The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-04-01
THAT WALLER MULE.

Vi VIC CuaACl-uciIS SOuuucQ ctesif anu
musically on the crisp, frosty air. Mr.
Boblink, dressed in his Sunday suit of
shining black, looked almost clerical, as
he stood by the window waiting for Mrs.
Boblink to finish her toilet and accom-
pany him to the house of worship. He
was calm, respectable, and a smile of
selfcomplacency frightened his features
as he glanced at himself in mirror, and
removed a thread from his coat-sleeve.
Mrs. Boblink was in the act of de-
scending the stairs, when perfect vol
ley of barks from Towser broke the Sab.
bath quiet, and drew Mr.. Boblink to the
window. One glance, and he stood pet
riied. Some tramp had left the gate
open, and there, in the center of his Or
namental grass plot, q gigantic mule was
tearing the winter covering of straw
from his pet plants, and rapidly demol-
ishing fragile fancy arbor by scratch
ing his shoulder against it, while Towser
circled about him, like fly around a
sugar-bowi, barking as if he would bark
himself inside out.
Mr.. Boblink was man who thought
and acted quick. Another glance, and,
Selling his best silk hat and gold-headed
cane, he strobe forth to expel the in
truder
The enemy had once been of soapy-
yellow color, Judging from what little
hair remained; but age, clubs, exposure,
cart-rungs, starvation, brick bats and
boys had nearly removed all traces of his
hue. A row, of bristly tufts, like a
column of discarded backing brushes,
was all he had to show for a name his
tail was sort of compromise of natures
between stuffed club raveled out on
the end and an overgrown German sau-
sage; the scalp lock of hair that graced
its tip had apparently created corner
in the burr and thistle market; his ribs
stood ont like rungs in ladder, and
made you like betting the money
you had saved up for the con, ersion of
the heather that he hadn't fed on any
thing more nutritious than cinders, clam
shells and clubbings since he was babe;
he might have been anywhere from
twenty to two thousand years old, and
served in both the revolutionary war
and the rebellion, judging from his scars.
His ankles and feet alone had survived
the touch of time and the general wreck
of matter, and still proudly proclaimed
his aristocratic and blue blooded lineage;
the former were as trim and taper as
Murray Hill bellies, and his feet as small
as those of Chinese woman. Still, to
look at his bland and innocent counte-
nance, as he stood this bright Sabbath
morning in Mr.. Boblink's garden, with
his eyes partially closed, and his enor-
nous ears slanting forward like twin fur
lined coalscuttles, or canoes stood on
end, he was the picture of injured inno-
cence, and looked as if he had been up
all night praying for the forgiveness of
the naughty boys who tied kettle to
his tail, or the hard-hearted men who
drove and dubbed him.
Mr.. Boblink's wrath died out at the
sight of this mules meek and Christian
like department his heart now went
forth to the poor, abused wanderer, and
he approached him gently to lead him
forth, and stroked his neck tenderly.
"Whoa! nice old fellow-come along"
he soliloquized. "Man's inhumanity to
mules makes-O, Lordy! darnationl let
GO! Oh! oh! oh murder -
Mr.. Boblink struggled, squirmed, and
tried to detach his shoulder from the
mules teeth. When he did succeed i'm
getting it free, the mule kept square
foot of the cloth and piece of the flesh
10 remember him by.
Z Church-going people passing along
the road about this time would have
seen Mr.. Boblink spinning around cn
one leg like humming top, and swear
ing as if he had hornets nest in his
pants pocket. Towser, resting on his
tail, bottled his banks in establishment,
while the mule regarded the pair apa-
thetieally. as if mailman. more or less,
CO to