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MARY COOK Mary Cook’s Memories
Foray into milking the cows ends without a drop in pail
The next Friendship Club luncheon will be held on Wednesday, July 31 at noon at Glen Mar Golf Club. To reserve a seat, please phone Gloria at 613-831-8819 or Rosemary at 613-836-6354 before Friday, July 26.
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Lifestyle - I’m telling you, she’s too young,â€? Mother said. Father said he milked a cow the day he learned to walk. Mother said “that’s nonsense, and you know it.â€? Rarely did I have so much attention sent my way and I loved every minute of it. With four siblings, rarely was I singled out, but that day I was getting my share. The subject was if I was old enough to milk. And so on a Saturday, Father put a three-legged stool at the rear end of the quietest cow in the cow byre, put a pail under her and without a word of instruction told me to go ahead and milk. The old cow turned her head in my direction and then back to chewing her cud. After watching my three brothers and sister do the milking often enough, I ďŹ gured there wasn’t much to it. Well, I pulled and I tugged, and I spit on my hands and kept saying “sooo Bossie.â€? Nothing worked. The brothers were real pros at the job. But here was I who couldn’t even get a drop of milk into the pail. My arms ached right up to my shoulders and a couple times I almost fell off the three-legged stool. It was beyond me why the milk stool only had three legs in the ďŹ rst place. To add to my misery, it was y season and the poor old cow kept swishing her tail trying to rid herself of the pests. With each
swish, however, I took a lash square in the face. Mother was right -- I was too young for this job. But to convince Father was another matter. First of all, I didn’t like the cow byre. It was full of cobwebs, the cows smelled differently from the horses and I wouldn’t put it past any one of them to give me a good kick, especially when I was engaged in something as personal as tugging at her private parts. Emerson, Everett and Earl were into the snickering and I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was into the tears. It was my beloved sister Audrey who ďŹ nally came to my rescue. She ďŹ nished milking her cows, the milk had been emptied into the cans, and came over to where I was sitting hunched over, still tugging away with absolutely not a drop to show for my efforts. “Let me try,â€? she said, and I gladly surrendered the stool. The milk spewed out on the ďŹ rst try with Audrey. I blamed it on the cow. I thought I was doing exactly what my sister was doing, but it certainly wasn’t working for me. I was convinced the cow didn’t like me any more than I liked her. Audrey tried her best to show me how to milk. Nothing worked. Finally, she went up to Father who was at the far end of the
cow byre. “Mary’s hands are too small,â€? she said. “And the cow’s too big,â€? I offered. Father ran his hand over my head. Even though it wasn’t near my nose, I could smell cow and milk off him, neither of which were my favourite odours. “Well, we’ll try again some other time,â€? he said. I was out of the barn before you could say “milk pail.â€? I ran to the house and told Mother I wanted to change my clothes. I asked Mother for a pan of hot water and wash cloth and towel, which I hauled upstairs to the privacy of the bedroom. I washed every square inch of my body I could reach, but I thought I could still smell the cow byre off my skin. I opened my sister Audrey’s drawer of the little wash stand we shared and took out her precious can of Lily of the Valley talcum powder and slathered it on with abandon. Then I put on clean clothes from the inside out. When we sat down for supper, my try at milking was never mentioned. I ďŹ gured the brothers had been warned not to bring up the subject and I knew, without a doubt, my milking days were over, but only for the time being. Everyone had to pull their share back then and I knew the time would come when I would be led back into the cow byre and made stick at it until I could ďŹ ll a milk pail like the brothers and Audrey.
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Merivale Mall, 1642 Merivale Road, Nepean Ontario K2G 4A1 Travel Reg. #2967742-5000006
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Stittsville News EMC - Thursday, July 4, 2013 61