TRAINING MULES 241 



round to the left by the pull ; he was apt to follow his 

 nose ; the off mule was pulled over in the same direction 

 by the bar, and presto ! the trick was done. The mule 

 soon caught on to this thing. But to turn to the right 

 was quite a different matter. The only other thing the 

 driver could do with the rein was to jerk it ; but this con- 

 veyed no special idea to the mule — he must be taught the 

 jerk as an arbitrary symbol. So, when drilling the mule 

 to go over to the right, tlie driver had with him an assist- 

 ant with a stick, who walked along close to the nigh 

 mule's head. When the driver pulled the rein, he did 

 nothing ; when he jerked it, the assistant gave the mule a 

 lusty whack on the near side of the head. The mule very 

 naturall}^ sought refuge away from the blow, turned his 

 mate with him, and presto ! that trick, too, was done. The 

 mule lacks not intelligence, and he very speedily learned 

 that a jerked rein was very apt to be followed by a blow 

 on the near side of the head, and made haste to get away 

 from it. The plan was crude but effective. 



The same method hi petto has for generations been a 

 favorite with the school-master, who has thumped the al- 

 phabet into his pupils' heads with his knuckles. How 

 much happier is the child of to-day with his Reading 

 Without Tears, than the child of sixty years ago, when the 

 vowels were not recited a-e-i-o-u, but a by itself a, e by it- 

 self e, i by itself i, etc. Fancy spelling " puzzle " p-u b}' 

 itself u-izzard-puz ; izzard-1-e by itself e-izzle-puzzle. Yet 

 I have known a man who, in New England, was taught 

 to spell that way early in this centurj^ 



One of the Spahis in the illustrations is racking along 

 in a very horsemanlike manner, except that one cannot 

 become reconciled to the nose in the air — it constantly 

 suggests a bit which the horse fears. The other, at first 

 blush, is riding a brute. But a look at him shows that the 



16 



