The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1910-04-15
BrindIe.-Humane Teacher.


sixteen years OF his life On big stock
farm and possessed rather intimate
knowledge of animal life, his lot. un-
fortunately, had never been cast with
men who possessed any consideration
| for the dumb brutes with which they
| worked. Indeed they had never even
been required TO consider humane
treatment of animals a matter Of
/; dollars and cents. Accordingly they
kicked and beat the horses and mules,
swore at the cattle, used clubs to in
timldate tie hogs and were invariably
cruel,
| 1t bad never occurred to Jimmie
that the horses which they were COM
PEELED to drive into small enclosure
TO catch might be taught to come at
the word OF their master by the excl
else Of a little kindness, nor did he
know that cows are aurally affec-
tionate if given the least encourage
ment.
! But an incident occurred one Oeto.
Der afternoon which gave Jimmie an
entirely Different appreciation Of ami
NAL life.
Brlnde, a motherly old COW belong
ing to the herd on the farm, who had
a few weeks previously presented her
owner with fine well developed calf,
had been missing for several days.
One Of the men bad carelessly allowed
Brindle and her offspring to wander
away into one Of the large pasture
! fields. To Jimmie, who had hoped
he coul1 30 nutting that afternoon,
was assigned the duty of hunting
Brlndle and the calf and driving
them back to the barn.
With a feeling OF resentment to-
ward his father, old Brindle and live
stock in general, Jimmie set out re-
luctantly to find the missing COW.
For two long hours be trudged across
the fields, through vallies; fighting
his way through underbrush and
berry brambies, growing more hungry
the while.
Finally, while struggling through
one Of the worst thickets he had en-
countered, he saw through the scared
leaves what he thought was a small
portion of Brindle's coat and closer
Investigation proved it to be the old
COW. Jimmie's first impulse was 10
hunt a club and administer a beating
to the cause Of his long afternoon
trudge, as the men of the farm surely
would have done,
But low, plaintive "mOo" checked
him and attracted him closer to
BrindIa. There he saw the cause Of
her absence, for az her feet lay cold
in death the calf. The hair about its
head was wet from repeated licking,
which was Brindle's only method of
showing her affection, and indicated
too her hope that her baby might
arise and follow her once more.
Jamie gently fastened rope
about the neck of Brindle aud called
to her to follow him. Taking few
steps in compliance with his COM
mand, the old COW stepped, looked
back at the body of her calf and then
at Jimmie, mooing piteousy. 1t was
too much for the LAD, and there in
the gathering twilight, with the
pathos OF the situation appealing to
him as nothing had ever touched him
before, he thought how his own moth
er would feel under like circum-
stances, Recognizing that 1T was
impossible to take the calf along and
that he could not bury 1T to prevent
the little body being torn by dogs and
wild animals during the night, and
yet aware that he must take Brindlt
home, Jimmie crept over to the ole
COW, put his arm about her neck, anC
tears trickled down his freckled cheek
as he tried to make her understand
that they must go. Brindle seemed
to understand and without furthe
objection followed Jimmie quletl!
home.
Fortunately none Of the men wer'
at the barn when they arrived anc
the old COW was placed quietly IN he
, stall and fed. At the supper tabl'
Jimmie told the story Of his expsr'
fence between sobs, and although a
first some OF the men we're inclined t,
make sport Of the boys Chicken
, heartedness, he noticed that the.
! coon left the table. He afteFwart
, learned that they had gone to tn
field where the COW and calf wer
found and had buried the body g.
that IL might be undisturbed. Ant
D from that time on there came lat
: the lives of Jimmie and the men VI
+. the big farm spirit OF humanit
toward the animals which had nevs