‘Yes, I have heard so, and I believe that the geese are always right; and I daresay we shall have some bad storms soon.’
‘How do the geese know that there will be stormy weather soon?’ asked Alice.
‘God has given them the sense to see it coming,’ said Mary; ‘and dogs eat grass just before it rains.’
‘But I do not understand,’ said Alice, ‘how the geese see the bad weather coming.’
‘You had better ask your grandmamma, Miss Alice,’ said Mary; ‘she will tell you all about it.’
The little girls then followed Ellen across the yard; it was very dirty and wet, for it had rained the day before; but Ellen took Beatrice in her arms, and showed Alice how to step on several large stones that were there, perhaps on purpose that people might step on them, and not go in the mud or water.
Two pretty dark-red cows, with long slender horns, were standing under an open shed; and Ellen went up to one of them, after she had first brought a clean wooden pail and a little stool, and she sat down on the little stool, and put the pail in front of her knees, and then she milked two streams of white warm milk into the pail, and it was all white froth, like the froth upon the waves, and the cow turned round its head and looked at the children.
They might have been, perhaps, a little afraid; but Ellen said, ‘You may stroke her, miss, she is such a good cow.’
So Alice put out her hand, and rubbed the cow’s head, and patted her.
‘Will you like to give her an apple?’ said Ellen to Alice; and Alice took an apple that Ellen gave her, and went to the cow and held out the apple to her; but when Alice saw the cow’s head come so close to her, and her long tongue put out to take the apple, Alice jumped back, and threw the apple at the cow, who stretched out her neck to reach it, but could not.