“Not at present,” replied the old man. “Master means to keep him to draw in the team.”
“To draw in the team!” said Charles with some surprise.
“Yes,” returned Ralph; “we have always a team of oxen. You may see them ploughing in that field yonder; just there,” continued he, pointing with his finger, “beyond the holly hedge.”
“I see them; I see them,” said Arthur. “Poor creatures! how slow they go! Are not they tired, Ralph?” “No, sir,” replied Ralph, “they do not move so quick as horses; but they are vastly stronger. And though it is not always quite so easy to manage them, yet on the whole they answer very well.”
Ralph had now finished milking: and taking the little boys into the stable, he showed them a baby calf, as he called it, that was to be sold to the butcher the next day.
The baby Calf.
London. Published by W. Darton Jun. Oct. 5, 1815.