Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1850-08-10
"lseeing the ELEPHANT"

The origin of this ngiH common and ex
pfessive phrase, is THUS described iii one e
our exchanges
"Some thirty yehrs since, at one of The
Philadelphia theatres. a pageant was in re-
hearsal III which it ttas necessary to have
All elephant No elephant was to BE- had
| The wild beasts were all travelling, aud
! the property nti,, stage Director and tiasi-
agtfs almost lad fits when they thought
Of It. Days passed III tlie hopeless task oi
trying to seizure ole, but at last Yankee in
genuity triumphed, as indeed it always
does, and All elephant was made to order
Of wood, skins paitit aud tarnisli. Thus
fat the matter was all Well, but pc yet they
had found no iiitalis to make said totati.
nation travel Here again the genius Of
lie tnsnagef, stage director and property
tnan stuck out, and two Of the 'btoths'
were duly installed as legs. Ned c,
5ne Of the true and genuine d 'boys,' held
the responsible statioli Of fureaegs, aud fuf
several iiights he played that heavy part
to the entire satisfaction Of the manager
aiid the delight Of the audience The
part, however, was tedious one. as the
elephant was obliged to be Oh tile Stage for
about an hour, and Ned was rather too
folid Of the bottle to remain so long with.
ont "wetting his whistle SO he sets his
wits 10 work to find n way to carry a wee
drop with him The eyes Of the elephant
being made Of two porter bottles, with the
necks in, Ned conceived the brilliant idea
Of filing them with good stuff This he
fully carried out and elated with success
willingly undertook to forelegs again.
Night caaie@=the theatre was crowded
with denizens Of the Quaker city--the
music played its sweet strains-the mtlsie
whistle sUutidsd4@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
applause. The decorations. the tfapppEs
were gorgeous the prihce seated upon his
back the elephant, all were loudly cheer
ed. The play proceeded, Tie elephant
was marched touitd and round upon the
stage The fore legs got dry, withdrew
Vtic VI tHt tDths ttfdttu tHe flUt fG.JS anu
drank the health Of the audience III . bump
er Of genHne elephant eye whisky,
brand, by the way. till then unknown. On
went the play, aid OH went Ned drinking
The concluding march was to be mads-
the signal was given, and fere-le4s stag
gefad to the left. The foot Lights obstruc.
ted his Way--he raised his feet and step
ped=plunp into the orchestra Down
went the iore-legs on tie leaders fiddle
over. Of eUttfse, turned the elephant,
sending the prince and bind legs Into The
middle Of the pit The manager stood
horror STRUCK the prince and hind legs lay
conto,ihdad THE boxes in cottvulsions the
actors choking with laughter; and poor
Ned, casting one look, strange blending
Of drunkenness, grief aid laughter. at the
scene. fled hastily ont Of the theatre, close
ly followed by tie leader with the wreck
Of his fiddle, performing yaripus cut and
thrust motions III the hir. The curtain
dropped OH scene behind tile scenes. No
more pageant, no more fore legs bit every
body held their sides--inusit, actors. pit.
gallery and boxes rushed from the theatre,
shriekihg between every breath, "Have
you seen the eggplant"