Few of us today, have much opportunity to experience
for ourselves what kind of creatures cattle are,
and so we are easy prey to common prujudices about
them, which are born and thrive in ignorance.
but a naturalist who knew cows well, W. H. Hudson,
spoke movingly of:
"...the gentle, large-brained, social
cow, that caresses our hands and face with her
rough tongue, and is more like man's sister
than any other non-human being—the majestic,
beautiful creature with the Juno eyes..."
In
our own times, courtroom justice is not always
so poetic or profound. But our judges sometimes
manage to come up with creative ways of getting
to the truth of a dispute.
On July 6, 1953, a California man named Mike Perkins
was formally accused of stealing a calf from a
neighbor's ranch, and then branding it with his
own ranch's insignia, to conceal the theft. Mike
stood before the judge and vehemently denied the
charges, saying his neighbor had made the whole
thing up out of jealousy.
The
judge was going to find Perkins innocent, because
the only evidence against him was the others farmer's
word. But then he had an idea; he sent the sheriff
out to Perkin's ranch, and had him bring to a
yard adjacent to the courthouse all of Perkin's
calves who were about the age the allegedly stolen
calf was reputed to be. Then he sent the sheriff
out to the accusing neighbors's rance, and had
him bring to the yard the alleged mother of the
stolen calf.
When the mother arrived, she began calling loudly,
and seemed to be trying to move towards the roped-in
calves. The judge decreed that she be allowed
freedom of movement. When she was let go, the
mother gave her testimony to the court in no uncertain
terms. She went directly over to the calves, nudged
her way to one in particular, and began to lick
it over and over, right on the hip, where Perkin's
brand "P" was located.
I probably don't have to tell you Mike Perkins
was found guilty.
Aldus Huxley once said that in this century we
have added onto the seven original deadly sins
an eighth that is just as deadly—the sin
of hurry. In terms of this sin, at least, cattle
are saints.
