The Pulaskian., 1918-07-05
AND MY MULE HoovERIzE.

When | started to the National Edi-
torial Convention l left my mule with
a neighbor to care for. When I got
back she was so fat | hardly knew
her. / bought a carton of soda crack
ers, two boxes of sardines and some
coffee near the line of Hot Spring
County, in case | had to sleep out
at night. As | could not buy tin
cup | bought a can of sour crour
(new spelling) at Alum Cliff AS
the sour circuit was heavy 1 ate some
of it, threw the remainder away and
kept the can. | also ate one box of
sardines and few of the crackers.
Friday night I put up with a friend
near the end of the Niemeyer r. f.,
At dinner Saturday / ate the other
can of sardines. For supper | had
four crackers. saving six for break
fast. Sunday morning | ate all the
huckleberries. dewberries and black
berries / wanted. Late Saturday If.
ternoon | came upon an old mine in
the bank of a ravine. 1t was a long
tunnel, about 100 feet | suppose.
straight back into the hill. Near the
mouth of it was pol of clear, cold
spring water Poles were laid across
it to walk across it into the tunnel
This water was so cold and good
that | called the old mine Cold
Water Mine There may be some
where better water than It, but it
tasted better, it seemed to me, than
any water I ever drank before. The
water seeped out thru the bottom of
the pool into the ravine and it should
have been a fine place for mos
quitoes. The usual small cave is full of
them, but there was not a one there
| certainly wished had enough with
me to eat so ! could have remained
a week. You can imagine after sleep
ing on the bare ground without even
coat after drinking some ssrone
coffee and eating my six crackers for
breakfast that | did not feel any TOO
strong for doZen-mile walk to din
ner. Back to coffee. That coffee |
made was good and strong and l did
not want any sugar to sweeten it with,
but when ! sit down to a table to
eat l have to have sugar in my cof-
fee. About noon ] visited at the
houses of three of my friends and
found none at home. Then | went TO
Richard Williams of Big Maumelle
and found Homer Brown preaching
Holy Robertson there. There was quite
large turnout and you could not tell
much difference between it and q
Methodist meeting except no co:Iec-
ton was taken up. l was informed
by the Baptists and Methodists pres
ent that Brown refuses to accept
money for his preaching.
Well, after preaching l remained for
dinner. There was plenty to eat but
/ only wanted buttermilk and Irish
potatoes. Normally buttermilk makes
me sick but as l was already sick
thought maybe it would cure me, so
drank two big glasses of it. 1t did
not hurt me, so l must really have
been sick, for ever since 1911 every
time ] have drank buttermilk it has
made me sick. l did without coffee
and that generally makes me sick,
too, but did not this time. Now all
have got to do to become a genuine
dyed-in-the-wool Hooverite is to learn
to eat cornbread so it will agree with
me and do without meat. When
was a kid l rather looked upon the
Sunday morning biscuit on the farm
down in old Texas as a hardship, SO
if / should acquire the taste for corn
bread again ! will begin to think |
have become real childish, but let US
hope not "old and childish"
Back to my mule again. / started
out with her Wednesday morning,
June 10, after hearty breakfast
bound for Fourche La Fevre river.
had enough breakfast left over for
my dinner and foolishly | threw 1t
away At the store / bought twenty
five cents worth of rice bran Tor
JILL She's the mule. One-third of
the bran made Jill good dinner.
There were lots of red blackberries
where we stopped, but only two turn
ing black for my dinner The Wan
dering Fairy, who selected the noon
ing place said that was all l could
have for wasting my dinner and cof-
fee at breakfast. Jill had been want
ing to stop under every shade We
came to and finally | saw a deep
ravine She was afraid TO go down
into it, but l pushed her down and
right there was water and solid rock.
I plucked some grass and brushed
the gravel off the rock. then laid an
other square-edged rock on the lower
side of it to keep the feed from roll
ing down. | pourd one-third of the
bran on it, then dipped up water
with my cup and wet it. wondered