Show THE LITTLE EAT MULE disappearing FROM THE STREET RAILWAY SERVICE where he canies conies eromand fr omand whence he ia lie costs broken and unbroken A hardy little brute HI and yeara of service how often hears abe remark just look at those mules drawing that car they look hire ra ta they have thus become very generally as little rat mules and the description is a good one certainly AI my of them dont look much larger than a good sized billy goat being BO small that they are bidden from the people in the car by tato dashboard in front it certainly doea look cruel to make them pull a car loaded down aith people a load that would strain powerful horses on an up grade it is like a great many other things however it is cruel only in appearance tho little mule is equal to this and much more K the car would hold more people he and his mate would pull it any place and on a level would take it skipping along so fast that you would almost begin to think no other motive power was required to realize rapid transit ho has endurance speed and strength and thrives where an animal more hardy and stronger in appearance would soon die in rapid motion he goes by jumps and jerks but he accomplishes the desired result and is one of the most serviced ble animals to be had in tha street railway business ho is however rapidly disappearing giving way to mechanical motors As the old darky said when he saw the electric cars the yankees is great people they want satisfied ter free de bigga and now done gone and freed de mules that is about the case in sac louis for instance ho little males and for that matter the larger mule and the horse are few in number not one in thirty for those employed as recently aa three years ago with tour increase in population new industries etc this is a somewhat remarkable statement ant it is correct the little rat mule is a peculiar animal born and raised in the southwest besas and mexico he la now going to the south and southeast for service on the plantations in the very recent past when all the cars were drawn by horses and mules the demand for them was very great for that purpose but as things generally equalize themselves BO has the demand for horses and mules the street railway companies which have changed to babl or electric motor power have generally disposed of their live stock to very fair advantage though there are still on hand some of the little rat mules that are unused is one of some value though he does not look it twenty dollars would ba a very fair valuation but in faring tha t estimate you would be dway off the mark unbroken he commands considerable more than that the cheapest lot that ever came to st louis probably was one of the price paid for them being a few cents less than twenty six dollars per head but they were unbroken he is a stubborn little brute and abere is considerable labor in him so he can be ant ahead of a bobtail and trusted to the average driver thus broken ho lias a value of sixty to seventy five dollars one would naturally suppose that his raiser would break himy and get his enhanced price but as a rule he has come to the st louis railroads as wild as could be and also as stubborn but the employees of the companies have had a great deal of fun in breaking them in and reducing them to tractability they have also had some exciting experiences too as the little fellow has heels quite as serviceable as his larger relative and be knows how to use them too you have got to look out for them and you have got to put some muscle into use when you think you have an easy task to hold them with the lines this is not at all easy sometimes as he has strength and frequently a very hard mouth hard enough to pull a bobtail car by it with the traces slackened it has been said that it seems cruel to run these little fellows to a street car loaded down with passengers to the contrary there are few animals which have an easier life the pulling of the car is nothing to them they can laugh at that and grow fat twenty five to thirty miles a day for them is nothing at all and that is about what they cover with testa between trips through with their days work they are tamed into a big yard where they run and roll as they please they never die or at least the employees of the street railways never hear of their dying when they approach that period of life they are sod or sent off to the farm where still be of some use they are aged before that time comes however instance little raf mules as much as 20 or 25 years old detill in service here and some which jiahe been in the service twelve and fifteen years and to all appearances good for several years yet aliey are as strong and active alever aa ever apparently md will likely a year from now start in for a second life on a southern plantation this is a long time for an animal to tramp over granite and other kinds of paving and in all lands of weather ant the limit has seemingly never been reach edwith this hardy little fellow he might m subjected to twice as much possibly still not fall under it in addition to performing service equal to thai of the horsa or the large anle the little rat mule is one of the easiest animals known in the care required it might in fact be said that he really does not require any care ho flourishes best when allo ved toj ough it he is of course fed grain and hay but he is nis food as is the horse and in the absence of anything else would probably manage to live on old boot legs he likes nothing better than to ran to fodder and cheap food st lonis globe democrat |