Volcano weekly ledger., 1855-11-24
Origin of Seeing the Elephant"

some thirty years since, at one Of the Phil
adelphla Theatres, pageant was in rehears-
a. IN winch 1t was necessary TO have an ec-
phant No elephant was to be had The
wild beasts were all travelling. and the
property man, stage director and manager, al
most had fits when they thought of it. Days
passed on in the hopeless task Of trying to
secure one but at last Yankee ingenuity tri-
umphed, as indeed it always does and an eIe-
phant was made to ordcrof wood skins. paint
andFarnish. Thus far the matter was all very
well but as yet they had found no means to
make said combination travel Here again.
the genius of the manager the stage director
and property man struck out, and two broth
. ors were duly installed as legs Ned c.,
one Of the true and genuine "b'hoys," held
the responsible position Of fore legs, and for
several nights he played that heavy part to
the entire satisfaction of the managers and
the delight of the audience.
The part, however, was a very tedious one,
as the elephant was obliged to be on the stage
for about an hour, and Ned was rather too
fond of the bottle to remain so long without
wetting his whistle so he set his wits to
work to find way to carry a wee drop with
him. The eyes of the elephant being made
Of two porter bottles, with the neck in, Ned
conceived the brilliant idea of filling them
with good stuff This he fully carried out :;
and elated with success, he readily undertook
to play fore legs again.
Night came on-the theatre was densely
crowded with the denizens of the Quaker city
The music was played in sweetest strains
the curtain rose and the play began. Ned
and hind legs marched upon the stage
The elephant was greeted with round upon
round of applause. The decorations and the
trappings were gorgeous The elephant and
the prince seated upon his back were loudly
cheered. 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 the health of the audience in bumper
of genuine elephant eye whisky, brand, by
the way, till then unknown On went the
play, and on went Ned drinking The con
cluson march was to be made-the signal was
given, and the fore legs staggered towards the
front of the stage The conductor pulled the
ears of the elephant to right-the fore legs
staggered to the left The foot lights OBJ
suuctcu tle way anu ne raised MS lOOt ana
stepped plumb into the orchestral Down
went the fore legs on the leaders fiddle
over, of course, went the elephant, sending
the prince and hind legs into the middle of
the pit. The manager stood horror struck
the prince and the hind legs lay confounded,
the boxes in commissions, the actors choking
with laughter, and poor Ned, casting one lock,
a strange, blending Of drunkenness, grief and
laughter at the scene, fed hastily out of the
theatre, closely followed by the leader with
the wreck of his fiddle, performing various
cut and thrust motions in the air The cur
tain 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 thea
ire, shrieking between every breath, -" Have
you seen the Elephant 2"