Milking Time
By M. B. C. Slade
Annotations by Abby Army/JB
Go, Kate, and call the cattle home, Where, o’er the daisied hills they roam, Before the stars shall twinkle clear, Make all the sweet bells tinkle near. Bring, Katie, quick, from yonder rail, The milking stool and shining pail; And soon the gentle cows shall stand, And yield their milk to Katie’s hand.
Then, on the green and fragrant grass, The, warm, sweet summer night they pass, Till morning stars steal swift away, When rosy dawn begins the day. Our Kate the shining pail again Shall fill with foaming milk, and then Away the tinkling herds may go, Where clover sweet and cowslips[1] grow.
Slade, M. B. C. “Milking Time.” The Little Corporal: An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls 16, no. 1 (January, 1873): 15.
[1] The common name of Caltha palustris, also known as the yellow marsh marigold. Primula veris is also called cowslip, but it is likely that Slade was referring to the former, which was more common in New England.
Contexts
Slade published this poem after pasteurization was first shown to kill bacteria and germs and stop the contamination of milk with tuberculosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, anthrax, and foot-and-mouth disease. The heating process also delayed milk’s spoilage but was still not largely used by dairy farmers. Chicago passed the first law to require milk pasteurization in 1908, and shortly after, more laws were enacted around the U.S., becoming widespread by the 1950s. In this poem, Kate is filling her pail with what is known as “raw milk” (unpasteurized). Raw milk, and the general status of milk sold to consumers, was a prominent concern in the late 19th and early 20th century, as summarized by Smithsonian Magazine.
Resources for Further Study
- A study on the historical context of Minnesota farms has a section on the rise of dairy farming from 1875 to 1900 (page 45).
- North Country Public Radio has an overview of milk transportation from the 1800s to the 1930s.
- Smithsonian Magazine briefly covers the Margarine Wars, during which the dairy industry in New Hampshire mandated that margarine be tinted pink.
Contemporary Connections
- Ohio dairy farmer Tara Herron takes viewers on a tour of the Cold Run Jerseys dairy farm in Salem, Ohio.
- The New York Times’ “A Fresh Look” covers milk’s journey from the farm to consumers and features Silver Spring Farm in Syracuse, New York.
- Modern Farmer’s 2014 article about the dairy industry features historical information, an overview of several dairy farming methods, and modern farmers’ perspectives.
- Some state regulations still allow for the sale of raw milk, despite its consumption having risks.
