"I will tell you a little more about her, and perhaps you may be able to see her, after all. She has a thick coat of coarse, short hair that keeps her warm except in the very coldest weather. At the end of her tail there are some long hairs, like this" — and she drew a tail.

(Miss Clare did not consider herself an artist, so in a case of this kind the animal was put upon the board the night before from a stencil drawing. The outline was followed with a lead pencil and the chalk marks erased. Standing now by the board Miss Clare could see the pencil line; the children could not. In this way she could draw the separate parts, arouse the curiosity of the little folks, and keep their enthusiasm from waning.)

"She has four slender legs," continued the teacher, "and four feet that have hoofs. She has two large ears that stand out from the sides of her head, a large nose, and two lovely, big, brown eyes. When we put in her back, her udder (sketching them very rapidly), and her horns, I am sure everybody will be ready to tell me that my friend is a "

66

Cow," cried a chorus of voices.

"Yes, one of our best friends; to-morrow we will

find out something more about her," it having been discovered that cows were not very familiar animals.

The next day Miss Clare said, "Would you like to play 'going visiting'?" Taking a chart from the wall the children saw sketched on the board a faint suggestion of a house and near by a snug little barn.

"My friend, Mr. Brown, lives here. This cow (the one drawn the day before) belongs to him. See! he is just going to take her out for a drink of water." (Sketching a halter round her neck, and a watering trough close by.) "Let us ask him to tell us about her.

"I will be Mr. Brown" - putting one of the boy's caps on her head —

you like."

"and you may ask me anything

"What color is your cow, Mr. Brown?"

"She is red and white, but my neighbor has one that is black and white and another that is all red." "How big is she?”

"How large? Well, when I stand beside her (sketching in a man's head behind the cow), you can see my head, neck, and shoulders; but if one of you small boys should stand the other side of her we couldn't see you at all, unless it was your feet. So,

boss

SO. She is very thirsty. She will drink as much as a pailful usually."

"What does she eat?"

"Grass in summer. I keep her in that pasture behind that hill then, and my boy, Johnnie, drives her out and back morning and night. I wish Johnnie was here to see all you nice little people, but he has gone out to the farm to stay with grandmother until after Thanksgiving. Now that it is cold, I keep the cow in the barn, and she eats hay and meal. Come and see her teeth. She has strong back teeth in both jaws, but she has no teeth in front in her upper jaw. In place of teeth she has a ridge of skin, hard as bone. See what thick lips she has! She pushes them out to take the hay and licks it in with her tongue. See how long and rough her tongue is! Feel of her nose! It is always

moist.

"Oh! I must tell you a little more about the way she eats. When she bites off the grass or hay she does not really eat it at first, but she packs it away in a bag that she has inside of her big body. Isn't that a queer way to do? When the bag is full, the grass, or whatever she has eaten, comes up into her

mouth, a little ball at a time, and then she chews it and really eats it. We say about animals that eat in this way, 'they chew the cud.' Now I must take her back to the barn. Come over some morning early and I will milk her for you. Good-by."

"Good-by, Mr. Brown. Thank you for showing us your cow," added Grace.

Miss Clare enjoyed playing in this way herself so much that of course she made it very real to the children, and by the next day they began to bring items from home. Sam's father had been a farmer's son, and he told his little lad how he drove the cows to pasture when he was a boy. In this pasture was a tinkling little brook where the cows came to drink, and tall trees that made shady places where they could lie down and rest. There were swampy places where the cowslips grew, and willow twigs from which the boys made whistles. Pete, his shepherd dog, always went with him, and would drive the cows home alone.

Paul's father was interested, too. He told his little boy about the horns. He said: "Long, long ago, when cows were wild, they needed their horns to defend themselves from wild beasts. Now that

they are tame and kept in pastures and barns, they are not of much use, and when a farmer has many cows he sometimes cuts off the horns. This is to prevent them from fighting one another, as cows often will do. The horns are not quite smooth. They have little wrinkles in them. Some farmers say they can tell how old a cow is by the number of wrinkles in her horns."

The boy whose father owned the market brought a cow's foot. This was examined carefully. They saw how the hoof was divided, and Miss Clare explained that this was called a cloven foot, and called their attention to the two small toes at the back of the foot.

William had spent the previous summer on his uncle's farm. As his mother was anxious to have him profit by this experience, she had spent much time with him in out-of-door study. She came to school with him one morning to help him recall these happy days.

Do you know how a cow lies down?

William said that she bends her front legs under and so lowers her head and shoulders, and then she bends one hind leg and then the other under