarks wishing the cart were at
Jericho and to endeavor to settle ones self to
sleep for another couple of hours is too com
mon to require any further remark. But it
is not with the disturbed sleeper that we have
to do here, but with the hundred and one
| manners in which the breakfast tables of
many different nations are supplied with that
fluid so often miscalled milk
In these United States one system prevails.
! The product of the COW, in many places
mixed with something else, is delivered by
means of large, low spring wagons drawn by
| one or more horses. In these wagons arc
cans, four or five in a row, and in these cans
is the milk. The practice is to start out early
I in the morning, and knowing the general
measure is deposited outside the door in q
| can left for that purpose. In the evening q
| second round is made to serve those who re-
quire second supply.
In England the milkman plays most i'm
portant part in the daily drama of life. The
| milk arriving at one of the large railway
| stations is duly received and carted away by
| the dairy proprietors to their depots Here
-
who have rounds of their own to serve By
whom the quantity of the article is increased
Or whether by the judicious admixture OF
water, -four, sugar or other ingredients, is
point which has never been quite thoroughly
decided. Now it is dairyman who is cited
20 appear before the magistrates for selling
milk below the proper standard; then it is
nilkman vino is fined for delivering an i'm
pure article.
But the milkman himself is, as has been
said before, an important parsonage. He is
clad in ordinary manly garments On his
shoulders he bears yoke, from the ends Of
which are suspended, by means of straps,
cans. With a curious half running, half
walking gait, he goes from one door to an
other, depositing the cans on the pavement
with a peculiar clatter, at the same time
ringing the area bell and calling out in truly
musical tones: "M-i-lI-l-k-oo" The cook
never takes long answering this summons,
and while she presents her jug for the guam
tty she requires, she makes inquiries as to
the latest bit of Intelligence that is going
about, and then communicates the newest
item of gossip that has come TO her knowl-
edge Thus the breakfast tables are furnished
with material for mind and body matter, and
many little fragments of personal history
leak out in this way
But the vender of milk has not this reputa-
ton alone. On the other side of the channel,
in Belgium, where the sex even is different,
a like character is borne. Here the milk
women wear short skirts, clean white apron
and cap and a small shawl crossed over the
shoulders The milk is kept in cans of brass,
polished almost like mirrors. The cans are
sometimes tall and sometimes broad and
circular, and are carried in carts drawn by
dogs. This Is perhaps the only country
where one can purchase, knowingly, milk of
different degrees Of purity. The price varies
as to whether one wishes 10 buy it-skimmed,
with little water added with good deal
or exactly as it left the cow Coffee being
national drink, and poor laboring man
would as soon think OF trying to live on air
Is 10 do without it, milk in some form is an
absolute necessity. To meet this want the
tactical food is offered in different forms, and
j. purchased in the nearest approach to purity
the funds of the buyer will permit.
1t is not in Belgium alone that dogs ara
used for drawing milk carts. On the Rhine
they are to be found performing the same
service and also in Holland. Some people
consider it cruel thus 10 employ dogs, but to
one who is thoroughly conversant with the
subject 1t does not appear so. II IS certainly
cruel to overload them, as 1t Is to overtax
horses. Put but fair strain on his powers,
however, and dog really enjoys being able
TO be OF use to his master or mistress In
some parts of Germany horses and wagons
take the places OF dogs and carts, excepting
near Hamburg, where women, robed IN ma
tional costume, make the rounds In the same
manner as the English milkmen.
In Sweden milk is not brought 70 ones
house, but those who want any have 70 60
and fetch it. Naturally it follows that the
dairy is g great rendezvous with servants,
who always sndeavor 20 have their masters
or Enistresses deal With thu one where mos;
Of their friends congIegste.
In Switzerland. where perhaps there are
more critical judges on this subject 20 De
found than in any other European land, milk
is once more brought around from door &c
door. The towns In this country not being
large, the consumer IS generally supplied di
rect from the farm. The milk Is placed in
tall, broad receotacles, made either of wood |
or pewter, with a wooden top fitting on very |
securely. Two Of these are placed on : |
vehicle composed of fat piece Of wood on |
wheels, with q bar or posts II tie middle 70 |
which the milkholders are attached The |
whole Is drawn by man, who often wears |
the costume II his canton Milk II this |
country Is particularly good, very cheap, |
and forms large item in the very sparse
living OF tie poorer classes Large quanti- |
ties of 1t, too, are made into consolidated /
form and exported all over the world
To supply Paris with milk Is no easy tn
der.akiR-- TIE hossses, rising ssI-yes,
sometimes seven stories high->-uta1n as
rule at least a. many families, and each o1s
requires daily quantity. The coEsc.erga
that iand under whose espionage The Whole
building sxls.s. sorzetirr,s receives tae ezzs
for certain fats and carries them Up 70 their
r-<r-<atirA eHnsr2 Inhabitants u oiSes