The Florence tribune., 1900-10-27

rid himself of his burden and he finally gives it up in despair. After two or three experiences he will submit to his destiny and fall into line with the rest of the train every morning to receive his load from the packer A we'll broken pack mule is always proud of his load, and if by any means it gets loose he will step quietly out of line and wait until the packmaster comes along to tighten it.
 The most serious objection to the mule, which you sometimes find in human beings also, is the delusion that he can sing One who has never heard a mule solo cannot appreciate the extent of his mistake; but like everything else about a mule, his song is strictly orig inal It belongs to no other animal. No one can describe and no one can initiate it.
 "Speakin' O mules" said an old San te Fe teamster, as he tipped back in his chair, reminds me of a Extraordinary experience had once with a critter. Me and Mexican -mebbe you know him? They called him so because he was minin' in Mexico for quite a 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 get tin more."
 T reckon know how ye felt, said an old Californian, who sat in the corner smoking. I've been fixed that way when Ticker give but. It's distressin' situation"
 We dassent try to ride the mule to the nearest settlement" continued the teamster, without noticin' the interrup- tion, ''fer neither of us want quite ready fer kingdom come-neither me nor Nose. But Nose he was the most ingenius euss that ever handled a pick. He was allers inventin' some sort O labor-savin' contraption, but was ter rible unlucky. Nose set a thinking fer awhile over the sitooation, and then he looked up at me kind O pleased with himself and observed as solemn as a preacher:
 Jake, d'you happen to know any thing O dynamics.'
 "'No,' says I; not durn thing
 "'Wal,' says he, its the science of explodin', and I Tow it'll work here That miserable critter has had the fun O eatin' them cartridges, and now he's got to do the hlastin'.' So he tied up a passle O stones in the oats and fed 'em into the mule. His idee was that when the digestin machinery got to workin' it would fetch the stones into contact with the fulminatin' end of the ca'- tridges, and they'd be a hoistin' of dirt So we backed the mule down into the shaft and erept behind big rock to wait for things to commence. We'll, swar! In about fftin' minutes. there was the biggest kind of q Fourth of July celebration you ever heercd tell on. It was about 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 allswe could tend to dodgin' the big powders that came out of the shaft. In fifteen minutes the shaft was 200 feet deep. and the dirt was scattered all over the country. In ten minutes more that durned mule had struck one O them mysterious underground streams you find in the desert and the hole was full of water, so there warn't nhy more rainin, fer us
 That was tough" said the Cali fornian, sympathetically. You jest natchelly overdone it, didn't yep"
 Well, I reckon we did; but we come out even after all. That is, me and Nose didn't lose no money"
 Flows that?"
 "Why, we sold the shaft to tender foot that happened to come along jest that mint. He thought is was gey- ser, and Nose and me skinned out be- fore the mule quit frin'." = Chicago Record.