Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1903-09-09
MY RIDE WITH THE MULE CONCLUDED

ter, with spells OF trotting ana speiis OF
slowing down to almost slandstili, we
come to gate which is opened by
,oung " hite girl, who is on the watch for
as, for Sue is interested in our mule ride,
you whi see presently.
Inside this enclosure is a scboolhouse
bst Is large enough to accommodate fifty
o sixty pupils very comfortably, and viii
compare very isvorably with the one In
which began to climb the ladder OF
know'eogs, except it Is unpainted-the
.cnooihOuse where | studied some and
caC-Ups good deal more was painted rec;
his was tue scaOoInouss color.
A short distance from this schoolhouse
Is plain dwelling house, aud here live
the two teachers wdo are employed In the
school. Oue vf the teachers bad, within
the last hour, come tn from Waniana be-
hind our mule / fiod her IN the hsppiest
of moods. L. 1t becsuse she has arrived
sud will haze bo further use Tor '.muEiie"
for a week, or Is she SO giad 10 see her
Sunday school teacher of those other
dayss
As time is precious with Us and we have
not minule to iose because OF the
urgency of tue occasion, tbis schooi-
marin talks fsst snd / listen, taxing ia
"a v hole paragraph of her conversation at
a single hearing. By watching my chance
| sln aoie 10 tnro@ IN word here and
there, 50 when the whole talk is compete,
1t mas the appearance of Iihe fence be-
tween ueignoors, with its rsifs, stakes,
hunks ana cape.
Our boy driver has found a little stool
hat he is going to sit on and this will
bring him a little handler to the mule, for
the nlt'e barefoot girl that opened the
gate for US Is going to tie a passenger in
our little red buggy that has seat wide
enough for Two only.
We are ready to start again and il looks
a little as though Ne mad gotten our ami
msl hitched in "tother end to-, for there
is baking on hand. But our driver Is
equal to the occasion aud with q skiIlfui
jerk on the ribbons, our mule settles down
10 pulling straight ahead again, so that
now We are rolling along upon the high
way, With little OF the power left which
the lad has succeeded in driving through
the mules "tough old hidem and 1t Is
still at work.
We are going up grade and conse-
quently the boy has to steam up himself
q little more so that the mule may not
forget what his duty is and go to steep.
/ myself am feeling rather dull and
would like TO lie down on ny lounge IN
my den at home in Pasadena, California,
aud thus relieve this efick In my back,
sstion with Lucille, for have learned that
this is the name OF our little barefoot
passenger.
She makes this trip twice a week but
not always behind this stubborn mule.
She is half orphan. Her mother Is one OF
the teachers / have already mentioned,
and that school in which she instructs is
native school. She says: The native
boys and girls are not NICE" and her
mother does not want her to attend school
with them, so she goes over to Wahiswa
on Sunday, and boards with my friend
Mr.. Clark, the pineapple planter, that she
may attend the school through the week
in that thrifty, white settlement, and re-
turns to her mother Saturday.
She is bright, witty, pretty, little rniss,
and with her interesting stories ana these
surroundings in this tropical country, /
begin to feel that / am in a fsiry-land and
that this whole mule aft air is but a cream
after all.
But l come to my senses again, for
Lucille, who, when we first started out,
had chided George, our driver, for she
said he was abusing the poor creature,
that he "musn't W hip him SO hard", that
the ''dumb beast" was doing the best he
could, ana show would you like to be
mule and be pounded like that?" now asks
for the "linesn aud " hat there is left OF
the whip, and Georges seat.
Now this tender hearted girl begins TO
see what she can do towards increasing
the mules speed, and so she does not con
fine her operations to the right rump OF
the mule, but plies her whip to the left
also, with sort OF pendulum swing, so
that the animal gets stroke after stroke
on the unused lender side as well ss on
the toug h, aud SO for awhile it seems as IL
n
bale Of hay just few inches beyond his
nose. 1t becomes evident, however, that
all feeling has gone cut of the left rump
also, for no amount of whipping will
bulge the mule beyond slow walk.
The fact seems to be that the mule in
stead OF being abused, is really amused,
and IL he had pair OF sleeve. would be
lsug hing in them. There is not enough
muscle in the arms nf either the lad or
lass to do hurt To nuse, especially WIN
sucn damaged aud Useless wuip
In due time we come 10 where we can
look across the valley aud see some OF the
houses of the settlement OF tAe pineapple
country.
Now we must climb long hill, mt an
| average New England hill that is a little
way up and li''Ia wav dov, on The
anhrrt