Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-11
PRAISE TO BE CALLED AN ASS.
Some of the Many Virtues of That
Creature Briefly Reviewed.

From the New Orleans Picayune.
To be called an ass is a great compliment.
Humility, patience charity and industry
have been recognized as great virtues ever
since mankind has been introspectiye; but
the world has failed to notice that the ass.
which is the brunt of the jests of all Ea-
tions possesses these qualities more fully
than any other animal or any human being
except the pIoverbial one in million.
Often we call the man whom we like
rare old dog" and he rather likes it. If
we called him q rare old ass, which is liner
praise he would get mad. however. We
write poems in praise of the horse, though
the horse is in so many respects the ass
inferior. The horse makes the brilliant
cavalry charge, but it is the ass who brings
up the army's ammunition and the food
supplies. While one rides on a galioping
horse over a plain in safety he despises
the ass, and he still despises the ass when.
forsaking his horse. he trusts his life to the
ass in a mountain pass.
The ass is to be found in every part OF
the world, always melancholy and Slow.
nobly doing his work, whether in the An
des, the Hinalayas, the Rockies, or in the
place of his nativity, the orient Wherever
he is, his dominant characteristics are the
same. Wherever he is. he is generally
abused: perhaps because he puts up with
abuse so meekly.
Always he is the friend of the poor In
he is the sole means of transport. All day
long he will go over a hot plain or I'D a
rocky mountain side, loaded down with
more than any horse could bear, though his
weight is only half that of the average
horse, while if horse were limited to the
food it subsists on the horse would fall
down in its tracks and die, though it had
no load. With the load it would fall down
anyway.
That the ass can be cured of his only two
vices of braying and kicking is proved by
the superior conduct of the London moke.
who is about third cousin of the oriental
ass of myth. of fable and biblical story.
The moke. who is about the size of big
Newfoundland dog, draws the barrels of
the costermOngers who vend fruits and veg
etables from; door to door in all parts of
the city.
All day you may occasionally hear him
out of your window chivy-chivyng with his
rapid and mincinG little steps over the as
phalt pavcments. At the same gait he will
carry his barrel well loaded with produce
and two big costermongers, UP the side of
hill This sometimes calls for sharp re-
marks about brutes who ought to be in Jail
from old gentlemen with white side whis-
kers and kindly expression of mouth, to
which the costernonger usually replies
''Garn. old plum pudding. 1t 'urts you
moren i'm
Until Baroness Burdett-Coutts and the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals-organiZed in imitation of the or
iginal American society-took the matter in
hand and made the passage of the law a
matter of great sentimental moment in the
house of commons, instead of feeding his
little donkey the costermonger usually beat
him, and the moke, too patient and too
humble to attempt to petition the commons
itself tried to thrive on the whipping and
succeeded wonderfully.
There is no finer playfellow for children
than moke When his fuzzy fur is washed
il is soft. fluffy and pretty. A youngster
may crawl all over him and under him and
POUND and pull him in every part of his
anatomy, and he will only smile the con-
tented smile of the moke who is living in
the raoke heaven of currycombs and good
rations.
That the ass is not stupid is proved by his
equal cleverness with the horse in learning
tricks, by his picking his way where a horse
cannot go, by his calmness under conditions
that make horse uncomfortably fretful
But he seems homely and out of proportion
unless you look at him closely and the
world TOO often goes by appearances. Scru-
tinize sharply the patient face of the ass
and you will find those qualities which
make face educational and perhaps even
beautiful.