Your comment about the cow sustaining a family reminded me of my great-grandmother's childhood. They were extremely poor after her father died at 31, and so could not afford to buy milk, even directly from a farmer. But luckily a neighbour had a milking goat; my granny & her brothers and sisters would do odd jobs for her like collect her used bottles, and give her a small payment of a penny or so a week for a bucket of milk, which they would collect on the way home from school. They survived on mostly this and oats, while bacon and mince was something of a delicacy. While this was in the 1940s, it was not very different at all from the diet of 100 years earlier. The kindness of a neighbour was able to help a struggling widow and her four children a long way, with a small gesture. We live in luckier times in the West, thank God.
There is something absolutely otherworldly about encounters with cow and sheep - after all, they were our first companions in Eden, perhaps its just like coming across an old friend? In Charlotte Bronte's 'Shirley', Louis Moore says, “With animals I feel I am Adam's son; the heir of him to whom dominion was given over "every living thing that moveth upon the earth."" I certainly agree.
I look forward to the final Heaven&Earth, where 'the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.' (Isaiah 11:7).
What a moving story...I can't help but think how cool, too, that you know this story about your great grandmother and have been impacted by it. I just love how the family milk cow is an example of generosity and grace.
I love that quote from Charlotte Bronte. I haven't read her novel Shirley and hadn't heard that, but will write that down.
Art: The Little Cowherd
Johannes-Hubertus-Leonardus de HaasItem
Thank you!! I knew somebody would know, but I couldn't find out.
Gosh, what is it about cows?! I would totally take an evening bike ride with you to visit your sweet Jersey friend. She sounds lovely.
She is lovely! And that would be lovely!
Your comment about the cow sustaining a family reminded me of my great-grandmother's childhood. They were extremely poor after her father died at 31, and so could not afford to buy milk, even directly from a farmer. But luckily a neighbour had a milking goat; my granny & her brothers and sisters would do odd jobs for her like collect her used bottles, and give her a small payment of a penny or so a week for a bucket of milk, which they would collect on the way home from school. They survived on mostly this and oats, while bacon and mince was something of a delicacy. While this was in the 1940s, it was not very different at all from the diet of 100 years earlier. The kindness of a neighbour was able to help a struggling widow and her four children a long way, with a small gesture. We live in luckier times in the West, thank God.
There is something absolutely otherworldly about encounters with cow and sheep - after all, they were our first companions in Eden, perhaps its just like coming across an old friend? In Charlotte Bronte's 'Shirley', Louis Moore says, “With animals I feel I am Adam's son; the heir of him to whom dominion was given over "every living thing that moveth upon the earth."" I certainly agree.
I look forward to the final Heaven&Earth, where 'the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.' (Isaiah 11:7).
Thanks for the wonderful essay Mrs Troyer.
What a moving story...I can't help but think how cool, too, that you know this story about your great grandmother and have been impacted by it. I just love how the family milk cow is an example of generosity and grace.
I love that quote from Charlotte Bronte. I haven't read her novel Shirley and hadn't heard that, but will write that down.
Thanks so much for reading!