Omaha daily bee., 1901-01-13

marvel Of rapid transit. There arc a
great many reasons why the mule is par
ticuarly indispensable in the wars now
going or. lie thriyes on a hot climate and
Is immune to everything Yellow fever and
swamp fever and breabbonc fever are all
the same to him. for he never catches any
OF them. while the horse does.
A- PropcIIing Power.
Mules furnish the propelllng power for
all army vehicles. The proud war horse
is not in It with the mule when II comes TO
actual work An army crawls on its
s. omach, as Won Moltke remarked the mule
packs and hauls the necessary victuals.
When battery Of artillery is limbered UP
and galloned over a battlefield it is drawn
by punging. rearing horses; when that
battery is to be dragged slowly and pain
l,fuliy over hundreds Of miles OF sitting hot
reads patient six-nuo team does the work
and more than likely goes without water
and forages for its food on the journey.
A mule is the type Of toughness. lie will
do more work than a horse and live on a
third the food. He is a fine pack animal
| and in his ability to go without water he
rivals thc camel. The mule can live on
any kind of ?rovender and work and in
stances are on record where In a soldering
! career six-muio team has Travelled for q
week on what 1t shipped from the roadside
| Also. he thrivcs on ill-treatment.
1T amt Kindness that mule wants; it's
abuse says the sage army tCamstcr. Ger
| tainly the patience of the mule Is the
| patience OF Job. He Is somewhat stubborn
and hard headed. but he has a sort Of mule
| sense, ideal in its way. His ears are not
! big for nothing. He is as watchfu as a
| cat. Any unusual sound awaken8 him. He
! can tell the tread of the enemy at any
bour OF the day or night and he is not
hashful about lifting up his voice and warn
! ing his superior officers.
"A mule will speak out and tell you about
a thousand things that horse would let
! pass without saying a word" says the old
army man. Hes a better sentry than the
! average man. who would resent being called
| by his name"
Never Gets Ratified.
! mule never gets ratified. lie has in
| tuition, but he never jumps at conclusions,
and he does not know the shape Of fear.
A mule can discover water two miles off.
and he always speaks up and tells the
driver about IT, He will go without water
| for days III necessary, but when he gets
within smiling distance of It he hats and
! remarks, II say, now, there's water over
| yonder, and | propose to have a drink,
see?' Nor will he proceed t'l he gets It.
A well trained mule can be ridden into
a well or up tree. lie never breaks down
| on march. AS in the case of the army
wagon. there is n tradition that people
have seen people who once saw a mule team
collapse, but no person can be found who
has himself witnessed such an event.
When the back must be used in lieu OF
vehicles the mule is the only pack animal
He will carry everything his master puts
on him. and he will carry 1t forever, and
give no sign of complaint. He fattens on
wading marshes and swimming rivers and
climbing mountains. He is as sure footed
as he Is clear headed A mule team can
draw an ambulance six miles an hour for
twenty hours and feel rested after eating a
bunch of hay and drinking a barrel OF
water.
Nothing short OF an earthquake will cause
a mule to run away. He listens to the roa
Of cannon without batting an ear. The
sound OF battle has neither terror nor charm
for him. He stays where you put him, and
he raises the white flag never.
The mule is an army classic, and the
stories about him are as the legends OF
Samson. There IL a familiar Lincoln story
W the tncCl l0dt one udy the loss Dy cap
ture Of n few mules and two major generals
was reported to the president. well, >
said Lincoln. with a shrewd twinkle in
his eyes, ''I can make plenty OF major
generals, but do hate to lose those mules .
II is properly understood among army
teamsters that the only ways to start a
mule are to build fire under him or ia
swear until the atmosphere is blue. Mule
drivers, like poets, are born, not made
On the whole. Missouri men are supposed
TO handle mule little better than any
body else When General Otis was in com
mand in the Philippines a raw Missouri
recruit was set to driving a refractory
mule team. His appointment was unfor-
tunate, because he had "hitched on to the
Baptsts'' Just before Joining the army
The roads were almost impossible, and the
rest OF the teamsters were literally bonn
harding their charges with oaths. The
Missourian held his peace. albeit in i'm.
potent rage. At last one OF the wheel mules
baked and refused to advance a step The
driver used every endeavor to urge the
beast along, but to no purpose. At last he
roared out solemnly: "Oh, Lord, you know
where this mule ought TO be as well as
anybody The whole army knows where
he ought to be. lie knows where he ought
to be. | know where he ought to be. oh
Lord and II he doesn't move In minute
| intend to say so, by gum"
Another soldier was assigned to team
ster duty in General Funston's division.
He presented himself apologetically before
his superior officer.
"Cap'n," he said, hitchng his thumbs
awkwardly In his trousers pockets, II
wisht you'd pint Bill Jones to drivin them
mules"
"How's that; can't you drive?"
"Yeh"
What the devils the matter, them"
We'll, ye see, Cap'n, aln't half wicked
nun. II takes recklesser man than a
pirate to drive a six-mule team"
These assertions are all from the view
point of the army mules stubbornness. No
man who has had experience with him
doubts his loyalty, his courage and his
toughness.