The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-05-23
A GOOD STOEY ABOUT AN ELE-
PHANT.


PHANT.
Old SOuPE 4mR1y's rig FIzht-Au EIe.
PbDof Fishing WIN ChEIdreB-
In the autumn of 1876 1 was living in
the interior of Bengal, and I went to
spend Christmas with my friend, Major
Daily. The majors bungalow wss on the
banks of the GaDges, near Cawnpore. He
had lived there a good many years, being
chief of the quartermaster' department
at that station, and had a great many
elephants, bullock-carts and soldiers un-
der his command.
On the morning after my arrival, after
cup of early tea--often taken before
daylight in India-I sat smoking with
my friend in the yeTanda of his bungalow,
looking out upon the windings of the
! sacred river. And, directly, / asked the
major about his children. boy and girl,
whom / had not yet seen, and begged to
know when I should see them.
/" Soupramany has taken them out
/ fishing" said their father.
Why isn't S0upramany your great
war elephant ?'' l cried.
&" Exactly so. You can not have for.
gotten Soupramany 70
of course not. l was here, you
/ know, when he had that fight with the
/ elephant who went mad while loading a
/ transport with bags of rice down yonder.
l saw the mad elephant when he sud-
/ denly began TO fling the rice into the
river. His 'mahout' tried to stop him,
and he killed the mahout. The native
sailors ran away to hide themselves, and
| the mad elephant, trumpeting, charged
| into this Enclosure. Old Soupramany
was here, and so were Jim and Bessy.
When he saw the mad animal he threw
! himself between him and the children.
| The little ones and their nurses had Just
time to get into the house when the
fight commenced"
q Yes" said the msior, F" Old Soup was
hundred years old. He had been
trained to war, and TO fight with the
rhinOceros, but ne was too old to hunt
| them.
And yet" said |, becoming animated
! by the recoliections of that day, "what
/ a gallant fight it was. Do you Tenem-
Der how we all stood on this porch and
watched it, not daring to fire a shot lest
we should il old Soupramany Do you
remember, too, MS look when he drew
of, after fighting an hour and a half,
| leaving his adversary dying in the dust,
( and walked straight TO the corral,
l shaking his great ears, which had been
/ badly torn, with his head bruised, and a
| great piece broken from one of his tusks 2''
" Yes, indeed" ;" said the major. Well,
| since then he is more devoted to my dear
] little ones than ever. He takes them
out whole days, and am perfectly con-
/ tent to leave them under his charge.
don't like trusting Christian children to
/ the care of natives, but with Old Soup
/ know they can come IN no HARM"
" What you trust children under ten
! years of age to Soup, without any other
/ protectionp' p'
Il do" replied the major. Come
along with me, if you doust, and we will
surprise them at their fishing"
Followed Maj. Daily, AID after walk
! ing half mile along the wooded banks,,of
| the river, we came upon the little group.
/ The two children--Jim, the elder, being
| about ten-both sat still and silent, for 8
wonder, each held a rod, with line, cork,
hook and bait, anxiously watching the
gay cork bobbing in the water. Beside
them stood Old Soup, with an extremely
/ large bamboo rod in mis- trunk, with line,
4 HOOK, bait and cork, like the children's s.
/ I need not say took small notice Of the
| children, but turned all my attention to
their big mpaniOn. | had not watched
him long before he had bite, for, as the
religion Of the Hindoos forbids them to
take life, the river swaTms with fishes.
The old fellow did not stir his little
| eyes watched his line eargerly; he was
no novice in % the gentle craft" He was
| waiting till it was time to draw in his
prize.
At the end of his line, as he drew ii
up, was dangling one of those golden
tensh so abundant in the Ganges.
When Soupramany perceived what q
/ fine fish he had caught, he uttered one oi
those long, low, gurgling notes of salts
faction by which an eiephat expresses
joy, and he waited patiently, expecting
Jim to take his prize off the hook and
put on some more bait for him. But
/ Jim, the little rascal, sometimes liked to
plague Old Soup. He nodded at US, as
much as to cav, Look out, and you'll
] see some fun nOwW Then he took of
/ the fish, which he threw into the water
| jar placed there for that purpose, and
went back to his place without putting
any bait on Old Soups hook. The in
telligent animal did not attempt to throw
his line into the water. He tried te
move Jim by low, pleading cries. Ii
was curious to see what tender tones he
seemed to try to give his voice.
Seeing that Jim paid no attention to
his calls, but sat and laughed as he
handled his own line, O.d Soup went up
to him, and with his trunk tried to turn
| his head in the direction of the bait box.
| At last, when he found that all he could
do would not induce his wilful friend TO
| help him, he turned around, as if struck
by q sudden thought and snatching up
/ in his trunk the box that held the bait,
came and laid it down at the majors
feet; then picking up his rod, he held If
out to his master.
/ " What do YOU want me TO do with
/ this Old SoupP' said the major.
The creature lifted one great foot after
the other, and again began to utter his
/ plaintive cry. Out of mischief, took
Jimmv's part. and picking up the bait
box, pretended to run with it. He
diDped his trunk into the Ganges and In
an instant squirted a stream of water
over me with all the force and precision
of a irs-engine, to the immense amuse-
ment o. the children.
The N sior at once made Soup a sign 70
stOo, and, To make my pesCe with the
old fellow, I baited ms hook myself
I Quivering with Joy, as a baby does when
Il gets hold at last Of 8 plaything some
one nas taken from IL, old SUupramany
hardly paused 10 thank me by soft note
of 10y for batting his line for him before
he went back to his place, and was again
watching his cork as - tre"h'ed in thC
ripRles OF the riv~r.-TSt. Nicholas
/ |
A FOX sIvers, Jul Counts hens in his
I dreams