THE MULE. 45 



halter and bridle-break tliem properly ; and I have 

 seen hundreds of mules, in the City of "Washington, 

 totally ruined by tying them up behind wagons wliile 

 young, and literally dragging them through the streets. 

 These mules had never, jierhaps, had a halter on be- 

 fore. I have seen them, while tied in this manner, 

 jump back, throw themselves down, and be dragged on 

 the ground until they were nearly dead. And what is 

 worse, the teamster invariably seeks to remedy this by 

 beating them. In most cases, the teamster would see 

 them dragged to death before he would give them a 

 helping hand. If he knew how to apply a proper 

 remedy, very likely he would not give himself the 

 trouble to apply it. I have never been able to find 

 out how this pernicious habit of tying mules behind 

 wagons originated ; but the sooner an order is issued 

 putting a stop to it, the better, for it is nothing less 

 than a costly torture. The mule, more than any other 

 animal, wants to see where he is going. He cannot do 

 this at the tail of an army wagon, though it is an ex- 

 cellent plan for him to get his head bruised or his 

 brains knocked out. 



Some persons cliarge it as an habitual vice with the 

 mule to pull back. I have seen horses contract that 

 vice, and continue it until they killed themselves. 

 But, in all my experience with the mule, I never saw 

 one in which it was a settled vice. During the time I 

 had charge of the receiving and issuing of horses to the 

 army, I had a great many horses injured seriously by 

 this vice of pulling back. Some of tliese horses became 

 BO badly injured in the spino that I had to send them 



