Maids A’Milkin’

A doctor drew a sample from a milkmaid’s cowpox and said he would use it to create a vaccination against smallpox.  He told her she’d made a great contribution to the world.  The next day the rest of the milkmaids lined up outside his house, but he told them there was no more need.  He already had his sample.

They went away sad.  As the cows came running up to them for relief from the pressure of the cows’ udders, the milkmaids said, ‘there was our only chance to do something significant.’  As they expertly and smoothly sprayed liquid streams of milk into their pails without hurting the teats, they said ‘we will never be able to do anything of value.’  As they walked back down the lanes and laborers and childrens came out to the fences begging for a taste they said, ‘here we are stuck in this meaningless job.’  As housewives and farmers grinned at the pails they delivered,  they said, ‘we just aren’t good for anything.’