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Show 8xS8SxSSk8mSSK!XS Less to Countryside in Passing of Ox-Team Where there are no big draft horses, the mule is the only real rival of the ox in farm work. Mule breeding in the South and the Importation of the five big breeds of horses from northwestern north-western Europe into the United States, rather than the invention of the tractor, trac-tor, finally displaced the ox as a source of power on our farms and in our lumber lum-ber camps. The passing of the ox is one of the penalties of progress. It is one of those cases where our esthetic feelings are sacrificed to productive efficiency. Oxen at work are more decorative than horses, mules or tractors. They give one the Impression of irresistible power. There is something primitive about the way they are yoked and their power applied. Their very slowness slow-ness the way they lean against the yoke, and the way the yoke creaks l under the strain all heighten the effect. ef-fect. The countryside has lost one of its charms since oxen went out of fashion. Besides, skill in driving oxen is becoming one of the lost arts. But they are altogether too slow for this fast age. While we like to look at oxen, we are certain that we should not like to ride behind them. We prefer pre-fer to go whizzing in an automobile, so there seems to be nothing to be done about it. But we can't help feeling that we lose something by being so terribly ter-ribly progressive. Progress, like every other good thing, costs something. Exchange. |