THE 20-MULE-TEAM BRIGADE Being a story in Jingles of the good works and adventures of the famous “Twenty-Mule-Team” Illustrations by PETER NEWELL PUBLISHED BY THE PACIFIC COAST BORAX CO. NEW YORK · CHICAGO · SAN FRANCISCO COPYRIGHT 1904, BY OTIS H. KEAN, INC., NEW YORK [Illustration: “Each Warrior bears a trusty gun—”] THE TWENTY-MULE-TEAM BRIGADE Here is a band of twenty mules, Enlisted for the fight Against the King of Dirt who rules His armies, black as night. Each warrior bears a trusty gun— The best that he can find— And this is charged with pure Borax— The 20-Mule-Team kind. “My noble men,” their Captain said, “Before we sally out, We’ll rid this home of old King Dirt, And put his host to rout. Then let us to the kitchen go, And there begin the fight; The kitchen where the food is cooked Should cleanly be and bright.” [Illustration: “‘Halt!’ sharply cried the Captain. ‘Fire!’”] THE BATTLE OF DISH PAN HILL And so this Borax army marched In through the kitchen door, And there beheld a tarnished fort Of tinware on the floor. Behind the pans and kettles stood, In sullen black array, A grimy band of vicious Imps All ready for the fray. “Halt!” sharply cried the Captain. “Fire!” And all along the line, The volleys rang and rang again— My! but the sight was fine! The Borax powder swept the fort, And rattled pot and pan; The grimy Imps were rattled, too, And dropped their arms and ran, Till every skulking Imp was gone, And every thing was clean. The tinware shone like burnished gold— Like burnished tin, I mean. And so was ended, happily, The fight of Dish Pan Hill; The mules all cheered and waved their ears, And with a hearty will. [Illustration: “But Borax poultice well applied at once relieved his pain—”] ACCIDENT ON THE WAY TO NURSERY “My noble men,” the Captain said, “We’ll take a change of air, And look into the nursery, And rout the Imps in there. The children’s health must be preserved— No duty is more plain— So we will purify their room, And thus their favor gain.”