Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-05-15
NOAH'S MULE.
Why he Did not Take Him in the Ar
The Log Book of the Graft.

-Vhe Log BOOK OF the Graft.
Noah was good old man, and the
tribulations he experienced when he
started out with his "grandest aggrega-
ton of the worlds wild beasts and float.
ing menagerie " could not be told in a
week. Not that the crew of the ark
were not attentive to their duty, and
cheered the old man by spinning yarns
on the spar deck and dancing hornpipes,
but the season was bad, and the animals,
somehow, could not settle down and be
happy family, as they DO in all we'll
regulated nenageries. No act in the
old mans life shines out go LUMINOSITY
as his consideration of the mule. There
was no long.eared native of the towpath
aboard the ark, and it was on this &C.
count that he ever held in cherished re-
membrance that hybrid cross of an ass
and horse. He recognized how desir-
able it was to have a mule to make the
collection complete, even if it were not
trick mule, but he hoped in vain. If
/ one had been aboard, some such record
as this would have been found in the log:
"Friday, fourth day out-Gray, med
itative mule broke loose on the second
! deck, and worked the baby African ele-
plant into jelly with his hind legs.
Mule feels much better.
Thursday, fourth day out-heavy
sea. Ham, Shem and Japhet parted
with everything except knee pants. Bay
mule feeling his oats all day. At P.
NJ. gadfy inspected mules of leg. Con-
WILSON'S in rear part of mule. One CAD
fly missing and seventeen feet of sky
light gone.
But the mule was not there, and hence
it was that the old man always respected
the beast. One of the boys drove self
opinionated, extra long cared specimen
down the gang plank, but there it stuck.
The boys had never driven a mule
before, and were deficient in the lam
guage necessary to inspire the beast to
nluve, anu IL Is SAID That Moan wished
within his heart Of hearts that one mule
driver had been spared to express his
turgid feelings. After delaying the ark
for two days, and the mule showing no
disposition to lift leg, all hands were
piped aboard and the ark set sail.
The log of the voyage, which can be
found in almost any European collection
of antiquities, shows that raven was
sent out in search of dry land. The "a
ven was never heard from until some
years since, when he tapped upon the
lattice window of Edgar A. Poe's bed
chamber, and announced himself as old
"Nevermore." That raven is still to be
seen in any side show, and can be detect
ed by his voice. The general dampness
that prevailed gave him bronchial
affection, and he can be spotted, sure
pop, by the crosscut-saw intonation in
his remarks.
But the mule. Some time before Noah
ran the nozzle of the ark abaft Mount
Ararat, Japhet was ree6ng the fore royal
and almost lost hisgrip, when he deserted
in the distance the sell, same opinionated
mule, astridc the summit of the noun
tain, gazing afar out upon the stretch of
waters, evidently thinking that the days
of canal boats had been numbered and
towpaths would be obliterated forever
more. With surprising unanimity all
the gnats, gadfies, horsefies and mos
quitoes moved in a body to the mule and
held social On his sloping headquarters.
In the log sixteen pages are devoted to
a graphic description of what followed.
1t is the opinion of some naturalists thai
from that time the mule became docile
and showed spirit to nave his hind legs
fondled by little boys or colored men in
search of everlasting rest.-Philadelphi1
Record,