48 THE BRIDLE BITS. 



INTELLIGENCE OF THE MULE. 



When tlie mule in the ash-cart hears the empty "barrel 

 put on the sidewalk, he moves on of his own accord to 

 the next barrel, and stops again of himself where he 

 knows he is to stop ; and although anybody may see that 

 his father was a jackass, unusual stupidity cannot be 

 attributed to him on that account, for albeit slow and 

 apparently stupid, if taken in hand when young he can 

 be trained with greater facility than he gets credit for. 

 It is the change of masters that spoils those animals that 

 don't seem to know the difference between one owner and 

 another ; but they do, and wx should blend our senses 

 w^ith their instincts. '^The ox knoweth his owner and 

 the ass his master's crib." We should, therefore, take 

 advantage of the natural faculties of those animals that 

 serve us under physical restraint, and thus dispens3 with 

 half the severity of the instruments we use to guide and 

 govern them. 



The ox and the dog are made perfectly subordinate to 

 our will by voice alone. Recent exhibitions of trained 

 h(^'ses prove that the horse is capable of moral influence, 

 and that his understanding and tractability are of a 

 superior order. 



** Reasoning at every step he treads, 

 Man yet mistakes his way, 

 "VViiilo meaner beasts, whom instinct leads, 

 Are rarely known to stray." 



The cat, the most intractable and disobedient of our 

 domestic animals, can be trained so perfectly that it will 

 fetch and carry as well as a dog will, and can be taken 

 from its homo and made to perform before strangers in a 

 strange house. This training of a cat is very unusual, 

 but with judgment, skill and early training our experi- 

 ence has proved it can be done. Is it any wonder, there- 

 fore, that we plead for the horse, and suggest a more 



