La sentinelle de Thibodaux. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 1861-1866, 1866-05-19
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Origin Of "Seeiag the Elephant.n

aa About thirty years since, at one of ths
theatres, a pageant was i'll rehearsal. il
which it was necessary to have an Gle
plant. No elephant was to be had. Ths
wild beasts" were all travelling, and thu
property man, manager and stage direc
Tor almost lad fits when they thought O
H. Days passed in the hopeless task o.
trying to ecu one, but ut last, ingenuity
striumphed, and the elephant was made te
order, of wood, skins, paints and varnish,
Thus far the matter was very well, but at
yet they found no means to make that
combinations travel. Here, again, the
y manager, stage director and property
.snana struck out, and two "broths',, were
duly installed as legs. Ned Cox, one Of
the true. genuine ..b'hoys," held the
responsible position of fore legs, and for
several nights played that heavy part to
the entire satisfaction Of the managers
and the delight of the audience. The
part. however, was q very tedious one, as
the elephant was obliged to be on the
stage for about an hour, and Ned was
rather loo fond of the bottle to remain SO
long without q wetting his whistle" SO he
set his wits to work to find q way to carry
n wee drop with him. The eyes of the
elephant being made of two porter bot
ties, with the neck in Ned conceived the
brilliant idea of filling them with good
stuff. This he fully carried ont, and,
eiated with success, he willingly under
took to play fore legs again.
Night came ons the theater was densely
crowded, 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 after round of
applause; the decorations and trappings
were gorgeous. The elephant and the
prince upon his back were loudly cheerted.
The play proceeded-the elephant was
marched round and round upon tie stage.
The fore legs got dry, withdrew one of
the corks aud treated the hind legs, and
then drank the health OF the audience in
n bumper of genuine elephant eye
whiskey, a brand. till then,~unknown.
: The concluding march was to be made
the signal was given, and the fore legs
were staggering to the front OF, the stage.
The conductor pulled the elephants ear
to the right-the fore legs staggered to
tho left The footlights o~bstructed the
way, and he raised his foot and stepped in
the orchestra! Down went the fore legs
on the leaders, fddle-over, Of course,
turned the elephant. sending the prince
and the hind legs into the middle Of the
pit. The managers stood horror-struck
the prince and the hind legs lay con-
founded, the boxes in commissions, the ac-
tors. choking with laughter, and poor Ned.
casting one look, 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
curtain dropped on a scene behind the
scenes No more pageapt-no more fore
legs-everybody held their sides. Music,
actors. pit. boxes and gallery rushed from
the theatre. shrieking between every
breath-"Have you seen the elephant -