Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-04-17
The Mule.


we passed by. We have seen the furtive
agility with which the wisp of hay is
stolen from the passing wagon, and the
utter stolidity with which he stands with
hanging lip in the sun, asleep. The year
ling mule is the incarnation and sum total
of quadrupedal deviltry. He is the Origi-
natOr of distinct and uninterrupted Sc
ries of grotesque diabolisms. See him,
with his scant and ungraceful tail tangled
with a whole acre Of heterogeneous burs,
the long and faded hair on his belly way
ing in the breeze, an inverted adornment,
so comically contriyed as to be perfectly
in keeping with the nature and origin of
the brute His fuzzy name, scarce grown,
sits upon him with the same air as do the
whiskers of shaveling youth. He has
curious jog-trot, which in itself suggests
careless and irredeemable depravity 1t is
the gait of one who goes steadily to the
bad, yet never gets there. At that age the
eyes are foxy and shrewd, and lack the
look Of sadness so often seen in those Of
his aged relative of the dray and jobbing
wagon. The little black hoofs are hard
and polished, and, like those of the goat
and chamois, fitted for clinging i'll slippery
places. And those ears-in all his kind
they have ever refused to be hidden. Even
90 iiC STATUS llVNtNtlllS dllISI NliN sunny
side Of the barn they are ever moving
Now backward, now forward, and in OPP
posite ways. You tell by these tokens
just when an unusually malevolent idea is
born within him. When they are laid
squarely back upon his neck, his counte
nance is a clear proof of the truth of the
science of physiognomy. Mischief has
then its incarnation. The clumsy limbs
astonish YOU with their sudden limberness
and fly high in the air with a rapidity
which deties vision. The faculty of aero
batic kicking never leaves him, whatever
else may befall.
Men whose labors in this life have taken
the strange direction of mule raising are
supposed to lead short lives and troublous
ones. From infancy to age, there is no
fence which will hold, no system which
will train them into staid and reliable
farmhouse habits. Place twenty of the
youngsters at a long trough feed them
literally with oats, and it will be more
from luck than prudence if you get away
from the shaggy conclave with less than
twenty Of the forty hinder hoofs having
been flung III your face. You never can
catch the offender. Schoolboys are tame
beside them. Ere you can turn to look,
the meek creature has reversed his ears
and is industriously champing his prov
ender, seeming mildly to wonder how you
could have suspected him.
1t has long been known that there is
only one way by which mule can be
punished, and strange to say, that is by a
strain upon his sensibilities. A mule by
himself is the wretchedest of beasts. He
may not be 50 particular about its quality,
but he must have companions; cOmpan-
ions to bite and kick and steal from. and
over who's back he can rest his intelli-
gent head to stare at the passersby. Place
him in a field over whose fence he really
cannot jump, and which he cannot break
we must be pardoned if we verge upon
romance in this suppositiOn-and he will
betake himself to the company of the staid
cows, or even the pigs who are there with
him, and proceed to bite their backs and
otherwise to interfere with their accus-
toned habits and bodily comfort. The
mule never forgets his kinship with his
most respectable relations. He insists on
considering the horse his brother and. as
Is well known, can only be cOaXed along
the highway to market in peace by being
enticed by an elderly gray mare, on
whose neck there is a bell, and whom he
will recklessly follow to the ends of the
earth. On the other hand he disdains his
poor relations, the asses, with a demeanor
which as well becomes him as it does his
imitator in a higher plane of existence
lie Will have naught to do with the thistle
eating fraternity, and would scarce recog-
niZe them even when undergoing his pun
lshment of solitary confinement
Now all this is superficial, and only one
side Of the case. Since it is morally GER
tain that these fellows who write trash for
mere newspapers will proceed to regale
their morning readers with the statement
that this chapter is the result of personal
experience and born of intrOspection. we
will hasten To relate the other phase of
our story Embarrassing is too trouble
some and too expensive to be engaged i'm
rs amusement or for merely burlesuuing
creation. Money is at the bottom of the
business. 1t is probable that this curious
brute is the most useful of all the four
footed toilerS whom man holds in perpet-
ual slavery. His cool philosophy never
lorsakes him i'll labors which no other
animal has been found capable of per
forming. 1t is on the plains and in the
corralS of the far Southwest, that the mule
and his master fully understand each
other. These desolate plains, and the
long and waterless roads, are the fields of
his usefulness. 1t is a strange statement
that mule-driving is a passion with GER
tam class OF men, but such is the case.
Horses fade into comparative insignifi-
canoe there. and are not counted the re
spectacle animal for any man 10 ride.
The Government of the United States is
the largest mule proprietor in the world.
Without them the little army of the from
tier would be useless and entirely inefi
Client The chief matters of interest at a
frontier post are, first, the drill of the
men; second, the condition of the mules
The weather battered wagOn-master of a
Government train knows every animal of
the two or three hundred of his herd
The teamster has a pet name for each sleek
creature in his team Of six He is with
them day and night, and will steal corn
Tor them much sooner than he would steal
food for himself He will empty his care
tully-Saved keg, and give each of his pets
hat full of water \ companionship
springs up between the man and the mules
They know him atar, and he leads them
anywhere, merely holding them by the
chin.
Under such circumstances the mule de-
develops wonderfully He is scdatc ma
tent tractable, handsome, proud Of his
bells, and adjusting his draught. pickinr
his path, and altogether UNDERSTANDING his
business better than any draught-horS has
done since the ConeStoga DAYS. Thcarmy
mule has become by-word, and the char.
acter obtained by his service there ma, be
said 10 be almost professional The steady
Not Nod .NNl l. e. I,