§ 173 Of a Careless Nature
A colored man owned a mule which, for reasons best known to himself he desired to sell. He heard that a neighbor down the road was in the market for a mule. So he put a halter on the animal and led her to the cabin of the other negro.
At once negotiations were entered into. The owner had delivered himself of a eulogy touching on the strength, capacity for hard work, and amiable disposition of his beast, when the prospective purchaser broke in with a question:
“Is dis yere mule fast?”
“Fast?” the proprietor snorted. “Look yere!” He gave the mule a kick in the ribs, whereupon she bucked sideways, tore down a strip of fencing, galloped headlong through a week’s washing, butting against the side of the barn, and then caroming off, tore across a garden patch and vanished into the woods beyond the clearing.
“Look yere, nigger,” said the owner of the damaged property, “dat mule must be blind.”
“She ain’t blind,” said the owner; “but she jest natchelly don’t keer a damn!”