Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-03-25
AS sACRoBATs
Walking the Tight Rope in a Phila-
delphia Circus--Venus and Adonis
Balancing on a Gable Eighteen
Inches From the Ground and
Standing on Their Heads in the
RING
Philadelphia News.

:, Venus and Adonis are the
names of the two smallest of the
, fifteen elephants quartered in the
old depot at Twcnty-third street
and Ridge avenue, with Cooper
& Bailey's circus. Venus is
. four years old and Adonis a year
younger. Venus weighs four
hundred pounds and Adonis tips
the beam at fifty pounds less.
These two baby elephants have
been the objects of particular at
Itention on the part of Stewart
| Craven, the elephant trainer, who
has found them to be very prom
ising pupils. When the show
takes the road their names will
be displayed in large letters on
the big posters, and their pictures
will be shown on illuminated
cards. In short, Venus and Adj
onis will be one of the features
of the aggregation" The rea-
son of this is that the baby ele-
plants have, under patient train
ing, g,deyeloped extraordinary abil-
tiles, and are able todo things ne
yer heard of before, even in sens
ational circus announcements.
Not the least of these acquire
lnents is that of walking a tight
rope, and another is that of
, standing on the head. Both We
nus and Adonis do these, and did
them for News man the other
morning. A cable the thickness
Of the wrist is stretched over two
supports about eighteen inches
high, and the ends fastened to
stakes. The entire length of
the rope is about twenty feet,
and the part between the sup
ports ten feet. 1t is the inten-
ton, however, to stretch the ropes
across the ring in the circus,
which will give the, elephants a
walk twice the length of the
practice-rope. 80
VenusandAdonis were brought
from the stable which they share
with five or six other baby ele-
plants, and, after trotting around
the ring a couple of times to
climber them up" went through !
their performance. Contrary to
the accepted idea of mans bold
ness and women's timidity, We
nus crossed the rope first, and
without flltering, while Adonis
hung back to see if every thing
was secure, and then he hesita-
tingly followed. .pausing at al
most every step, as if to mediate
whether the risk was not too
great for any reward that might
be given. When half way over
one of Adonis' hind feet slipped
from the rope and the other soon
followed. Then he sneakcd over
with his fore feet on the rope and
his hind feet on the ground, and
then ran to his trainer and shook
his trunk from side to side, as if
he had accomplished something
wonderful. Venus by this time
was on her second trip, steadily
her way over the rope,
attending strictly to business,
and making no slips. Adonis
was then taken by the ear and 4
made to follow. He got to the
same place he slipped before and
then began to waver. After
frantic attempts to man
tain his balance he gave it up, ;
and his hind legs sought the
as before. After several
more attempts he succeeded in
the trip without mishap. t
Then walking to where the re-
porter was sitting he inserted {
his trunk into the News mans II
pocket, and securing his hand
kcrchief, deliberately wiped his
mouth with it. 1t was noticed,
that all the time his lit |
tie round eyes were watching {
Mr. Craven, and that he did moth .
ing without a signal from that {
In the mean time Il
Venus was in another part of K
the ring standing on her head I
and fore feet. She kept repeat q
ing the exercise until Mr.. Craven
cried "Home," when both fairly c
scampered off to the stable. I
"They are two of the best and I
the smartest little elephants | ev- q
er handled" said the trainer, I
sand Ive been twcnty-sevcn {
years in the business. That Ad- I
onis is a sharp rascal, He can /
walk the rope as we'll as Venus ,
any time, but he is like a mis- 6
chievous boy-he likes to cut up. {
Then, again, his performance is
out Of their routine, and like ev- f;
cry body else, they don't like ex- {,
ira work. | bring them out ev- .
cry morning, and they go through ,
their performance like clock
work, and then | reward them ,
with carrots or apples. This .
time Adonis didn't see any car +
rots in it, and you saw how he ,
carried on. | tell you he's a
smart one. Venus is as gentle /,
j n