The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-10-27
Origin of Sc Seeing the Elephant"

Some thirty years since, at one of
the Philadelphia theaters, a pageant
was in rehearsal, at which it W as neces-
sary to have an elephant. No elephant
was to be had. Tho "wild animals"
were all travelling, and the property
man, stage directors and managers,
almost had fits when they thought of
it. Days passed in the hopeless task
of trying to secure one; but at'last
Yankee ingenuity triumphed, as, indeed,
it always does, and an elephant was
made to order of wood, skins, paint
and varnish. Thus far the matter was
very well; but as yet they had found
no means to make said combination
travel. Here, again, the genius of the
managers, the stage director and
property man struck out, and two broth
ers were duly enstalled as legs. Ned
c., one of the true and genuine
'b'hoys," held the responsible position
of fore-legs, and several nights he
played that heavy part to the entire
satisfaction of the managers and delight
of the audience.
The part, however, was very tedi-
Gus one, as the elephant was obliged to
be on the stage for about an hour, and
Ned was rather too found of the bottle
to remain so long without 0wetting his
whistle" so he set his wits to work to
find out way to carry ga wee drap"
with him.
The eyes of the elephant being made
of two porter bottles, with the neeks
in, Ned conceived the brilliant idea of
filling them with good stuff This he
fully carried out, and, elated with sue
cess, he willingly undertook to play
fore-legs again. = toa 9's-A5'
Night came on, and the theater 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 many
rounds of applause. The decorations
and trappings were gorgeous. The
elephant, and the prince seated on his
back, were loudly cheered. The play
proceeded; the elephant marched round
upon the stage. The fore-legs got dry,
withdrew one of the corks and treated
hind-legs, aud drank the health of the
audience in bumper of genuine ele-
plant eye whiskey, brand, by the
way, till then unknown. On went the
play, and on went Ned drinking The
conclusion march was to be made the
signal was given, and fore-legs staggered
towards the front of the stage. The
conductor pulled the ears of the ele-
plant to the right-the fore-legs stag
gered to the left-the footlights OBJ
structed the way, and he raised his foot
and stepped plump into the orchestra!
Down went fore-legs on the leaders,
fiddle-over, of course, turned the ele-
plant, sending the prince and hind-legs
into the pit.
The manager stood horror-struck !;
theprince and hind-legslay COMPOUNDED,
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 theater, closely followed by the
leader with the wreck of his fiddle, per-
forming various cut and thrust motions
in the air. The curtain dropped on a
scene behind the scenes. No more
pageant, no more fore-legs, but every
body held their sides. Music, actors,
pit, boxes and gallery, rushed from the
theater, shrieking between every breath:
"Have you seen the elephant?"