American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-04-26
The Mule.


stolen from the passing wagon, and the
utter stolidity with which he stands with
hanging lip in the sun, asleep. The year
ling mule il the incarnation and sum total
of quadrupetial deviltry. He is the origi
natOr of distinct and uninterrupted Sc
ries of gretesque diabolisms. See him
with his scant and ungfaceful tail tangled
with a whole acre Of heterogeneous burs
The long and faded hair on his belly wav.
ing inrthe breeze, an inverted adornment
so comically cOntrived 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 a
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 aye 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 jobbipg
wagon. The little black hoofs are hard
and polished, and, like those of the goat
and chamois, fitted for clinging in slippery
places. And those ears-in all his kind
they have ever.refused to be hidden. Even
as he stands nodding against the 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 malcvolent idea is
born within him. When they. are laid
squge1y. back upon lib neck, his connse-
name isn cheer proof of ~ ruth OF inc
sciencs ef rkysiOxno1 Mischie. mas
then IT'S hesrnatioG fhes clumsy limbs
aAcntskyon NTH sudden imberness
and Az hfgh - the air with rapidity
which defss.s yisisD. The faculty of aero
hattie licking never leaves him, whatever
else may befall.
Men whose 1abors in this life have taken
the strange direction of mule raising are
suppoeed< So ead abort lives and troubIous
ONES. Efom infancy TO age, there Is no
fence which will hold, no system which
will train them into staid and reliable
farm-hofse habits. Place twenty of the
youngsters at long trough; feed them
kbersHy with oats, and It win 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 in 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 indHtriously champing his prov
ender, seeming mildly to wonder how you
could have suspected him. - -
1t has long beer. known that, there is
only ene wayby which a mHfe can be
PHnished md strange to. say, that is bya
himself is the wretchedest of beasts. He
may not be so particular about its quality,
but he must have companions; compan-
ions to bite and kick and steal from, and
over whose back he can rest his intelii-
gent head to stare at the passers-by Place
him in q field over whose fence he really
cannot jump, and which he cannot break
I'VE must be pardened 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 Ashits and bodily comfort. The
male sever fbrgef4 his kinship with his
most respectable rel atfOns 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 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 demeanor
which as well becomes him as it does his
lmitator in higher plane of existence
He will have naught to do with the thistle
eating fraternity, and would scarce recog
nizc them, even when undergoing his pun
isbnent of solitary confinement
Now all this is superficial, and only one
side of the case. Since it is morally GER
tain thAt these fellows wliO write trash for
mere newspapers viii 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 Mule-raising is too trouble
some and too expensive to be engaged in
- Arrangement or for merely burlesquing
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
forsakes him in labors which no other
animal has been found capable of per-
forming. It is on the plains, and in the
coffafs 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 passion with GER
tain class of men, but such is the case.
Horses fade into comparative insignifi-
canoe ercs and are not counted the re-
spect11le animal for any imam to ride.
The Qpverdnent Of the United States is
the largest mqleproprietor in the world.
Without them the little army of the from
tier would be useless and entirely ineffi-
cient. The chief matters of interest at a
frontier post are, first, the drill of the
men; second, the condition of the mules
The weather-batter wagon-master of
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
for them much sooner than he would steal
food for himself. He will empty his care
fully-saved keg, and give each of his pets
a hat full of water. A cOmpanionship
springs up between the man and the mules
They know him afar, and he leads them
anywhere, merely holding them by the
chin.
Under such circumstances the mule de-
develops wonderfully. He is sedate, pa
tient, tractable, handsome, proud of his
bells, and adjusting his draught, picking
his path, and altogether understanding his
business better than any draught-horse has
done since the Conestoga days. The army
mule has become a by word, and the char
acter obtained by his service there may be
said to be almost professional. The steady,
methOdical work suits him. He grows fat
upon it, and as the years pass each mule
gains for himself reputation among the
knowing ones. know a stall in the cor
ner Of a certain populous corral in that re-
mote region, where for fourteen years has
stood sleek and dignified mule, known
through all the country as 'Mole," from
her color. The old girl has carried the
successive commanders of the post many
thousands of miles, in the numberless
scouting expeditions which have gone out
from thence She is so old that her very
unfeminine moustaches are gray. She has