St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1864-02-04
ORIGIN OF s.sEEING THE ELE.
pHANT.N

Some years since at one of the Philade,,.
pkia .theaters, . pageant, 5.8s III rehearsal
in which il ARs Necessary to have an ele-
phant. No elephant Was to be had. The
wild beasts were all travelling, aud the
property man, stage director, and mana
| ger, almost had fits when they thought 8!
it. Days PASSED in the hopeless task Of try
ing to secure one;t but at last Yankee in
genuity tripwphsEs as indeed it alwdys
does, and an elephant was made to order,
Of wood, skin, paint and varnish. Thus
lar the matter was all very we'll; but as
YET they found no means to make said co1t-
bination travel. Here again the genius Of
the manager, the stage director and prop
erty man stuck out, and two ''broths" were
duly Installed as legs. Ned c., one of
the true and genuine ''b'hoys'' held the
station Of fore legs, and for several nights
he played that heavy part to the,ertire sat-
isiaction Of the managers and,tLe delight
Of the audience.
The part, however, was q very tedious
! one, as the elephant was obliged to be on
The stage about an hour, and Ned was rath-
er too fond Of the bottle to remain so long
without ''wetting his Fhistle,'' so, he SCI
his wits to work to find a way to carry a
Wee drop with him. The eyes Of the ele-
phant being made Of two porter bottles,
with the necks in, Ned conceived the bril-
liant idea Of filing them with good stuff.
This he fAlly.carried out and elated with
success, he Willingly undertook to play
fore legs again .-...
Night came on-the theater was dense
ly crowded with the denizens Of the Quaker
City-the .1isic was played in the sweet
est strains-.he 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 and the trappings were gor-
geous. The elephant and the prime seat
| ed upon his back were loudly cheered.
Tbs play proceeded; the elephant was
marched round and round upon the stage.
Tne fore legs got dry, Withdrew one of the
corks and treated the hind legs, and then
drank the health of the audience in q
bumper of genuine elephant eye whisky,
brand, by the way, till then unknown. On
went The play aud on went Ned drinking.
the signal was given, and the fore-legs
staggered towards tbs front Of the stage.
fhe conductor pulled the ears Of the ele-
plant to the right-the fore-legs staggered
to the left The footlights obstructed the
way, and he raised his foot and stepped
plump into the orchestra. Down weut the
fore legs on to the leaders fiddle; over, of
course. turned the elephant, sending the
prince .and hind legs into the middle Of the
pit. Tie .aahasere Stood horror struck ];
the prince and h;nd=legs lay .confoundea,
the boxes in commissions, the actors chok-
ing with laughter, aud poor Ned, casting
one look, a strange blending of drunken
ness, grief, and laughter at the scene, fed
hastil out Of the theater, closely followed
by the leader with the wreck Of his fiddle,
performing various cut and thrnst motions
in the air. The curtain dropped on 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 theater shrieking
between every breath, "Haus you seen ths
elephant 2'-Miner's Journal. ..s