The Winslow mail., 1910-01-15
MR.. R.DOOLAN'S
TEAM
D. NAV ADEI Ed
BY MAX ADELER

an Irishman named Pat Doolan. One
of Mr. Doolan's duties is to take care
of team of mules. They are very &c.
centric mules, and some of his expert
ences with them have been peculiar.
One day last winter the near mule, by
one Of those extraordinary accidents
which never happen TO any four-egged
animal but a mule, managed while
rubbing his hind quarters against
hoard fence, to get his tail through
hole in one of the boards. Keyser's
boy saw it there and, seizing a tough
stick, tied the tail of the mule firmly
to it: and when the mule found that
he could not get away, he stood there
as calmly as If he never expected any
thing else After awhile Mr.. Doolan
called the mule several times with
out producing any motion from the
animal Thereupon, in furious rage.
he rushed at it with a club, and, whack-
ing it over the head, said:
Won't mind, won't ye BE the pow
ers, III knock the head off of We if
we don't"
and the mule, making one convulsive
effort, pulled down four panels Of
fence, and, starting at a trot, ran the
fence against Mr.. Doolan knocked him
down. scraped the fence over him.
tore his clothes, and knocked the skin
off of him in half a dozen places. When
he arose the mule was flying around
the barn-yard with four boards and
post still hanging to its tail Mr..
Doolan looked at the animal a min
ute and then exclaimed:
Mother of Moses, But I'd give a
thousand dollars to know how that
baste iver fixed that stick on his tail
and crawled through the hole in the
fence"
Mr.. Doolan and his wife lived on the
farm in a little cabin in the corner of
field. One night the mules were pas
turing in the field and in order to
keep them from jumping the fence
they were tied together by a rope of
considerable length. Mr.. Doolan's
house has no cellar, but is supported
by bricks placed beneath the four
| corners. The mules during the night
wandered one on one side of the cabin
and one on the other and as soon as
the rope became taut both of them
pulled. A second later the cabin slid
off the bricks and came to the ground
with a thump. Mr.. and Mrs. Doolan
! Rwoke in great agitation, and Mr.. Doc
/ Ian said:
What the divil's that Is it an airth-
quake, Biddy"
Then the mules gave another jerk,
and Mr.. Doolan said:
'tBegorra it is! Dye feel that now?
Shakin like a ship in a gale!"
Mr.. Doolan ran for the door, in
tending to escape before the roof fell
in, but the door opens outward and
the rope was against it. Then he
concluded that it was not an earth
| quake, but robbers and he went to
the window to reconnoiter. The mules
were on the blind side of the house,
giving an occasional tug. Mr.. Doolan
| looked out of the window in front and
could see nothing; he gazed from the
window on the left side, and nothing
was there; he peeped through the
easement on the right side, and moth
Ing appeared Then he was scared,
and he said:
"Biddy, acushla, but don't 1t bate
Banagher? I believe it's the ould boy
! himself"
! At that moment the mules united in
pull, and they succeeded in turning
the cabin completely upside down;
the bedStead, the stove, and the crock
cry were piled upon the Doolans as
they lay against the ceiling, in man
4 ner that was awful to behold
! Half-wild with fright, they crept to
! the window and reached the open air
1t was a moonlit night, and the mules
were grazing close by. with the rope
/ around the pump. Mr. Doolan under
! stood the situation in moment, and
he expressed his opinion of those ami
mails in the Ballyhudeen dialect with
such vigor and vociferousness that he
started all the roosters for miles round
to Growing.
Next morning he resigned, but he
reconsidered his determination after
Keyser fixed the cabin up again for
him, and he is still chief engineer of
that team. He ties the mules in the
stable, now, at night, though.