Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-05-21
Festive Account of "a Mule Ride ii
Elo1iER.

lowing article of an eDistolary nature, writ
ten by q New Yorker sojourning in Fer
nandina, Fla. It j. decidedly rich
" Well, I'm down. here in Florida pe1co-
lating through the sand. This State is a
heap of SANDAL sand-much Of it as
white as snow. A very.quiet State is Florida.
No bUstle. No confusion. Nobody in a
hurry. Tomorrow is just as good as to-
day to do anything, and better. Time is
Of no account. The climate is glorious ;
just one beautiful day after another till you
fail to appreciate them.
The boys insisted that I needed relaxa-
ton. Ny health required it. | had q
pretty fair article of health, I thought ;
enoug gh to last me as long as lived. But
I must accumulate stock for future use
The South was the place to get it. And
riding was healthy. The sand is too deep
| to ride, except on horseback, SO [ thought
[ would take ride. [ applied to the
livery man for horse He had one. He
sadly looked at ne, as though he pitied
me- Did [ ever ride a mule ? / never
bad. He had as good riding horses as
/ were ever saddled, but [ wanted @ "Rock
me to sleep, Mother" style OF ride, I
| would take mule don't consider my
self o frst-class judge OF mules. had
some vague notions in regard to them ;
supposed they would do large amount OF
| work with very little food, and were i'm
| mortal. [ had read of one being driven
/ over the same route by the same bog for
| eiehty-seyen years, and he was young
mule yet,
Bring forth the mule. The mule was
brought. He was a meek looking cuss-a
perfect sc Uriah Heep" of a mule, so far as
Umbleness was concerned ; at least,
! that was the view took of him. He was
saddled, and [ mounted. For mile or
| two he paced beautifully. thought those
old monks / had read about, knew what
they were doing when they travelled on
mules. I had great respect for their
Judgment. just then my mule began to
! show symptoms-symptoms of what, did
not know. / found out. Dropping his
head between his legs, his heels described
parabolic curve. or diabolic curve, OF
some other Internal curve, in the air, and
7 got off and sat on the ground. [ got of
over his head, and I did it quick. I'm not
kind as quick as boy. Then I looked al
the mule to see if ne was hurt He
didn't appear to be. Then I inquired
around to see how was. I reported
an abrasion on the left hip, AMI &
confusion on the lower end of my
back Then I thought I would pro
nounce left-handed blessing on that mule,
and on his forefathers and foremothers te
fore him. and on his children after him.
But didn't. l wondered if he would
stand fire. If I had had a pistol I would
have put the muzzle to his ear and tried
him. Not that I was hostile towards him,
but was afraid somebody might take 6
ride on him some day and &c; hurt. But
had no pistol, and so that benevolent and
sanguinary idea was frustrated. Then
got up and shook the dust off my feet, anc
brushed the sand off my trousers, as tes
timony against that place. Then led the
mule carefully home, and stated my case
to the livery man. But when looked tha
he should offer to send for doctor, or {
Samaritan, to do me up in a rag, and pou!
olive oil and champagne on my bruises, ht
only laughed. And his man he had IL
help him laid down on bench and laugh
ed-then he rolled off the bench an(
laughed-and stood holding the mule
then 7 laughed. It was ridiculous. Bu
I've learned little wisdom. Next time
ride on horseback, it will be on a differ
ent kind Of q least from bogus jsckass