He was a Kentucky farmer and raised horses and mules.

I never knew anything about music, for I wouldn't learn; but I own a stock farm near Lexington, and just between ourselves I don't lose any money on it.
And most that I know about men I learned from mules; there's nothing in the world so interesting as a mule." When Professor Kelton had declared to Sylvia on the way from the station that Mrs.Owen was unlike any other woman in the world, Sylvia had not thought very much about it.

To be sure Sylvia's knowledge of the world was the meagrest, but certainly she could never have imagined any woman as remarkable as Mrs.Owen.The idea that a mule, instead of being a dull beast of burden, had really an educational value struck her as decidedly novel, and she did not know just what to make of it.

Mrs.Owen readjusted the pillow at her back, and went on spiritedly:-- "Your grandpa has often spoken of you, and it's mighty nice to have you here.

You see a good many of us Hoosiers are Kentucky people, and your grandpa's father was.