C36—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, July 2fi, 1980 BY DICK ANGLESTEIN COCHRANVILLE - Morning dawns inside a dairy barn long before it does outside The bam is already a center of light and activity an hour or more before the first rays appear on the horizon or the first bird chirps the musical downbeat for a sunrise countryside chorus. Large black and white masses, all m a row, some more black than white and some more white than black. White walls and white beams in the ceiling A network of tubing at tached to overhead lines through which the frothy white ebbs and flows A white calf that reaches mtside night under the (Turn to Page C 37) Milking during the wee hours stillness of a muggy July mght is many things. To the ear It’s the soft clop-clop of the cows’ listless gait from the floodlight above the bam door, down the concrete aisle mto a familiar slot. It’s the soft metallic clank of the closing stanchion lock. It’s the even quieter rubber-booted tread of the awaiting humans It’s the soft-spoken tones of the morning inspirational message on the bam radio, which later turns into a monotone serenade of country and western music. It’s the soft whir of a fan that stirs the still, damp air ever so slightly. It’s the mournful lowing of a heavy-uddered cow m the night still waiting to move into the barn It’s the throbbing, pulsating, sucking sound of the milkers as they’re at tached It’s the monotonous mechanical rhythm of the compressor off to the side by the milkhouse It’s an almost in discernible scrape as a shepherd stretches out to nestle agamst the cool stone wall To the eye: It’s a kaleidoscope of black and white. < & f' ornmg mi a time of inner meaning & meditation ing
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers