[14 Portraits of Celebrated Mules]
[Diseases Common to the Mule, and how they should be treated]
Transcriber's Note
The topics listed on the contents page of The Mule do not necessarily correspond to the titles of chapters. Thus the hyperlinks in the Table of Contents will take the reader to chapter heads and some topics. The other chapter heads will be found somewhere in between hyperlinks, and may serve as a challenge to the reader.
There is no list of illustrations. In the original, they occurred one after another in the middle of the descriptions. Here they are inserted just before the paragraphs in the text where they are discussed.
[CHAPTER I.]
HOW MULES SHOULD BE TREATED IN BREAKING.
I have long had it in contemplation to write something concerning the mule, in the hope that it might be of benefit to those who had to deal with him, as well in as out of the army, and make them better acquainted with his habits and usefulness. The patient, plodding mule is indeed an animal that has served us well in the army, and done a great amount of good for humanity during the late war. He was in truth a necessity to the army and the Government, and performed a most important part in supplying our army in the field. That he will perform an equally important part in the future movements of our army is equally clear, and should not be lost sight of by the Government. It has seemed to me somewhat strange, then, that so little should have been written concerning him, and so little pains taken to improve his quality. I have noticed in the army that those who had most to do with him were the least acquainted with his habits, and took the least pains to study his disposition, or to ascertain by proper means how he could be made the most useful. The Government might have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, if, when the war began, there had been a proper understanding of this animal among its employees.
Probably no animal has been the subject of more cruel and brutal treatment than the mule, and it is safe to say that no animal ever performed his part better, not even the horse. In breaking the mule, most persons are apt to get out of patience with him. I have got out of patience with him myself. But patience is the great essential in breaking, and in the use of it you will find that you get along much better. The mule is an unnatural animal, and hence more timid of man than the horse; and yet he is tractable, and capable of being taught to understand what you want him to do. And when he understands what you want, and has gained your confidence, you will, if you treat him kindly, have little trouble in making him perform his duty.