The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-13

Wherever she goes, and therefore a gray
mare IS found in every mule train, and
| the boss teamSter usually rides an animal
/ OF tnat sex and color. The Spaniards and
MeXicans call this beIl-wether a ma
| drina, which is the same term used to
| describe a chaperon in polite society
| mere is great deal of human nature in
/ a mule and great deal of hypocrisy. but
/ ms life Is an uninterrupted struggle against
/ ADVERSE interests and cruelty. which natur-
! ally sours his disposition and awakens a
| desire Tor vengeance. When a mule is de-
| PRAYED he finds a thousand opportunities to
! snow MS depraVity. 1t is that which leads
| nm to stand still when others desire aim
! 70 move. 1t is that also which tempts
! MIN TO encourage the attentions of people
! Tor the sake of getting chance to Kick
| their brains out.
| The mule has the same ideas of justice
| as a savage, and is a believer in the doc
! trlne OF retribution. A veteran "teamer"
| VIII tell you that the ordinary mule will in
| Varlably visit upon others the infections he
suffers himself That is. if there are
| twenty mules in a line and you kick the
nrst one instead of retaliating upon you ne
viii kick the mule behind him. The sec
ond mule Will pass the kick along to the
tnird and the third TO the fourth. and so
on until the end of the line is reached.
leaving the last mule unjustified for the
Time being, but you may be sure that soon
er or later he will find an opportunity to
| enjoy his vengeance.
The pack mule is quite as much an in
/ sttution as the team mule, and is absolute
! ly indispensable in the mountains. Mule
! packing is fine art, and with a we'll
| trained animal and a skilful packer YOU
can safely transport anything from a pi-
ano to bag Of oats When the packer
has finished his job in an artistic manner
the animal may buck or back kick or rear
or roll, but he cannot rid himself of his
burden, and he finally gives it up in de-
| spair. After two or three experiences he
| will submit to his destiny and fan into line
| with the rest of the train every morning
/ 10 receive his load from the packer. A
| well-broken pack mule is always proud of
his load, ana if by any means it gets loose
ne viii step quietly out of line and wait
until the packmaster comes along to tight
| en- il.
The most serious objection to the mule,
which you sometimes find in human beings
also, is the de,usion that he can sing. one
who has never heard a mule solo cannot
/ appreciate the extent of his AXE; but
like everything else about a mule, his
song is strictly original. 1t belongs TO no
other animal No one can describe and
no one can initiate it,
''Speakin' o mules" said an old Santa
Fe teamster, as he tipped back in his
chair and squirted tobacco juice among
the expiring embers on the hearth, re
IulDQS me OIL a StTOIAllaIy experience L
had once with a critter Me and Mexican
Mose-mebbe YOU knew him? They called
him so because he was mimi In Mexico
for quite spell-me and Mexican Nose
was prospectin up in the Bill Williams
mountains one winter when our mule
ct up all our dynamite cartridges. There
we was 100 miles from nowhere and no
way of gettin more"
L reckon I know how We felt" said an
old Californian, who sat in the corner
smoking. I've been fixed that way when
the ticker give out. It's a dstressin' stu
alton"
I'VE dassent try to ride the mule to the
nearest settlement" continued the team
ster, without noticing the interruption.
for neither of us want quite ready for
kingdom come-neither me nor Nose But
Nose he was the most ingenious cuss that
ever handled a pick. He was alters in
Ventin' some sort O labor-saVin' contrap-
ton, but was terrible unlucky. Nose set
thlnkin' fer awhile over the sitooation
and then he looked up at me kind O
pleased with himself an observed as sol
emn as a preacher:
Jake, d'you happen to know anything
o dynamte%
g No says I; not durn thing
WAL says he IFS the science of ex-
plodin', and l low it'll work here. That
miserable crtter has had the fun O. eat
In them cartridges, and now he's got Il
do the blaStin'. So he tied up paSSIe
o. stones in the oats aud fed EN- into the
mule. His idee was that when the diges-
tin machinery got to workin 1t would
fetch the stones into contact with the fui-
minatin end of the cartridges, and they'd
be a hostin' of dirt. Sc we backed the
mule down into the shaft and crept be
hin a big rock to wait for things to be-
gin to commence. Wen. ! swar! In about
fiftin minutes there was the biggest kind
of a Fourth of July cele1ra lion you ever
heerd tell on. 1t was bout noon when
the proceedin's opened, and when the first
cartridge went off the air was full of dirt
and mule meat fer miles round, and me
and Nose had all we could tend to dodgln'
the big powders that come out of the
shaft. In fifteen minutes the shaft was
200 feet deep and the Dirt scattered all
over the country. In ten minutes more
that burned mule had struck one o them
mysterious underground streams you find
in the desert and the hoe was full of
water, so there warn't any more mimi
fer u.s.
That was tough" said the Californian
sympathetically. you jest natcheliy over
done it, didn't YEP
well, reckon we did; but we come out
even, after all. That is, me and Nose
didn't lose no money
"Hows that?"
why we sold the shaft to a tenderfoot
that happened to come along jest that
mint. He thought it was a geyser and
Nose and me skinned out before the mule
quit firm"