The Parker post., 1914-01-03

PROCEEDING
OF A BAND OF ANGORA GOATS
AS RELATED BY KENNETH COZ
FIN, A RECENT VISITOR TO
PARKER.

Kenneth Coffin of Humbolt, Ari-
zona. who passed through Parker
Thursday on his way to California,
related to a Post representative, a
story of a weird incident which he
S.t1 essed while hearding a band OF
about 2,3OO angora goats near the
above place one day last fall, Whlcn
may prove of interest to stockmen
generally. inasmuch as it confirms in
measure the idea advanced by a
noted naturalist and savant that the
lower order of animals all have some
conception of the deific principle
which they manifest in different ways
public opinion to the contrary not
wi3hstanding.
1t was about the noon hour, accord
ing to Mr.. Coffin, and, agreeable TO
custom, he was about to bed the
goats in a clearing on level ground,
in order that they might rest and
ruminate for, an hour while he ate
his lunch. He had Just punched the
herd at the chosen spot and was
waiting for them to get settled down
when suddenly, without apparent
cause, all bleating and snorting stop
ed as if at a given signal and a
death-like silence prevailed for an IN
slant. Then every goat-buck, NUT,
kid and nannie-raised its head
heavenward and gave vent to a long
drawnout cultural murmur, as if ut
tering an invocation or like the chill
dren of Israel when they 'murmur'
ed against Moses" Even his dog
seemed to catch the inspiration SIM
ultaneously for he too craned his nee
upward and joined in the devotional
chorus with a subdued howl, which
action on the part of the canine add
e more mystery 10 the uncanny phe-
nomenon and caused a creepy feeling
to come over the herder as he In
turn unconsciously murmured to him
self what next and waited in grave
expectancy for something to drop.
Recovering his mental balance in a
moment, his first impression was
that a pack of coyotes or lobo Wolv-
es was about to flank the herd, so he
quickened his step and kept a sharp
watch on the skirting of the brush
on all sides, but no enemy appeared,
1t was all over in a few seconds and
the goats in the meantime, after fin
ishing their "devotions" resumed
their bleating and snorting as if no
thing out of the ordinary had hap
pened, and soon all were lying down
and quietly chewing their cud. The
dog too, after having said, Amen" in
his doggish way, trotted along after
his master as if it were no unusual
thing for him to say his prayers.
The strange proceeding has given
the herder, though he is not of a
superstitious turn OF mind, material
for much speculation as to it's mean
ing and has kept him guessing ever
since When Mr.. Coffin returned TO
camp, and related the story of wha
he had witnessed, nobody would be-
lieve him save an old Mexican who
had followed goat and sheep herding
all his life. He at once recalled the
fact that while herding in Chihuahua,
Mexico, when a boy, the goats went
through the same devotional exercis-
es. That his mother had told him,
and he had firmly believed to this
day, that the ''cabras" were invOk-
ing the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe to
avert some impending calamity, and
that while this was the first and last
tine he had ever known them to sho
any religious inclination, there was
no doubt but that they were actual
ly engaged in prayer. When asked,
however, what he thought of the ac-
tion of the dog-the 'hated Samari-
tan" and common enemy of goatdom
in joining the congregation of goats
at worship, he confessed ignorance
to this phase Of the proceeding, simp-
Iy replied ''quien sabe" and passed up
the buck.
While the idea of 1000 odd goats at
prayer is certainly an oddity and to-
v5Sf1ne vS1 may seem an absurdity, yet in
his case, to the rational, contempla-
i've mind, there is nothing at all un-
reasonable about it, for just about
hat time Congress was engaged in a
evision of the tariff and no one
Enew what the outcome would be.
;ome pessimistic goatmen in Arizona
t that time even went so far as to
|redict that the result of that revis-
bn, so far as it concerned mohair,
Eould ultimately lead to the neces-