Democratic banner. (Bowling Green, Pike County, Mo.) 1845-1852, 1850-05-13

aH'SrE1NG THE jELEPBAEr."-Theio origin
Of thie now common and expressive phrase,
is thus described in one Of our exchanges:
Some thirty years since, at, one of the
Philadelphia Theatres, pageant was in
rehearsal, in which il was necessary to
have an elephant. Noielephant was to be
had! The 'swild beasts" were al travell-
ing, snd the property man, siege director,
and managers, almos. had. fits when they
thought Of it. Days passed in hopeless
task of trying to secure one, but, st last
Yankee ingenuity triumphed, a. indeed it
always does, and an elephant was made to
order, of wood, skins, paints and vafnish.--
Thus far the matter was all well, bat as
let they had found no means to make said
combination travel. Here again the gen.
ius of the manager, property man and stage
director stuck out, and two of the ssbl loths''
were duly installed as legs. Ned c.,
one of the true and genuine s'b'hoys,' %
held the responsible station Of fore legs,
and for several nights he played that heavy
part to the entire satisfaction of the mana
gers, and the delight Of the audience
The part, however, was tedious one, as
the elephant was obliged to ,beon the stage
for about an hour, and Ned awss rather too
fond Of the bottle to remairso long without
"whettipg his whistle, so he sets his wits
to work to find a way to carry a wee drop
with him, The eyes of the elephant being
made with two porter bottles, with the necks
lip, Ned conceived the brilliant idea of ELL
ing them with good stuff. This he fully
carried out, and eiated with success; will
ingIy undertook to play fore legs again. ia
] Night came on--the The stre was crowded
with denizens of the Quaker city-the
music play ed its sweetest strains-the mu-
sic whistle was sounded--the curtain rose
and the play began. Ned and the hind
legs marched upon the stage-the elephant
was greeted with round upon round Of ap-
pIause. The decoration, the trsppings
we're gorgeous-the prince seated upor
the back of the elephant, alt loudly cheer.
ed., The play .proceedsd; the !; elephant
was marched round and round upon thu
siege. The. fore legs got dry, withdrew
one of the corks-treated the hind legs
and drank the health Of the audience in
bumper of genuine elephant-eye tch,sky, |
brandy by the way, till then unknown. Oh
went the play, and on went Ned drinking
The concluding march was TO be made-the
signal was given, and the fore legs stagger.
ed towards the front of the stage. phe
conductor pulled the ears. efrthe elephant
to the right--:ths fire legs staggered to the
left. The foot-lights obstructedhis way
he raised his foot and stepped-plump intG
the orchestra. Down went the, fore leg.
Oh the leaders fddIe-over, Of course, turn:
ed the elephant, sending the prince ant
the hrndkgs into the middle Of the pit: Tt.
mansger stood horror-struck-the prime,
and the hind legs lay confounded-ths box
es in convulsiDns, the actors choked will
laughtsr--and poor Ned, casting one look
q strange blending of drunkenness, gfiei
and laughter, at the, scene, fed hastily ou
/, of the Theatre, closely followed By tbs
Header with the wreck of his fiddle, per.
forming various cut and thrust motions il
the air. The curtain dropped on seen.
behind the scenes. No more psgesntG-n,
more fore kgs-but every body held thsil
sides--music, actors. pit,gallery and boxes
rushed from the Thestrs-sh shrieking be
tween every breath, "HAyE You SEEN III
ELEpHANT?''