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Show j Tk Mul a Bad! Has Leaminimg' Toward War j THE war Is teaching tho world a great lesson concerning mules, or, rather the lesson is coming from the mule (hlmsolf. and the tenor of It is that ho Is not so black as he Is painted. We may have disliked him In detail, but tho sum total of him Is all right. In fact one of the most all right things In the general service of men, and the particular service of war. Not that he Is particularly nnxiou3 that the word war should bo mentioned men-tioned In his long-cared presence. There havo been awkward misunderstandings with regard to him and war about which he may be sensitive. Tho affair in South Africa, for instance, where a battle was lost and the blame waa put upon Ms unfortunate hide because he bolted with the guns' But he Is "doing his bit" at the front in a way that would be surprising were it only more generally known. To get there and ' do Ms bit" he has come from all parts of the world. Ho has roundc-d up his kind In Texas and Andalusia, in Kentucky and Mississippi. Mississip-pi. Majorca and Malta, Catallna and Lombard y, tho Pyrenees and Missouri everywhere. He has crossed tho seas and been torpedoed, and still he Is answering an-swering tho call to help his human master In thousands and tens of thousands. thou-sands. He has clambered to tho summits sum-mits of the Alps and been unceremoniously uncere-moniously slung from peak to peak; In fact there Is no end to the Indignities Indig-nities to which he has been subjected, lie has probably vigorously protested, in accordance with the mule's time-honored time-honored privilege; but on tho great main Issue of Ms duty to the warring human being, he has never onco failed tho allies, even thqugh ho may be wholly Indifferent to tho ultimate Issue Is-sue of the great strife. Meanwhile he Is drawing guns and carrying them, bearing stretchers und munitions, hauling haul-ing carts and wagons. He lu1 a pack animal !n tho Alps and a draft animal In Flanders, he serves tho Infantry, tho cavalry, and every branch of the service, ho la tho com mon drudge of every fighting unit on . all the fronts And herein Ms mulish majesty Is seen at his best. Ho Is an easy first as a beast of burden, and has the laugh on both the horse and tho ass for intelligence, endurance, and surefootedness. He wants his harness to fit Mm well, wants his likes and dislikes to be humored, hu-mored, wants only thoso to approach him to whom ho Is accustomed, wants his drinking water to bo free of mud, wants tho best of everything, and. In short, demands that life shall bo ono round of consideration for him on his master's part. Lot Mm only be assured that he Is the reclplont of theso trifling considerations, and Mi confidence will havo been won. Ho will then bo as tractable as a lamb, ana will work In a way that would put a horse o shamo. His accredited bad temper will prove to bo a thing of vain imaginings, and, If you will only .mind your p's and q's, so far as ho Is concerned, you may safely approach Mm w llh-circum-spccllon. |