Minding the Cows

In the summer, when quite young, we boys never wore shoes except on Sundays to go to church. By the end of summer our feet were so tough and callused that cinders and thorns did not bother us. Joe's and my job, and later Ed's, was always to mind the cows. We would watch and keep them from wandering away as they would graze on the surrounding countryside. Our own farm was always short of enough pasture grass and there was idle grassy land nearby. Some of the cows would often try to sneak away and get lost from the others or wander onto the railroad track and be in danger of being hit by a locomotive. I heard that we had lost a cow that way at one time, but that was before my time.