The American patriot. (Clinton, La.) 1854-1???, 1855-11-17
Origin Of Seeing the Elephant" !"

Some years since, at one of the Phiade
phia theatres, pagent was in rehearsal, il
which it was necessary to have an elephant
NO elephant was to be had The "wild beasts
were all travelling, and the property man, stag,
director and managers almost had fits whe,
they thought of it. Days passed in the hope
less task OF trying to secure one; but at las
Yankee ingenuity triumphcd, as indeed it al
ways docs, and an elephant was made to orde,
OF wood, skins, paint and varnish. Thus far
the matter was all very well; but as vet, they
found no means to make said combination trav
ell Here again, the genius of the stage direc
tor and property man stuck out, and two
"brothc," were duly installed as legs, Ned c..
one OF the true genuine "bhoys," held the
station OF fore legs, and for several nights he
played that heavy part to tn entire satisGsc.
ton OF the managers, and the delight of the
audience.
The part, however, was very tedious one,
as the elephant was obliged 10 be on the stage
for about an hour, and Ned was rather too fond
OF the bottle to remain so long without "wet-
ting his whistle" So he set his wits to work
to find way to carry we drop with him.
The eyes of the elephant being made of porter
bottles, with the necks in, Ned conceived the
brilliant idea of filling them with good stuff.
This be fully carried out; and elatcd with sue
cess, he willingly undertook to play the fore
gs again.
Night came on--:he theatre was immensely
crowded with the citizens of the Quaker CITY
the music was played in the sweetest strains
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 decoration and tra,,-
pings were gorgeous. The elephant and the
prince seated upon his back were loudly cheer
cd The play proceeded; the elephant was
marched round and round upon the stage
The fore legs got dry, withdrew one of the
corks, and treated the hind legs, and then
drank Tie health of the audience in hum.
per of genuine elephant eye whiskey, a brand,
by the way, till then unknown. On went the
play, and on went Ned drinking The concu-
sion march was to be madc-thc signal was
given, and the fore legs staggered towards the
front of the stage. The conductor pulled the
ears of the elephant to the right-the fore legs
staggered to the left. The foot lights obscur.
ed the way, and he raised his foot and stepped
plump into the orchestra Down went the fore
legs on to the leaders iddle-over, of comse
turned the elephant, sending the prince and
hind legs into the middle ofthe pit. The man
a .ers sood horror-struck-the prince and the
hind legs lay confounded- boxes in con-
vulsion, the actors choking with laughter, and
poor Ned casting one look, strange blending
of drunkenness, grief and laughter at the
scene, fled hastily out of the theatre, closely
followed by the leader with the wreck of his
fiddle, performing various cut and thrust mo-
tions in the air The curtain dropped on a
scene behind the scenes. No more pageant
no more fore legs-but everybody held their
sides. Music, actors, pit, boxes, and gallery,
rushed from the theatre, shrieking between
every breath" Hare gov seen the elephont'"