The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1881-01-06
THE Mule that Kicked the Bee
Hive.

ne Californian: L was VlSlLlnS
a gentleman who lived in the vicin-
ity OF Los Angeles. The morning
was beautiful. The plash of little
cascades about the grounds, the
buzz of bees and the gentle moving
of the foliage of the pepper trees in
the scarcely perceptible ocean
breeze made up picture which L
thought was complete. 1t was lot.
A mule wandered on the scene.
The scene, l thought, could have
got along without him. He took a
different view.
Or course, mules were not al
lowed on the grounds. That is
what he knew. That::was his reas-
on for being there.
1 recognized him. Had met hun.
His lower lip hung Hdown. He
looked disgusted. 1t seemed he
didn't like being a mule.
A day or two before, while was
trying to pick up little child who
had got too near this mules heels,
he kicked me two or three times
before / could tell from which way
1 was hit. might have avoided
some of the kicking. but, In my con
fusion, began to kick at the mule.
l didn't kick with him long. He
outnumbered me.
He browsed along on the choice
shrubbery. 1 forgot the beauty of
the morning. Remembered black
and blue spot on my leg. 1t looked
like the print of mules hoof.
The was another on my right hip.
Where my suspenders crossed were
two more, as l have been Informed.
They were side by side-twin blue
spots, and seemed to be about the
same age.
L thought of revenge. 1 didn't
want to kick with him any more.
No. But ] thought, if | had him
tied down good and fast, 50 he
could not move his heels, how like
sweet incense it would be to first
saw his ears and tail smooth of,
then put out his eyes with a red
hot poker, then skin him alive, then
run him through a threshing ma
chine.
While 1 was thus thinking, and
getting madder and madder, the
mule, which had wandered up close
to large bee hive, got stung. His
eyes lighted up, as if that was just
what he was looking for. He
turned on that beehive and took
aim. He fred. In about ten
seconds the only piece of bee
hive 1 could see was about the
size a man feels when he has told q
joke that falls on the company like
piece of sad news. This piece
was in the air. 1t was being kicked
at
The bees swarmed. They swarm
ed good deal. They lit on that
mule earnestly. After he had
kicked the last piece of bee hive SO
high that he could not reach it any
more, he stopped for an instant.
He seemed trying to ascertain
whether the ten thousand bees
which were stinging him meant it.
They did.
The mule turned loose. l never
saw anything TO equal it. He was
enveloped in q dense fog of earnest
ness and bees, and filed with en-
thusiasm and stings The more be
kicked, the higher he rose FROM the
ground. l may have been mista-
ken, for l was somewhat excited
and very much delighted, but the
mule seemed to rise as high as the
tops OF the pepper trees. The pep
per trees were twenty feet high
He would opel and shut himself
ike a frog swimming. Sometimes
when he was in mid air, he would
look like be was an angel, and
would think for a moment that ht
was about to become an angel
Only for q moment. There ART
probably no mule angels.
When he had got up to the top;
of the pepper trees. was called L
breakfast. / told them didn'
want any breakfast.
The mule continued TO be busy
When a mule kicks himself ciea
Of the earth, his heels seldom
reGch higher than his back; that Is
mules forelegs can reach for
ward, and his hind-legs backward
until the mule becomes Strengthened
out into q line of mule parallel will
the earth, and fifteen or twenty fee
therefrom. This mules hind legs
however, were not only raised int
q line with his back, bat the