The morning call., 1892-10-23
4 CHAPTER ON MULES.
They Are Not Beautiful, but
Are Very Useful.
JACKS CHARACTERISTICS.
Experience Has Taught Him That II He
Don't Take Care of Himsalf No
One Else Will
written for THE MORNING CALL

uncOmpromisingly in evidence. His legs
are queer and pinlike; his meager, tufted
tail is neither picturesque nor beautiful,
aud his voice is not melodious; but consid-
ering his advantages he is a good deal better
in his queer way and humble place than
many nobler animal would be. No horse
ever pos sessed his doggedness of purpose
and determination to overcome obstacles.
No dog was ever more docile, no OK so in
telligent
In this part of the world the mule Is not
only despised, but his actual usefulness is
greatly overlooked. Even in the Southern
States, where the animal Is more highly
esteemed than here. and where beautiful
specimens of the kind are raised, and used,
even for fashionable carrage-teams. the
horse is more highly honored and considered
more desirable.
Our cousins, the English, also make but
little use of them; but in Oriental lands and
some parts Of Europe, and In South Amer
ics, the mule is appreciated for his full
worth. Kings and princes ride upon them.
In the days when chariots were used mules
were yoked thereto. They are still used.
we are told. to draw the carriages OF the
Italian cardinals and other ecclesiastical
dignitares, and the mules OF certain dis
tricts of Spain and Italy are as distinctly
sought after by admirers Of the creatures
as are Californian or Kentucky bred horses
py lovers of the noble animal.
There is good deal Of work in rural Cal
ifornia to which the mule is far better
adapted than is the horse. He is smaller
than the horse, lighter. DETER and more
careful in his movements, besides oelng
stronger than the average horse oil his
niafa m
liarly useful in orchard and vineyard work,
while in these hard times, when the farmer
counts every dime OF outlay, the fact that
the mule will do his work on less food and
that of coarser quality than the horse can
live on should be weighty consideration
with the thrifty
"But Jack is stubborn and vicious. bad
tempered and intractable." say most people
Stubborn, yes, and ii Is that very quality
that makes him so useful. Nobody ever saw
mule balk. Hitch one OF them up to the
aide of house and give him the word and
be will pull until something gives way or he
drops from exhaustion. Even then. II he
can get to his knees, he will continue to pull
in that position. Stop him Oh steep Dill,
with a heavy load behind him, and he Will
not let that load go back one inch. III he IS
vicious and bad temperedi 1t Is because harsh
treatment which is more often than not his
only experience, has made him so, and in
tractable he certainly is not. lie has the
patience and d0cility Of that most tracta6le
beast of burden, the ass. with the superior
Intelligence aud willing spirit OF the horse.
IL ANYTHING the mule is superior to the
horse in intelligence. He is less affection
ate and is less apt to possess that unb0unded
confidence in his rider or driver that char
acterizes the well-bred horse.
The horse will usually go where his driver
commands him. even though IL may be into
peril. but not so Jack. Experience has not
taught him that any one is going TO look
| after his hide and legs il he doesn't take care
| OF them himself and he is consequently
| careful where lie steps. He Will not go down
| into a waysde ditch to turn out for another
| team He will not cross bridge, as once
| had a horse do for me, with nearly every
| other plank missing, washed away by a
| freshet and he is reluctant to ford stream,
| or travel through deep mud before when a
| horse would rot hesitate, but he Will pa.
| tjently climb mountain SIDES and crawl
/ along narrow trails and creep around peril
ous lodges that the horse, less surefqote0
and keener In nervous organization, would
| never venture upon,
He kicks like mule" is comparison
| far less fraught with meaning than those
| who use IL imagine. The mule that Is
kindly treated and given no occasion to kick
| will never do it. If he learns the trick when
| young. 1t is because he has resorted to it in
| self-defense or revenge, and even then he
learns it less readily than colt or Ally
|
Tie mule is not q speedy steed. lie will
probably never be a record 0reaker-bnt
| then, 0 one wants him TO be-. We read oc-
casionally in Oriental literature Of fleet
| mules, but the feetness Of the Oriental
| mule. ike that of the Arabian horse, is q
quality more literary than actual The av-
erage COW pony of the plains would be lily
equipped for his work II he could not travel
considerably faster than the pure-bred
Arabian horse.
What the mule lacks in speed, however
| he makes up in endurance fact which
enables him to out-travel the fastest and
strongest of horses. A friend Of mine once
| rode mule 100 miles in thirteen hours
stopping at noon for brief rest. 10 give the
animal drink and a handful OF cornmeal
all the food he had for him. aud mule used
! on q stage route in San Diego County once
took fright just as he was being unhitched
| after days work and ran away. Twenty
| four hours later he turned up at bis old
home. $50 miles away. but he was badly
used-up mule, and 1t was many weeks before
he was able to do any more work.
Mules are more apt to take notions than
| are horses. / knew one once that never
| could be got to enter a certain stall in the
barn. He would go readily and contentedly
| into any other. but not even when blind
| folded could he be got into that one. What
| made has antipathy more curious was that,
| so far as any one knew, he pever had been
In that particular stall. Equally curious,
| but far more inconvenient, was the within
| of a team Of these creatures owned by an
acquaintance of mine. These animals
| would never drink away from home. They
would go into town, fourteen miles distant.
with heavy load on hot, dusty day and
| come ONE with their tongues lOlllng from
their mouths and evidently suffering from
| thirst, but not drop OF water could they
| be induced to touch until their own familiar
trough was reached. AS weird mule freak,
however, as / ever encountered, was that OF
team behind which | made journey
early one cold, frosty morning under the
shadow of Mount Shasta. These creatures
were quite the slowest have had the mis-
fortune to meet. and neither OF them would
nav the slightest attention to the heavy raw
hide whip which the driver carried. His
only means of accelerating their speed was
by what he called "heaving rock at EN-.
for which purpose he had his pockets full
of small stones that he threw at intervals.
hiking one or other of the mules on the
back, whereupon the team would quicken
their steps for time. A heavy blow from
the whip failed. every time, to produce the
effect that was instantly accomplished by
the contact of one of the smallest OF these
pebbles with the rough gray hides be-
fore us.
The mule is ready to begin work two or
three wears earlier than the horse. lie can
be put TO pretty heavy pulling when he Is
years old. and from that time until he is 30.
IL he has fair treatment and does not meet
with an accident. he is not likely to lose
any time. He is not subject to the many
ailments to which the horse is a victim. at
least not TO any great degree. He lives
about twice as long and his actual period OF
usefulness Is nearly three times as long.
for the horse Is not really fit for heavy
service until he is 8 years old. or
after he is 20, while a mule will
often do good service for forty years,
and they have been known to work fifty.
according TO one writer, without being
| turned ont at any time during all that long
period. Like the ass. the mule will live
| upon next to nothing, and during ali his
forty years of hard service mule will not
REQUIRE, and generally does not get, half the
| feed necessary to sustain horse during
| his much shorter period of usefulness. Jack
| nil fhrive nm what Is ont here confempt-