Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-05-08
cannot lump, and which he cannot break

! cannot jump anu WHICH he CaHHoI uioah
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 we'll 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 a demeanor
which as well becomes him as it does his
imitator in a higher plane Of existence
He will have naught to do with the thistle
eating fraternity and would scarce recog-
nize them, even when undergoing his pun
ishment 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 introspecton, we
| will hasten to relate the other phase
our story Mule raising is too trouble
some and too expensive to be engaged in
as amusement or for merely burlcsquing
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. 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 a GER
tain class of men, but such is the case.
Horses fade into comparative insigniti-
canoe there, and are not counted the re-
| spectacle animal for any man to 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 inctii-
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-battered wagon-master of a
Government train knows every animal OF
the two or three hundred of his herd
, The teamster has 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
| tully-saved keg, and give each of his pets
hat full of water. a companionship
springs up between the man and the mules
They know him afar and he leads them
t anywhere, merely holding them by the
chin.
} Under such circumstances the mule de
develops wonderfullv He is sedate, pa
tient, uactablc, handsome, proud of his
bells, and adjusting his Qraught picking
) his path, and altogether understanding his
t 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
r said to be almost professional. The steady,
t methodical work suits him. He grows fat
upon it, and as the years pass each mule
g gains for himself a 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
G stood sleek and dignified mule, known
t through all the country as "Mole" from
, her color, The old girl has carried the
/ successive commanders of the post many
t scouting expeditions which have gone out
from thence. She is so old that her very
unteminine mOustachcs are gray She has
S long been one of the pcrsOnagcS of the
/ place, and no one doubts but that Mole
s has more sense than the common run OF
} soldiers, and that if she could talk her
opinions would be valuable
2 The mule is the philosopher of the ami
: NAL kingdom. Heretofore the owl and
the raven have shared that reputation to
r the exclusion of all others. 1t is time that
, mere stupidity should be called by its
2 proper name. The mule actually thinks
= The lack Of generous spirit, which is his
7 notorious fault, is the result of shrewd
calculation with regard to the amount of
! work he ought to do. A tired mule will
stop in the road, and no amount of
persuasion or force will induce him to 90
further, while the horse goes until he dies
in his tracks But his fibcrs are tough
and his endurance wonderful, and he per
forms tasks of which no other animal in
the service of men on the frontier is capa-
bic. Ninety miles-a long day and nj CHIT
. OF Ccaseess travel-WithOut water Ride
up the line past midni ght, while you shud-
, der to think of the desolate track behind,
and the dreary twenty miles yet to come,
and you will see each long-eared philOsO-
pher at his steady JOgtrot, wagging his
grotesque listeners backward and forward
and pulling on his bits. They know the
nature of the emergency as well as you do
The nostrls are dilated, the eyes have a
distressed look and the gaunt tlanks throb
pitiably. But there is no dragging, no
complaint. On and on in the gloom, for
you do not think or care how long, and
f suddenly the whole line sets up that pecu-
liar cry which is otthe voice of the horse
or the ass, neither mixture of the two.
You may know the animal for years in
civilization and not hear it. 1t is as plain
tive as the voice of a child That cry
means the scent of water, perhaps miles
away, and soon you can see upon the hOri-
zon the stunted trees which stand sparsely
F upon the banks Of the Rio Grande, the
Pecos or the Concho-J. W. Steele, in
Kansas Magazine.
A COLONY is organizing in Newark, N
j., upon the cooperative plan, with the
intention Of forming settlement in the
Valley of the San Joaquin River, in Cali
fornia, upon the line of the Southern
Pacific Railway. This valley, which is