HOW TO CATCH A MULE

There was a farmer who had a balky mule and he couldn’t make the mule go. A stranger came along and offered to help, and the farmer told him to go right ahead. The stranger had a bottle of turpentine, and he opened the mule’s mouth and pushed back his head and poured about half of the bottle into the mule’s stomach. The mule gave one startled gasp and struck out across the prairie, and was lost to sight. The surprised farmer stood for a while immersed in deep thought, and then he said, “Stranger, please give me the rest of that turpentine; I’ve got to catch my mule.”