As they tried to find a hold on the calf, she struggled upon her wobbly legs. Then she nosed hungrily at Mrs. James’s hands.
“I know, girls!” exclaimed Mrs. James, as a sudden memory flashed into her thoughts. “I had a little calf when I lived on the farm, and we had to coax her to drink for a few weeks after she was weaned. Maybe this is what Susy wants—a comfort, so to say.”
“Do you think she is too weak to stand?” asked Janet.
“Yes, I do. If we can coax her to eat she will be all right in no time,” declared Mrs. James.
“Sam, you bring the milk out to us, will you,” asked Janet.
The deep dish of milk was brought and placed before Susy and then Mrs. James held one hand down in the fluid, while she fondled the calf’s nose with the other hand. She managed to slowly draw the nose down to the milk, and when Susy sniffed the warm flesh of the hand in the milk, she began to lap. The hand very gently stroked the soft nose as Susy began lapping, and this was exactly what the poor little thing wanted. She had not been completely weaned from her mother and was afraid of unknown food.
Slowly at first, then as her courage grew, Susy began snuffling loudly as she fed. Finally she over-gulped just as babies will, and she choked as they too, do. She sent the milk flying out of the pan as if an underground explosion had burst upward. The anxious scouts had been close about the calf watching her feed, and Mrs. James was on her knees holding her hand in the milk, when the upspurt took place so every girl was sprinkled, and Mrs. James’s face was streaming with milk.
Susy never stopped for such a trifle as that, however, nor did she express any regrets for the deluge of milk she had caused. Then when all the milk was gone, the calf gazed with soulful eyes at Mrs. James. It was so plainly a look of gratitude that it made the girls laugh. A short time after the bountiful breakfast, Susy was as frisky as ever, and provided ample amusement for her admirers.
Janet walked to the house with Mrs. James and remarked: “I always thought a cow weaned the calf without assistance from others.”
“So they will if they are given time, but when a calf is taken prematurely from its mother, the weaning process has to take place in an artificial manner,” explained Mrs. James.