THE ASS AND MULE. 681 



driver should use the kindness, and under no circumstances use 

 a club." He says many a mule is spoiled by ignorant and 

 thoughtless persons seizing it by the ear, and holding on to that 

 sensitive organ, until the mule becomes so much afraid that it 

 is almost impossible to bridle it. Some can never be entirely 

 cured of the timidity thus produced. 



The writer has had in his employ a negro who never spoke 

 in loud or harsh tones to the mules, and could always get better 

 work and more of it out of his team than any other driver. 

 Other drivers would stall their teams, and beat, and curse the 

 mules, and have to call on John to help them out with the load. 

 Sometimes he would hitch his team to theirs and pull them out; 

 other times he would tell the driver, " If you will go away out 

 of sight of the mules, I will drive them out." After a few 

 minutes of rest and a kind word of assurance, he never 

 failed in getting the mules to pull. He never called on them 

 to do impossibilities, yet he took pride in having his mules pull 

 heavier loads than any other team. John's secret was kindness 

 and self-control. 



Will-power and Stubbornness. There are some phys- 

 iologists who teach that the secret of great strength is not so 

 much in the muscle as in the will. Some men, of light muscle 

 and slender frame, can outlift men of greater size of muscle 

 and frame, simply because they have the will-power. A small 

 man with a resolute purpose, amounting to stubbornness, is more 

 difficult to overcome in a contest of strength than a larger man 

 of weaker purpose. The term, " as stubborn as a mule," tells of 

 the extraordinary will-power of this wonderful bundle of muscle. 

 It is proverbial, that a mule team can outpull any team of 

 horses of equal weight, and generally a team of mules of 1.600 

 pounds weight can pull as much as a team of horses weighing 

 one-fourth to one-half more. Muscle and make of bone can not 

 account for this. The patient, indomitable will of the mule is 

 the secret of his power to do more work than his half brother, 

 of greater weight and less will. 



The secret of getting work out of man or boy, horse or 

 mule, is not to antagonize his will. When mule-drivers learn 



