<p>HERBORN -- Eight years after escaping a Hopkinton slaughterhouse, Emily the Cow, an inarticulate but persuasive spokeswoman for vegetarianism, died in her sleep early Sunday of uterine cancer. She was 10.</p>
<p>Officials at the Sherborn Peace Abbey, which bought Emily in 1995, praised her yesterday for promoting vegetarianism to the center's estimated 100 weekly visitors. In her eight years in Sherborn, more than 90 guests forswore red meat, many taking the vegetarian pledge after encountering the mild-mannered activist, said Meg Randa, who runs the Peace Abbey with her husband, Lewis.</p>