Some mule handling lessons for the survival impared

Those of you who're new here don't know that I've
been recommending a mule for The Coming Whatever.

Now you have an idea how to handle the animal here...

BISMARCK, N.D. -- Saje Beard's half-hour commute
to class is the envy of her four classmates at a
one-room schoolhouse just south of here. Most
mornings, the third-grader makes the trek on Ruth
the mule.

"She's called many things, but Ruth is what we
call her in public," Saje said of the 4-year-old
gray mule. "Actually, that's my dad's joke. She's
really nice and gentle. And she sure is smart."

Saje, 9, is an old hand at maneuvering mules.
She's been doing it since she was in first grade.

All of it.