Holbrook argus., 1910-01-11
MT. Doolan's Team
 By Max Adeler

Keyser has on his farm. as hand, an Irishman named Pat Doolan. One of MT Doolan's duties is to take care of team of mules. They are very cc- centric mules. and some of his expert cnces with them 6ave been peculiar. One day last winter the near mule, by one of those extraordinary accidents which never happen to any four-legged animal but mule, managed while rubbing his hind quarters against a board fence, to get his tail through a hole in one of the boards. Keyser's boy saw 1t there. and, seizing 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 MT. Doolan called the mule several times with out producing any motion from the animal ThereupoD, in a furious rage. he rushed at it with club. and, whack- ing it over the head, said:
 Wont mind, won't ye Be the pow CTS. I'll knock the head of Of ye if ye don't"
 Then he hit the brute another blow. and the mule, making one convulsi-e effort, pulled down four panels of fence, and, starting at trot, ran the fence against Mir. Doolan, knocked him down, scraped the fence over him, tore his clothes, and knocked the skin off of him in half dozen places. When he arose the mule was flying around tl< ! post still hanging to its tail. Mir 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 haste iver fixed that stick on his tail and crawled through the hole in the fence!"
 Mir. Doolan and his wife lived on the farm in 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 rope of considerable length. MT. 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 thump. MT. and Mrs. Doolan awoke in great agitation, and MT. Doo- Ian said:
 What the d.vil's that Is 1t an airth- quake, Biddy"
 Then the mules gave another jerk, and MT. Doolan said:
 "Begorra it isl Dye feel that now? Shakin' like ship in a gale!''
 Mir. 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. MT. 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 noth- ing appeared. Then he was scared, and he said:
 "Biddy, acushla, but don't it bate Banagher? l believe it's the ould boy himself,"
 At that moment the mules united in s 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. ner that was awful to behold
 Half-wild with fright, they crept to the window and reached the open air. It was a moonlit night, and the mules were grazing close by, with the rope around the pump. MT. Doolan under stood the situation in a moment, and he expressed his opinion of those ami mals 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.