The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-19
BURROS SING AND FRoLIC.
SOLEMN. AGELESS BEASTS THAT
ONLY FEIGN TO DIE.

Do and Undo Their own Fetters.
sketch From Life of ArtEuI Four
Legged DipIomntists That suffer
and Bide Their Time.
From the New York Press.
Sante Fe, y. Nit is said thar many
years ago the Mexicans used 10 say TO
their children: do not beat your burro
II is the soul of your grandfather" It
is, moreover. said that the burr0s soon
found out the superstition OF the Mexi-
cans, and took advantage OF il. and re-
fused TO work. so they soon became lazy.
but wise After a few hundreds OF years
the MexicaRs began to lose faith in the
report that their Spanish and Indian an
cestors' souls had been transferred into
burros, and then they were angry with
themselves for having been fooled so.
They proceeded to revenge themselves
by beating the burros all the time and by
making them do all sorts Of work. The
burros, having become philosophers mean
while. did the work when there was an
owner behind them with switch, and
rested and ruminated all the time when
their masters were not watching them
| The Mexicans, when they had believed
that their animals were their dead and
gone ancestors, had fed them abundant
ly. but now they refused to feed them any
| longer, and the burros were turned loose
to look for their dinners wherever they
could find them. The philosophers, con-
sidering that it made no difference what
they ate, so long as they had enough Of
/ it, and were not hungry, proceeded to
cultivate an appetite for old sticks and
paper bags.
1t made absolutely no difference TO them.
| They were smart and had wonderful i'm
| aSinations, so that all they had to do
/ when they couldn't get cake was to
| imagine that the paper bag was sweet and
| toothSome. They wasted no time in think
| ing about such trifieS as comfort, but de-
| voted themselves assiduously TO the edu-
/ cation of themselves ana their children.
/ They looked upon work as a necessary
| evil. And THAT is the story that any old
/ Mexican sonora in New Mexico win tell
| you, ii you ask her TO tell you story
The burrow is a creature Of moods. and
| is never the same animal for two cOnsecu-
tive minutes. His eyes are in truth the
mirror of his soul. and by watching tho
| expression on his face you can tell what
| he VIII do next. A close mountaineering
with herd of burros is more edifying and
educating than all the Libraries in the
world. The burro has solved the great
mystery. He never dies. He has discOv-
cred the fountain of youth, and he is on
his first legs. Man never saw q dead
burro. Nor has man ever seen Il burro
take a drink of water
burro is worth from s. to Sc. accord
ing to his size. Two burrOs is all the stock
in-trade a Mexican with a large family TO
support. generally has.
Only when its master is cutting wood
does the burro rest The woodcuttcr
finishes selling his wood in the city at
O'Clock in the afternoon. He has been in
the city all day long and is tired. He stops
for little while to talk with some friends,
and then he drives his herd of burrcs mp
the street, over the hills to his nome in the
canyon or on the hillside. lie reaches
home at about O'Clock, and then turns
| his burros loose after hobbling them so
that they cannot stray far In the night.
Were it not for his great intelligence the
burro for the. rest of the time until day
break would have to walk either on two
legs or on three, generally on three for to
keep him from getting. away his owner
ties one leg up under TIE stomach, THO
burros stand perfectly still while this IS
/ being done, and are apparently interested
in nothing but the glorious sunset. which
is painting the hills pink and scarlet
With his tail between his legs, his eyes
almost shut and blinking at The Sinking
sun, and his head hung low, the old burro
stands perfectly quiet for half an hour
Ills great long ears hang disconsolately
down over ms eyes, and he seems perfect
~ miserable. But If you think he is I'M
happy you are mistaken. He is simply
Illuminating, recounting TO himself all the
queer things he has seen in the daytime
and all the mean persons he has encoun-
tered.
His ears watch his master until he is out
OF sight, Tor the burro can see with his
ears just as a cat can feel with her Whisk-
ers. II you cut a cats WhiSkers off she
Will crack her head against some wall
If you were to cut burro's ears off he
would get lost certainly and never he
able to accomplish half he is able to do
with the aid of them
burro at night when he wants to ven
ture to some nocturnal meeting place
where he has engaged to sing a duet with
some one OF his friends, uses his ears as
a compass. An old mountaineer will tell
you that If you do not want to get lost
in cane forest you should cut down a
long cane and drag 1t after you The
forest is so thick and so black that when
you get into it you are apt TO travel around
in a circle and get lost. If you cut down
cane and drag it after you the forest
is so thick that with the cane dragging
along after you you can't possibly turn
around a corner without knowing II, and
so you are kept in a straight line and get
out of the forest So it is with the burro.
The old story tellers say that the burro S
ears are so long that they drag them on
the ground by holding their heads down
little; The ears dragging in the dust make
parallel tracks, and so the burrO, when
he wishes to return home, follows the path
which his ears have marked out for him.
Then, after he has been standing on the
hillside. thinking upon the most important
questions of the day and watching the
sunset, there happens something which
l will acknowledge, l did not believe at
first could be. / had been told by dozens
with my own eyes would ] believe 1t.
The burro suddenly straightens himself
up. He holds his head back, his eyes he
opens wide. his ears and tail he waves in
the air. He has caught sight Of some of
his friends on the opposite hillside. Then
he begins to sing, and as soon as he be-
gins those on the other hillside also be-
come interested in life and join in the
chorus.
If you have never heard a burro sing
you have, indeed, something to live for
Next to a Sawmill the music of a burro's
song is the most enchanting. At first the
sound is soft and distant, then it increases
gradually in volume, until suddenly it
ends with one grand paean, and the
burro, suddenly collapsng, begins to roll
down the hill
At the same moment those on the OPP
posite hill reach the grandest note in the
hymn, and a the same moment they
fan to the ground and begin to roll over
and over down the hill.
Most of you have tried to draw water
at an old pump which has not been used
for a great while, from an old well that
hasn't much water in it.. You know the
noise it makes Well, that is what
burro's singing sounds like. He fills his
lungs for every note, and the music is
enough to satisfy the most ardent Wag-
merriam.
Before starting on his journey down the
hill the animal takes great pains to bun
n inf