The cow is a very useful, and well known animal. The cow furnishes us
with an abundance of good sweet milk, which we put into our tea and
coffee, or make into butter and cheese. The flesh is most excellent
food, and is called beef. England is a famous country for beef, which
is of such a good quality that the people have an old song about it,
called the "Roast beef of old England." The hide is made into leather,
and is much used in the making of shoes.
The cow is a very quiet animal, and will hurt no body, it feeds upon
grass, which it swallows and brings up again before digesting it, and
chews a very long while, and on that account is called a ruminating
animal.
Cows are of different colors, some red, white, black, and others
spotted. The cow will live to the age of fourteen or fifteen years,
and its age may be known by the rings or knots on its horns, for a new
ring grows every year. A great many country people are employed in
selling milk to the people of large cities and towns, and are called
"milk people." Before the white people came to America there were no
cows, but now they are raised in great numbers, especially in the
eastern country.
[Illustration: DOG.]