There were two rough stalls in it, and in
the first one was tied a cow, with a calf lying beside her. I could
never have believed, if I had not seen it with my own eyes, that an
animal could get so thin as that cow was. Her backbone rose up high and
sharp, her hip bones stuck away out, and all her body seemed shrunken
in. There were sores on her sides, and the smell from her stall was
terrible. Miss Laura gave one cry of pity, then with a very pale face
she dropped her dress, and seizing a little penknife from her pocket,
she hacked at the rope that tied the cow to the manger, and cut it so
that the cow could lie down. The first thing the poor cow did was to
lick her calf, but it was quite dead. I used to think Jenkins's cows
were thin enough, but he never had one that looked like this. Her head
was like the head of a skeleton, and her eyes had such a famished look,
that I turned away, sick at heart, to think that she had suffered so.
When the cow lay down, the moaning noise stopped, for she had been
making it. Miss Laura ran outdoors, snatched a handful of grass and took
it in to her. The cow ate it gratefully, but slowly, for her strength
seemed all gone.
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