Barbour County index., 1910-04-20

ly held his ground.
Folks may laugh all they're mind
to-" he declared stoutly; but I've
made a study of 'em-mules, mean
not women-and am sure there's not
one person in a hundred knows any.
thing about the real character OF q
mule. l know, because for the past
20 years I've made it the business of
my life to teach and study horses and
mules. and guess there are not many
men in this country that know much
more about them than I do"
There was no disputing that, for
Uncle Dan" Boyington, as he is ia
miliarly known throughout the horse
and cattle country of the great west.
has devoted the best part of his life
to teaching and training animals and
Is now making it his special work to
show horse trainers and bronco bust
ers how they may accomplish their
aims in more thorough, a more sci
entific, and more human method, by
educating and not breaking the spirit
OF the animals.
Il have always loved all animals"
continued Mr.. Boyington, "but the way
/ first got interested in mules was by
watching them when l was head horse
man with the Barnum and Bailey cir
Gus and seeing the amount of intelli-
gence and good, hard common-sense
they brought to bear on their work
Now you may not know 1t, but an ami
NAL has as much what you might call
system in his work, as man. Near
ly every one works differently; and
1t is the man who knows this and who
lets them use their own intelligence
and judgment that gets the most and
the best work out of them. If the con-
tractor who Is employing a gang Of
men stood over them with whip, and
lashed and cursed them every time
they lifted a hammer or struck pick
differently from the way he would
have done 1t If he was doing the work.
1 don't believe he would get ahead
very fast with his job; do you? The
good boss watches his men and many
time he learns from them how to
improve his own methods.
"It's just the same with animals; If
you watch those you are working with.
many time they teach you. Now
often noticed how intelligently mule
went at his work-yes, knew you'd
smile at that. But what I mean Is
that he always seemed to go at it de-
nberately and in a quiet, determined
way, as If he had thought 1t all out
and knew just what he was going to
do, and exactly how he was going to
do 1t. Now that is my own method Of
working, and l got to kind of re-
specting the mules for 1t. Often in
loading and unloading the circus
wagons I've seen mule use the great
est intelligence, sometimes extricating
himself and his load from difficult or
awkward position with far more COM
nonsense and judgment than were
shown by his driver.
after awhile 1 made up my mind
that a mule was not stupid, he was
only slow; that he was not obstinate,
he was only cautious.
zone night crowd of us were talk
ing things over, and one of the fel-
lows. Missourian, made the old COM
parison about somebody's being as
dumb as a mule l resented 1t and
said right out that mules were not
dumb or stupid either. All the rest
Of the crowd declared they we're, and
that got my dander up, and right then
and there put up a hundred dollars
and made a bet with the Missourian
that l could take bunch of common
work mules, picked up anywhere,
young or old, broke or unbroke, and In
six months could drive 'em anywhere
l wanted to go without lines, bride
or halter, and have 'em understand
every word said to them.
"Of course the fellows all hooted
at that; but put up the money with
the boss. and started right in to pick
up my bunch of mules. I'd been in
tending to get bunch together any
way and thought this was a goo time
to do 1t. Well, picked up my little
mules, about 20 of them, all over the
country. Some paid only few dol
lars for. Some of 'em were little fell
lows, scarcely more than colts, others
were poor, old. battered creatures,
SCARED and famed with years of bru-
tai service and sold of in their old
age for a mere song. When the show
went into winter quarters I took my
little bunch of mules down into the
country, and out in a big open pas
ture I began what l like to call my
mule school
Il had made up my mind before
this that mules were intelligent; but
nobody was more surprised at the way
that bunch developed than l was my
self. I've spent my whole life out on
the plains. working with and asso-
ciating with animals-a good deal
more than | have with men-and |
had by this time thought out kind
of system about the way an animal
ought to be taught.
Il believe the first thing person
ought to do in training any animal is
to awaken its interest. then its love
Tbor urhov, vo,,r r,,D;1 hoe Ioarnad h;e