Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1878 — The Bay Mule. [ARTICLE]

The Bay Mule.

He was showing the man the new bay mule that he was working in a team with the old gray. “ Ton warrant him sound and perfectly kind and gentle ?” the man said. “Perfectly,” said Farmer John. “My wife and children drive him, and he is a perfect pet. Comes into the house like a dog.” “Easy to shoe?” asked the man. "Well, I guess so; fact is, I never had him shod. I don’t believe in it; he works better without it,” said Farmer John. “ How does he act when you put the crupper on?” asked the man. Farmer John hesitated. “ Well, pretty good, I guess,” he said; “fact is, I never put it on. ” “ How does it get on V’ asked the man; “ who does put it on?” “Well, I kind of don’t know,” said Farmer John; “fact is, he had the harness on when I got him, an* it fit him so well, an’ he seemed to be so kind o* contented in it, like, that I sort of never took it off’ll him.” “And how long have you had him?” asked the man. Farmer John chewed a wheat-straw very meditatively. “Well,” he said, “not to exceed more’n two year, mebbe.” And the man backed a little further away, and said he would “ sort of look round a little further before he bought, like.” And Farmer John never saw him again, not even unto this day.— Burdette. The growth of the nails on the left hand requires eighty-two days more than those of the right, is more rapid in children than adults, and goes on faster in summer than in winter. It requires 132 days for the renewal of the nails in cold weather, and but 116 when the weather is warm.