, who was well acquainted with
both animals, who hesitated to place the mongrel in the intellectual
grade above the pure-blood animal. There is, it is true, a decided
difference in the mental qualities of the two creatures. The mule is
relatively undemonstrative, its emotions being sufficiently expressed
by an occasional bray--a mode of utterance which he has inherited from
the humbler side of his house in a singularly unchanged way. Even in
the best humor it appears sullen, and lacks those playful capers which
give such expression to the well-bred horse, particularly in its
youthful state. It is evident, however, that it discriminates men and
things more clearly than does the horse. In going over difficult ground
it studies its surface, and picks its way so as to secure a footing in
an almost infallible manner. Even when loaded with a pack, it will
consider the incumbrance and not so often try to pass where the burden
will become entangled with fixed objects.

Mules soon learn the difference between those who have the care of them
and strangers. It is a well-known fact that trouble awaits the wight
who unwarily ventures to take from the stall a mule which has not the
advantage of his acquaintance. On this account they are rarely stolen.
Even in the daytime they are often dangerous for strangers to approach,
and the most of the ill-usage which men receive from their heels arises
where unwitting people venture to treat them as they would horses.
Mules are much less liable to panic-fear than the most of our
domesticated animals, yet, when kept in the herded way, they
occasionally become stampeded. Many a soldier of our Civil War, where
mules played a large part in the campaigns, doubtless remembers the mad
outbreaks of these creatures from their corrals, when they went
charging through the army with a fury which, if directed against an
enemy, would have been almost as effective as a cavalry charge.

It is interesting to note that mules have a greater disposition to
adopt a leader in their movements than we note in either of the species
whence they come. In the old days when mules were plentifully bred in
Kentucky, and taken thence for sale to the plantation States, they went
forth in droves, commonly under the leadership of a bell horse, or, by
preference, a mare, which it was quite the custom to choose of a white
color. In the course of a few hours the creatures would learn to know
their guide, and to follow the leader