The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-07-04

The Mule--His Everlasting Qualities

thereon, the necessity for a m~ulesee1ns
to have been overlooked. In none of
the pictures, paintings or panoramers
of anti deluvian times is the mule,
The garden of Eden was a wilderness
without a mule. The horse, the ass,
the OK and the goat figure in these
scenes, but the mule neverl In the ark
he has no place, and it may be better
for Noah and his family that he has
not. When the imaginary belt of the
Zodiac was figured out and given its
proper signs the mule, though as we
now see it entitled to a place therein,
was counted out, overlooked orignored
for another candidate of less merit but
probably stronger influence. The ram
got in as chief of the bUtting depart
ment, and presided at the head, while
taurus holds the neck to bear the yoke
and leo gives courage to the heart-al
proper appointments! But when we
dropdown to the heels-there are fishes,
which neither run, walk or kick toany
purpose. Aglanee at Westinghouse
or oon after the incoming of a new adj
ministration, will convince any onethe,
sign is in the heels, and in the eternal
fitness of things-in justice to the bal
let girls and the average politician, this
sign in the cycle should be appropriate
ly represented. A maSs-meeting of
the interested classes would formulate
sounding resolutions on this subject
after the most approved American
style.
The mule is of recent origin. Some
one has been ~irreverent enough to as
sert that he was created, invented or
discovered for the express purpose of
aggravating the sons of Ham, and
modern opinion is very much inclined
to concede that the great mission of
the said sons-some times called broth
ers in black-is to aggravate the Anglo
Saxon. This saying is quite popular in
the South and implicitly believed to be
true. At all events the mule is of
modern origin. A new family. Like
many new people in a~ristocratic circles
he does not brag of his ancestry or his
blood, though on one side or the other
it may be of the best. He evidently
thinks every one should be taken for
what he is worth, rolls under his
tongue as a sweet morsel all parvenue
ratings against ancestry and would
bray out of existence all reference to
the past. To him ''let the past dead
A,r-- So Iool81 - -~oI-.- --sI--.
Such opinions are not uncommon in
1.-The best society" They may even
find utterance among the four hun
dred.
The wild ass is said to be the swiftest
of foot of the genus to which he be-
longs; the mule is not. The mule is a
mongrel, and like all mongrels is I'M
certain in his progenital characteris-
tics. The horse nature may predomi-
nate on the donkeys, but the swiftness
of foot if inherited is generally trans
mitted to the hind legs. Luck is sup
posed to exist in the left hind foot of a
graveyard rabbit. Adlai Stevenson
was converted to Hoo doc faith by a
North Carolina Democrat and carried
the legendary left hind foot in his
pocket during the last campaign. He
got therel To many this is the secret
of his success and the only reasonable
hypothesis on which the same can be
accounted for. Such know not of the
tweedIedum of the modern count.
There is no luck, however, in the heels
of the average mule-there may be
some grave yard-unless it be for some
fellow against whom you have a grudge
and do not like to tackle. A few might
be utilized by Grover Cleveland on
persistent Office seekers. 1t would be
more effective than exclusion orders or
smart sayings to newspaper reporters.
The mule can outkick a disappointed
politician and is more uncertain than a
mugWump. Like a Quaker, he moves
when the spirit moves him-some
times very suddenly-some times I'M
expectedly, oft times not at all-resist-
ing all arguments.
The mule is of compost architecture.
Ears Gothic, head Ionic, neck CORN
THAN, legs Doric, voice Laconic-all Of
which should have long ago suggested
to the progressive, enterprising Yankee
a new American style mulic. But his
principle virtue is in his feet-the front
ones for taking hold of rocky, steep.
and dangeroustplaces and those il The
rear for genuine bVsinessf he had
SSen gFvgaa p&Gce in the Zodiac truly
he who ran could read, and when the