No person who has sipped the

No person who has sipped the milk of human kindness, could, in all good conscience, deny any living thing the right to survive-not even if the creature was a little old bull calf on the way to market. Nevertheless, there are times when exasperation measures the depth of patience, and so it seemed regarding Gideon. Poor Gideon lived in beautiful Rappahannock County, Virginia, over near Tick Ridge and belonged to somebody’s mother-in-law, a situation over which he had no control. But over the ages, there have been mean old jokesters with bilious digestions who have systematically tarnished the shining image of the mother of man’s enchantment, and everything that belonged to her. Gideon was, therefore, a victim of circumstances.

Well, come auction day at Front Royal, a man came to the mother-in-law’s farm, and with “cooing” and sweet talk, beguiled innocent Gideon into a cattle truck. Away they rolled, and as home and the familiar green pastures faded to view, consternation filled his tender heart, and it was mighty apparent that this here calf wanted out. But before any well conceived plan of escape had been worked out, the truck turned into another farm yard.

The truck blew its horn, then the man and his wife got out and a woman came out of the house. The three then proceeded to herd two other calves toward a loading shoot. These were to be Gideon’s companions to market, and so with considerable threshing of arms, right much yelling and no small amount of tail twisting, into the truck shot the two new passengers, right smack into the face of Gideon. Surely he had been scared up until now, but when he saw these two strange white-faced monsters with red hair all over, he was petrified with fear. Sheltered in his home shed, this little black Angus had never been away from home, and he had never been boxed up with two apparitions that weighed twice as much as he did. It was a