elsie the cow

January 16, 2001

Mrs. Edith Sprague
537 Chesterfield-Ameytown Road
Allentown, NJ 08501

To the People of Plainsboro

It was spring of 1944. World War II was in full swing. Every American was very serious and patriotic about their wartime duty. There had been several war bond drives, and "Elsie", the Borden cow, had participated in them, traveling the country selling war bonds.

Up to this point, boys had traveled with her, but now there was a serious manpower shortage and the Borden's faced a dilemma. Elsie was doing extremely well with the bond sales, and they didn't want to give up the effort.

At the time, Elsie's home was the Walker Gordon-Farm in Plainsboro. My sister, Anna Perrine and I lived on our family farm about five miles from Plainsboro. A man named Walter Conover knew that Anna and I had experience with tending cows and milking. He suggested that the Bordens contact us to travel with Elsie. I felt excited but apprehensive; I knew I would be homesick. Our Pop was proud that his girls were helping with the war effort. Mother worried a lot.

We soon began four years of traveling with Elsie, the Borden cow and sometimes her calf, Beulah. Our first trip was to Chicago. Elsie, Beulah, Anna and i went in a boxcar along with Elsie's boudoir furniture, the walls and roof of her boudoir, and cots for Anna and myself. The railroad people told us that we were the first girls to travel legally in a boxcar.

Once in Chicago, Anna and I were housed at the YWCA. Our days began at 6:00 AM at the Borden plant. (Every city where we went had a milk processing plant where Elsie spent her nights with a local 4-H of FFA boy tending her.) Our early morning hours were spent milking and grooming Elsie. We would brush her coat until it shined. We put colorless nail polish on her horns and black shoe polish on her hooves. We plaited the ends of her tail at night and combed it out in the morning for the display. Our next task was to transport her to the site where her display was set up.

In Chicago, Elsie was set up at "The Fair", a department store in the Loop. Elsie's boudoir was set up on the seventh floor of the store. We took the freight elevator up and down. We would leave the store after it was closed, about 10:00 PM. One night, the elevator got stuck between two floors. We were about an hour getting the attention of the night watchman.

One Sunday, we took Elsie and her calf to Wrigley Field. After the ball game, the calf was auctioned off for $525,000.00. It was a very successful trip!

We spent about a month in Chicago. The hours were long and we had to do our laundry and write letters when we got home. I did not enjoy writing, so I made a pact with Anna to let me do the washing and ironing if she would write the letters home.

Our next trip was to California and the Texas State Fair. On this trip, we flew the Flying Tiger Line. It was a very foggy day when we left, and the Tower would not give permission to take off. Finally, we took off without permission, leaving a teary-eyed mother and speculative father.

This trip was not uneventful either. Almost to California, we weren't happy with Elsie's behavior and asked the pilot to call ahead to have a vet at the next stop. Elsie had pneumonia, was given a shot, and recovered by landing time.

We spent a week at the county fair in San Mateo, and then were were on to Texas. Once there we settled in for two weeks. We went to the Texas fair two different years, the second one by train. Anna became very sick on this trip and was met at the New York train station by an ambulance. She was hospitalized with mononucleosis.

We had many day trips. Some of them were:
Teterboro Airport to wish "Bon Voyage" to calves our Government was sending to Greece.
Halloran Veteran's Hospital
Philadelphia Air Show
Christmas party yearly at Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York
At this time, my sister started college, so I asked a friend, Betty Flock, whose father was a potato grower to accompany me. We went for one week to a home show in Albany and to the Florida State Fair in Tampa. We met many celebrities, including: Ed Wynn, Pat Buttran, Hedda Hopper, Ginny Simms, Admiral Nimitz, Miss America of 1942, and Carmen Miranda.
Elsie was a popular advertising icon and drew large crowds everywhere she went. She was also a joy to take care of, and we had a great rapport. A public relations representative from Bordens went ahead each trip and saw to the setting up of the display. He became like a father to us and a good friend.

In each city where we stayed, the Borden executives were also very good to us, seeing that one of us could stay with Elsie, and showed the other the countryside. On one trip to a ranch, we were given a Brahma bull calf to bring home. After calling home and getting permission to accept, we had all the necessary shots administered and brought him home.

The wartime years that Elsie traveled yielded over $10,000,000.00 for the war effort! Both Anna and I felt proud to have been a part of the war bond drive and proud to have been a part of the story of Elsie. Those four years were a very special time for both of us, and we will always remember the wonderful people and exciting places we got to know through Elsie, the Borden cow.

We would like to thank the people of Plainsboro for their interest in our story, and for keeping the wonderful legacy of Elsie, the Borden cow alive in our hearts.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Edith Perrine Sprague
Mrs. Anna Perrine Webber

Edith Perrine and Elsie as guests of honor at the Flower Fiesta in San Mateo, California 1945. Also in the photo is Miss San Mateo, 1945.

Anna and Edith Perrine with Elsie and a calf being auctioned off on Wrigley Field, Chicago on July 2, 1944. The highest bid was $525,000, by W.L. Watermulder, Treasurer of the Quaker Oats Company. The amount went to buy US War Bonds.