The Mockingbird's Ballad

"You are now one, but also two. Care for one another, your people and your home," was Emily's simple benediction.

===

Norman acted on the directives of the Spaniard. His father, John Longstreet -- John L. -- had read of the mule, the offspring of the donkey and horse. He had chuckled to himself as he read about mules in a pamphlet he had bought from a peddler. Seems George Washington had started mule breeding in the United States over fifty years ago. The penny pamphlet said the king of Spain had presented the general a large black jack, "Royal Gift," in 1785. Exportation of Spanish jacks was prohibited until 1813, and yet during the intervening years the breed had spread across most of the nation. People soon learned they were a cheaper and better choice than a horse for work and care. John L. had learned something new when he read about the odd breeding process it took to produce mules. A male donkey (jack stud) could sire a mule (jack) by a female horse (mare,) and a male horse could sire a mule (jenny) by a female donkey (jennet,) but mules could not produce mules. The desired combination was jack stud donkey with mare horse. It seemed the mule offspring were healthier, bigger and less trouble than those of the opposite pairing.

John L.'s team of mare horses and Norman's two jack stud donkeys were the foundation stock of the Fields' future way of life. Having always been taught to respect life and its gifts, Norman and Nancy, John L. and wife Sarah, and Norman's older sister, Mary Jane, became good and successful mule breeders and muleteers (trainers, handlers, drivers.) New horse members for the breeding stock were added over the years, so the Fields' line of mules was strong and became sought after by farmers in the six counties of southeast Tennessee. They drove their sale stock to mule and horse auctions in Pikeville, Winchester and Chattanooga. Norman and Nancy were quick students and by the second generation their children, John Ross and the twins, Alexander Auburn and Mary Louise, had learned about mules, their ways, health needs and requirements and the demands of training. A Fields' team of mules bought or traded at a county seat in the region became a sound investment for the farmer who came to town to find good work stock. The Fields family had a good life for nearly twenty years, but in 1862 trouble, bad trouble, was brought to their valley by strangers.