I grew up a little barefoot boy in central Georgia and lived on a very small farm. Then one day dad brought home a new mule. Do you know what a mule is? It's a creature who has a broad back, very strong long ears and stubborn. Well, I had two brothers and two sisters. My two brothers and me were a solid team and went out to meet the new mule. And she looked at us and shook her head, and I think she said, “I don't know whether I'm going to be okay on this farm.”
The first job we had with the old mule was to go down in the back pasture and cut some wood for the fireplace and the kitchen stove, which we cooked on. Everything went very well until we took out our cross cut saw and picked out the right tree and began cutting. Oh by the way, a cross cut saw, is a heavy saw with handles on both ends and you pull the saw back and forth until the tree falls.
We cut the tree into lengths that would fit on our wagons. The mule pulled the wagon very well until we reached a small stream. She crossed the stream but when the wagon rolled into the stream and she felt the extra weight she refused to go any further. Now, this presented a problem. How will we get her to move and go up the hill to the house? Now, I had heard that mule's stomach is very ticklish, so I sent one of my brothers to find a good tickle stick, which would reach and scratch the mules’ stomach. We did this, and the mule started laughing and ran out of the stream.
