Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-30
HOT SPRINGS CURIOS.
Poor Land but Pure Milk-A Burro Swindle
Exposed-Advantages of Small Horse
Car Mules-where Cavaliers Are Nu-
merous - Eouestrianism a Dangerous

| IApOSeu-Au oh ohiah uOrSc
Car Mules-Where Cavaliers Are Nu-
merous - Equestrianism a Dangerous
| Pastime.
Hot SPRINGS, ARK, March 26.-There is
enough grass in this valley to make breakfast
for one Northern COW of moderate appetite.
They do not turn out the cows, horses, mules
and burros here to Craze; they are not SO fool
ish. About all you can Craze upon the rocks
and tree stumps your shins. The rocks
are picturesque, though; rough and white stone,
sometimes saty and often full of crystal for
nations, from which are obtained the Hot
Springs diamonds, as they are called. The
best whet-stones in the United States are made
from this rock. Another thing the natives
pride themselves upon are their garden rock
cries. Up North when a man wants to make
his front yard an eyesore he fills 1t with white
washed rocks; but here nature gives him the
rocks ready whitewashed. This suits the
| Southerner to a T.
| But to return to our cows. 1t has puzzled
me TO ccount for the richness of the cream
upon the hotel table, as compared with the
| poverty of the landscape and the cows here
abouts, but to-day the gentle brunette who
thinks he waits at our table explained the
| seeming anomaly. The milk, cream and
| butter comes from New Jersey; or about 1000
| miles, packed in ice. Indeed, the great hotels
here have to import pretty nearly everything
they give their guests to eat, and it is as credit
| able as it is singular that you can get as good
| dinner here as you can at the Anderson or
Duquesne. The beef steaks are especially
| good, for the reason 1 suppose that we draw at
| first hand upon the herds of Texas
When Gilbert A. Hays was in Cuba this
| spring he was somewhat astonished at the ex-
| cellence of the butter which they served at the
| Hotel El TELEGRAPH 1t struck him as remark
| able that such rich, creamy butter should be
| procurable in Havana, where the cows par
| don the bull, are chiefly asinine. By and by the
| proprietor of the hotel, as the custom is in
| Spanish countries, came to MIR. Hays and asked
him if everything was satisfactory. With his
wonted diplomacy, Mr. Rays replied in the
affirmative, though he still had positive i'm
preston upon his person of the woven.wire
mattress upon which he had spent the night q
PEspdgnote with only single sheet interven-
ing and added special word of praise for the
butter.
Yes, the butter ought to be good" replied
mine host; 1--WE get it twice week regularly
from New York;
The Beautiful Burro.
Even the burros are imported. There are
scores of the poor little beasts here, for the
dIminutive but sure-footed donB ey is the best
hlll-climber going. and there are enough chill
dren about the hotels anyhow to keep most of
them employed all day long. Apparently, the
donkeys thrive on diet of rocks-I have never
seen one eating anything more Iuscious-for
though they are not inclined to enlbonpotnt In
figure and their coats resemble a moth-eaten
buffalo robe, they are nimble enough on their
feet and placid air of contentment may be
discerned on their lengthy faces. The donkeys
l knew in childhood were not so sweet-tem-
pered, and their energies were concentrated al
most entirely in their hind legs. Happily, the
independent but suave burro of Arkapsaw has
not been contaminated by intercourse with the
rude and restive donkeys of Margate sands
knew twenty years and many thousands OF
miles away. If the protective tariff has kept
the bloated donkey of England from our mar
kets it is again to be blessed Mr.. Mckinley
should look into this.
1t is not surprising that visitors should often
carry away Hot Springs burro as memento
Last week some Pittsburgers who were about
to depart for home entered into negotiations
with the burro monopols: for one of the little
creatures. A comely one was selected and the
price fixed at So about $40 so above the market
quotation in Mexico. whence all the burros are
imported. Then the Pittsburger inquired
about transportation, and discovered that it |
would cost S35 to carry the 20-dollar donkey to |
Pittsburg! This seemed a trife expensive. and |
when it came out that precisely the same burro !
could be bought for the same price in St LOUIS, |
thus saving more than half the freight charges, |
the Pittsburger very naturally decided to curb |
his desire for burro till he reached the Mound |
City,
Mr.. Kimball, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, |
who is here with his family. has created boom |
in the burro market by buying no less than |
four of them. AS a railroad man Mr.. Kimball, |
of course, knew better than to pay freight |
charges from here to ST. Louis, and his four |
neddies will be shipped to Philadelphia from
the latter place.
Small Mules in Demand.
The mules which draw the street cars here
are almost as small as the burros. The cars
are bob-tailed, of course, and as rapidlty Is not
desirable feature in transit here, even If it
were possible, the little mules get along very
well. Still their diminutive size attracts the
notice of Northerner, and made some re-
mark about it to a native the other day.
DO you know why they use small mules?"
said he "Why, If they had bigger ones, they'd
never get through the streets in wet weather
A heavier mule would be out of sight in the
mud, sir, IN no time" and remembering the
lagoons of mud in the chief street after the
snow melted the other day, saw the wisdom
of using lightweight mules. and preferably
good swimmers.
AsI write / can see horse car bobbing along
in one direction, in the light of an electric arc
lamp, while six oxen, harnessed to q heavy
wheeled dray on which rests a single bale of
hay, are slowly and unevenly moving up the
street in the other. The ox-carts and the loco
motive run side by side through this valley. but
the latter goes somewhat faster it must be con-
fessed.
Cavaliers in Plenty.
The great diversion, and indeed the only one,
almost for the visitor here, is equestrian exer-
cise Everybody rides except the very sickest
of the invalids. The roads are too rough for
driving ana walking is out of the question if a
very few paths up the hillsdes are excepted.
For those who don't ride, the sight of those
who can't ride, but will mount, is cheap and
constant amusement. A man who started from
our hotel this morning was thrown four times in
100 yards. This beats the local record, am told
Some of the horses are good, and as general
rule superior to the livery stable horses one
sees in the East. Even the best riders, how
ever find it hard to stay on some of the horses. |
and the reason of this discovered to-day.
A gentleman who hired horse at the princi-
pal livery stable here one day last week had an
experience that he did not appreciate. He
dropped his whip, and in remounting the horse
started back and fell. throwing the rider on his
face. The horse then ran of and was recap
tured by another man in the party with some |
difficulty. Finally my friend got back to
the stable, and he stayed around |
until the saddle was taken off. Then
he understood why the horse had jumped back
when he tried to mount There was a raw
place as big as a mans hand on the horses
back, against which the riders leg had pressed
no he rosa into the saddle He asked tho !