Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-01-13

spirit ana enduring OF soul, to say no.
thing OF back, he is Il born pioneer and
frontiersman. He is IL democrat and
''commoner,' scorning snch empty
haubles as name and pedigree, and II
philosopher from way back" as they
say out here. While the fastltlious
horse must have his veil of pink or blue
mosquito netting to protect him from
the flies, that unaccountable pest of
this clean and wholesome country
the burro will stand and blink and
mediate upon the yanit;es of life while
whole colony of flies come prospect
ing upon his nose and eyes and after an
hours discussion decide to locate there.
He can live all summer upon the
candy and popcorn fel to him by the
tourists and all winter upon the re-
nembrance of them. He knows he is
homely and glories in if. Three or
four OF them will group themselves to-
gether-all awkwardness, shagginess,
ears and legs IN stand patiently AMI
Enthusiastically waiting to he laughed
at That a Colorado burro was never
known to die natural death is a
statement vouched for by the most
reliable citizens of the State. They
over precipice. or something of that
kind. But to just fall sick and die or
get too old to live any longer-it is an
unheard of thing
There is Old Dick. for instance, who
helped to build Pixies peak cog road
two years ago, and who ambes around
Colorado Springs and Manitou now
the most frisky and popular of tourists
burros, and he was Old Dick when he
and his master, Wade, carried the
material for observations of the great
san eclipse upon Pixies peak in 1879.
In fact, there is no evidencet o disprove
the claim of many of Dicks hero
worshipers that he was also employed
IN the earlier occupation of the peak
during the great gold panic of iS49.
1t may be well to remark here that
Dick is a blond, and as to whether his
hair is grey with age no one is able
to say.
These Manitou and Cheyenne canyon
burros are most interesting feature of
the tourists experiences. They are
owned or "rented out" by the drove and
are kept saddled and bridled at some
specified and accessible spot ready for
parties. They are the only mode of
conveyance suitable for the rough and
dangerous mountain trails. Small.
| wlry. nimble and tenacious of foot,
they can pick and hold their way where
man or horse would stumble and fall.
When they come to level place,
whether it be 3 or 300 feet, they run
full speed, and they have a way of
jumping chasmS and skating down ice
eli ~ Il.,rn 10
of it.
But, alas! the sad whole truth may
as we'll come first as last. The burro
is stubborn f! 'He takes his notions
| jes' like a woman" said our guide
yesterday as we started out to Helen
Hunt Jackson's grave Chat waS) on
top OF Cheyenne mountain, land
jest like a woman is scornfully su-
perlor to reason or persuasion,"
added II horrid man in the party,
when, To- as though to give coun-
tenance to the joint slander, Mug
gins, the hitherto gayest and most
amiable burro of the cavalcade. sat
down flat upon his launches. his hind
legs doubled up under him and his
forelegs languidly extended in front
of him along the smoothest, easiest bit
of road we had had.
At first everybody thought it excess
slvely funny, particularly the good
natured Tenneseean who was riding
Mugglns. Weall laughed-all but the
guide-and the ladies called Muggius
"a cute little rascal" and the gentle
men guyed Tennessee" saying Mug
gins knew he wasn't good pay, etc.
Then we all chatted and admired the
view and politely waited for Mugyins
to get rested. But Muggins evidently
was very tired, for he rolled over cozilv
on one tat side and settled himself for
an afternoon nap, whereupon the
guide went and cut large stick. at
which the ladies began to cry: "Oh,
don't hit him. The poor. dear little
fellow! Maybe he's i'll ~
Then one said, lets give him some
brandy" and there were five TASKS
produced in the party of nine.
"4ou tendcrfeet don't know nothin'
at all about burros," said the guide.
They amt nothn' on earth the matter
with that burro but natur'-born cussed-
ness. They's all that way eff the no.
notion strikes EN-. Thar aint but one
thingll start that burro, an that's
tWlStln' his tall
"Oh-oo!" demonstrated the ladies.
and the susceptible guide postponed
the painful dernier resort while we
tried the more christian methods of
persuasion. The men kicked Mug
gins tough sides and pulled him by
the bride, but Muggins went to sleep.
The ladies went in front and held
| out entlclng bits of luncheon and
candy. Muggins ate them and went
to sleep again.
Then the Tennessean got mad and
pounded Muggins with club.
Muggins snOred.
Then everybody got mad and told
the guide to do his worst.
Then the guide asked us to "give
him ROOM" and getting behind the
slumbering Muggins caught his tail in
both hands. gave it an unmerciful
twist, jumping back as he did so.
"1on-kee-ee-eee!" :" bri.yed Muggins,
and then such an allegretto of legs
There seemed to be l6 of them instead
of four, and all revolving in different
directions. But the effect was magical.
BY the time those l6 legs had resolved
themselves into four those four were
firmly planted on the earth and Mug
gins, after an awakening shake. craned
his neck around and rolled his big ewes.
with his ugly but expressive little
comedy OF face saying as plainly as