The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-05-06
Some Of tie EScxntrfcities of the Mule

Some Of tie ESexntricities of the Mule.
Sometimes the wanderer takes 1t INTO
bis head that he can sing. So long as he
keeps this ides to himself nobody can
complain. But mule Who has such
conceit is sure to publish it. Ole who
has never heard mule solo can form no
idea ct the rare cacophony it involves.
No musical ganiu4t sat score it; no voice
can initiate it. Only mule cat describe
it. 1t is one of the grossest ou.rages on
the public peace ever devised. Happy
for the hearer if the bray be confined to
one mule; but when two or three hun
dred happen to meet together and some
base promptcr among them says, "Breth-
rem, let us Bray" the antiphonal response,
which is never refused, is perfectly over
whe1hing. / remember one poor mule
who lost his life because he would per-
sistently exercise this gift in an Indian
| country, and so betray the command to
the enemy. He was shot as traitor
and nuisance.
There is no other animal. according to
popular opinion, 50 commonplace in his
character as mule. Yet there is ne
other creature which has 50 many native
piquancies. Even his virtues are piquant
and his vices are still more so. 1t is
sometimes difficult for the observer to
distinguish one from the other, yet in the
mind of the mule l have no doubt they
are clearly Disseminated.
| Of all strange and unheard-of situa
tions in which animals find themselves
those which the mule seeks out and Occu
pies are the most serious and the most
comical. Unharness a six-mule team
place the animals side by side and faster
theirheads together and drive them down
to water; there do not live six animals Of
another species that can twist themselves
into such strange knots. The Gordian
knot was nothing in comparison. II
seems impossible for them to keep their
tails all the same way. Before you get
back you will find that the outside mules
have got into the middle, and that the
heads of two or three are just where
their tails should be. At the outset the
scribed as follows:
1 2 8 4 So
Returning from water the arithmetic
would be
& 1 Q G 4
The kicking and fghtingin the disturbed
Enumeration would terminate seriously i
the teamster did not with his "black
snake" hold the balance of power, ant
whip the confusion into unanimity. TIL,
fact is. mule has keen Zest for givin,
surprises. His capability and resource
in this direction are remarkable. Per
haps AbsalOm was never more surprised
in his life than when his mule "went un
der the thick boughs of great oak, an,
his head caught hold of the oak, and h
was taken up between the heaven AM
the earth; and the mule that was unde
him went away" Whether this instinc
for surprises shows itself in his head O
in his heels, the mule never fails to max
an impression. Perhaps a morbid low,
of notoriety affects him. AT all event
he is strongly ambitious. OF all hi
ventures and enterprises | know O.
none more elevated and illustrious thar
one which occurred on the Yellowstone
We had camped about two o'clock in tn
afternoon in the river valley, and turned
the mules out to Craze near by. Bacl
from the river was an almost inaccsssibl,
bluff, $50 feet high, commanding view
of the scenery for miles around Abou
two hours after pitching our tent
we happened to cast glanc
at the top of this bluff, an
there, to the establishment of everybody
was solitary mule on its very highes
point, coolly and calmly taking surve
of the surrounding country. The pecul
lar exaggeration which the atmospher
in that latitude gives to objects see
against the sky made him seem abou
twelve feet high. There he stood j.
calm and lofty serenity, manifesting n
, emotion whatever except that of per1ec
selfsatisfaction. How the animal &c
up there nobody knew. WHAT he wen
for was still less evident. There wa
good grass on the plain; the bluff wa
perfectly barren. The mule had travele
twenty miles that day, and could not b
lacking exercise. Two conjecture
offered themselves to the superflcla
mind he had gone up there on voluntee
picket duty, or else to take view of tn
scenery. But there was only on
: adequate reason: he climbed that hi
because he was mule. And so as a re
suit of this effort to fathom and analyz
the mule we come back to the yer
proposition with which we started, tn
: simple proposition of identity. Tn
mule is mule. What more could b
said?-S. j. Barro,cs, in atlantic Month";