For the aesthetic purpose the lawn is a cow pasture; and in some cases to-day – where the expensiveness of the attendant circumstances bars out any imputation of thrift – the idyll of the dolicho-blond1 is rehabilitated in the introduction of the cow into a lawn or private ground. In such cases the cow made use of is commonly of an expensive breed. The vulgar suggestion of thrift, which is nearly inseparable from the cow, is a standing objection to the decorative use of this animal. So in all cases, except where luxurious surroundings negative this suggestion, the use of the cow as an object of taste must be avoided.
– Thorstein Veblen
The Theory of the Leisure Class
(p. 134)
A more subtle thinker or more careful writer could make something of this, but I’d rather not; extensive apologetics for racist nastiness is left to the reader’s imagination. [↩]
