urteen hundred miles.
Starting from Cedar Valley on the 22d of October, I reached Fort
Leavenworth on the 31st of December. At the end of the journey the
animal was completely worn down.

In this condition I put her into Fleming's livery stable, in Leavenworth
City, and was asked if she was perfectly gentle. One would suppose that,
in such a condition, she would naturally be so. I assured the hostler
that she was; that I had ridden her nearly a year, and never knew her to
kick. That same morning, when the hostler went to feed her, she suddenly
became vicious, and kicked him very severely. She was then about twelve
years old. I have since thought that when a mule gets perfectly gentle
he is unfit for service.

Proprietors of omnibuses, stage lines, and city railroads have, in many
cases, tried to work mules, as a matter of economy; but, as a general
thing, the experiment proved a failure, and they gave it up and returned
to horses. The great reason for this failure was, that the persons
placed in charge of them knew nothing of their disposition, and lacked
that experience in handling them which is so necessary to success. But
it must be admitted that, as a general thing, they are not well adapted
for road or city purposes, no matter how much you may understand driving
and handling them.

The mule may be made to do good service on the prairies, in supplying
our army, in towing canal boats in hauling cars inside of coal mines--
these are his proper places, where he can jog along and take his own
time, patiently. Work of this kind would, however, in nearly all cases,
break down the spirit of the horse, and render him useless in a very
short time.

I have seen it asserted that there were mules that had been known to
trot in harness in three minutes. In all my experience, I have never
seen any thing of the kind, and do not believe the mule ever existed
that could do it. It is a remarkably good road horse that will do this,
and I have never yet seen a mule that could compare for speed with a
good roadster. I have driven mules, single and double, night and day,
from two to ten in a team, and have handled them in every way that it is
possible to handle them, and have in my charge at this time two hundred
of the best mule teams in the world, and there is not a span among them
that could be forced over the road in four minutes. It is true of the
mule that he will stand more abuse, more beating, more straining and
constant dog