from it. As well say
that the cataleptic trance of the pointer, when the game bird lies close
and the delicate scent fills his nostrils, is not a joy to him, or that
the Dalmatian at the heels of his horse, or the foxhound when Reynard's
trail is warm, receive no pleasure from their specialties.

Do these animals feel no joy in the performance of service which is bred
into their bones and which it is unnatural or freakish for them to lack?
No one who has watched the "bred-for-milk" cow can doubt that the joys
of her life are eating, drinking, sleeping, and giving milk. Pushing her
to the limit of her capacity is only intensifying her life, though,
possibly, it may shorten it by a year or two. While she lives she knows
all the happiness of cow life, and knows it to the full. What more can
she ask? She would starve on the buffalo grass which supports her
half-wild sister, "northers" would freeze her, and the snow would bury
her. She is a product of high cow-civilization, and as such she must
have the intelligent care of man or she cannot do her best. With this
care she is a marvellous machine for the making of the only article of
food which in itself is competent to support life in man. If my
Holsteins are not machines, they resemble them so closely that I will
not quarrel with the name.

What is true of the cow, is true also of the pork-making machine that we
call the hog. His wild and savage progenitor is lost, and we have in his
place a sluggish animal that is a very model as a food producer. His
three pleasures are eating, sleeping, and growing fat. He follows these
pleasures with such persistence that 250 days are enough to perfect him.
It can certainly be no hardship to a pig to encourage him in a life of
sloth and gluttony which appeals to his taste and to my profit.

Custom and interest make his life ephemeral; I make it comfortable. From
the day of his birth until we separate, I take watchful care of him.
During infancy he is protected from cold and wet, and his mother is
coddled by the most nourishing foods, that she may not fail in her duty
to him. During childhood he is provided with a warm house, a clean bed,
and a yard in which to disport himself, and is fed for growth and bone
on skim-milk, oatmeal, and sweet alfalfa. During his youth, corn meal is
liberally added to his diet, also other dainties which he enjoys and
makes much of; and during his whole life he has access to clean water,
and to the only me