The horse and the war . , but I know many of us would like to possess, say, warbonds for as many as we have seen and handled. And we are still ahve to tell atale of admiration ! Perhaps if I say a quarter of a million I shall not be verywide of the mark. If the real horse of the war has been the light draught fromAmerica, the mule has been, and is, just as essential in his own peculiar and often he has done what the horse has failed to do. He has survivedand outlasted him, and, maybe, has shown his perversity by apparent enjoy- 43 44 THE HORSE AND THE WAR meiit of the awful din of ba
The horse and the war . , but I know many of us would like to possess, say, warbonds for as many as we have seen and handled. And we are still ahve to tell atale of admiration ! Perhaps if I say a quarter of a million I shall not be verywide of the mark. If the real horse of the war has been the light draught fromAmerica, the mule has been, and is, just as essential in his own peculiar and often he has done what the horse has failed to do. He has survivedand outlasted him, and, maybe, has shown his perversity by apparent enjoy- 43 44 THE HORSE AND THE WAR meiit of the awful din of battles, the deep mud and piercing cold of France, orthe heat and flies of the East. His temper and constitution have remainedwhole, while the specimens of his mothers branch of the species have crackedand fallen by the wayside. Given his liquid refreshment and his humblerrations it takes a lot to put a mule out of action. He has even kindled enthu-siasm among ardent horse-lovers who were once prejudiced against him and f. The right-shaped mule. The wrong-shaped mule. despised the donkey in his outline and demeanour. So in time they havecome to say : Give us mules for this job of war rather than horses. Astrange and yet true conversion ! Again, as when writing of the American light draught horses, one marvelsthat Americas supph^ should have been so abundant. They are coming still,travelling well over the much troubled seas, and picking up rapidly on arrivalin a way which savs much for their sangfroid and entire indifference to new THE GALLANT MULE 45 surroundings, strange white faces, and the conditions imposed in a country atwar. They have been rehictant to step aboard ship on the other side, but,when once packed in steep holds and breathing a gassy atmosphere, too pungentfor all humans—except callous and leather-lunged muleteers—they soonbecome reconciled and contented to the point of being outraged and annoyedwhen asked to quit again. The acme of perversity, you see, but n
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