The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-04

heavily, s'pose got to let you hev the
 mule I raised by hand. Why she's a reg'lar member O my family! l wouldn't
 take no money for her on'y for my wife an little Johnny an my poor old blind
 mother-stone blind-stone blind-ain't it awful to be blind?" And the trader shed a tear-at least, he wiped his eye Brandt's remarks an hour later I do not care to go into. It is enough that my nice trader was an orphan bachelor and little Johnny was a pleasant myth. But he had my sS0 and had Jimmy and Brandt had-Well, said I'd keep Jimmy if she killed me.
 I believe Jimmy was as strong as an OK Brandt said stronger-but the way she acted every time her pack was put on would have brought the s. P. c. A. clat- tering down on our heads had we been in Boston. Our outfit was light, made especially so for a mountain /trip-70 pounds lighter than the ordinary mule pack-but Jimmy would heave and sigh and give little sobby moans that fairly wrung your heart-until you remembered the sick wife, little broken-armed Johnny and
 the poor old blind mother, and then you
 laid a strap with great suddenness and
 loud, loud noise and felt better.
 At night when we removed her pack she generally lay down at once to die with a "you've-killed-m me with your cruelty" air that was pitiful to see and as long as we stood watching and asking where the pain was she lament ed wronged, sad, yet willing to forgive if we brought her sugar on our knees oh, yes, she'd forgive us, unless she died!-and the instant that we turned out backs, up she hopped and ate grass.
 She worked ,.her die-the e-death mood for about three days at time, then the ostrich mood took her and she went on two legs, fore and aft, while we were operating on the pack amid ships. It wasn't pleasant and we did our best to show her how we felt about it, after which she put on her naughty air.
 We could have stood it ourselves well enough, but she was so hateful to the horses and to our little campfire brother, our dog Flapjack. Him she kicked across the river just for look ing at her.
 Well, Jimmy" Brandt used to say, "don't fergit we gotta use fer yer car- kiss if we ain't for you. You'll make bang-up bear bait, an when you quit workin' we'll go to trappin' bears. Guess you'd stand us bout four, an we're goin' where they're plenty. So keep your eye, peeled an don't fergit it."
 Jimmy always assumed her stately melancholy air after Brandt's harangue on bear bait, and he declared she un- derstood every word he said. How ever that may be, things were always pleasanter for some hours afterward At first I said, "Jinny's going to re- form" Brandt merely honked. JMny had no more intention of reforming than she had of making our fire aud frying grouse for us; reform was no more in her line than cooking. But summer passed and We got our bears without Jinnys involuntary aid and their belts were added to the pack. Her protests on these occasions would have done credit to a duchess-she couldn't and she wouldn't carry those things; what right had we to ask 1t of her?-how dared we? Carry them yourselves if you want the dirty things, but don't ask me to de- mean myself.
 As stood on the platform awaiting the
 eastbound train that was to separate me from my good friend Brandt, I so far humbled myself as to say, ''If you can't
 sell Jimmy for So, give her away; and if
 you can't give her away turn her loose
 and let the wolves eat her. I've had
 my fill of Jinny.'
 "I don't know" he unused meditatively,
 "as thez another $5 tenderfoot in the
 state, an don't know as I got an enemy
 I wanta do bad as all that, and she'd grow fat browsin' on wolYes-its been her naterel diet, furs can reckon. fur
 bout 63 years. -" So long!' and I swung into the Pullman.
 Summer came again. as 1t always does