Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1882-05-15
Jumbo.

America parsonage more talked
about than Jumbo. Even the Queen
who was shot at few weeks ago by
poor crazy man, but not hurt; even
the Car, who is shut up in one of his
Russian palaces for fear of being
shot at, are having less said about
them.
Jumbo, as I am perfectly sure you
all know as well as l do, is an ele-r
phant, the biggest elephant in cap
tivity, as gentle as he is big, and the
English people, young and old, are
very fond of him.
He is an African elephant, and Sir
Samuel Baker, Fellow of the Zoolo-
gical Society, who knows great deal
about elephants, says that he knew
Jumbo when he was a baby about
four and a half feet high, and had
just been captured by Arabs on the
shore Of the Settle River, in Abys-
sinia, in 1861. Now Jumbo, the
pride Of the English Zoo, is twenty
one years old, and measures eleven
feet in height to his withers, which is
the high ridge between the shoulder
blades just at the end of the neck.
He is very skillful in catching buns
and apples which are thrown to him
by his young admirers.
One picture of this enormous but
gentle creature represents him in the
act of giving farewell ride to a par
ty of little friends. His head and
ears differ from those of the Indian
species. His forehead is not so high
and prominent; his ears are much
larger, of a different and handsomer
shape, while the brows are very large
and full over the eyes, and the eyes
themselves, when you can see them
through the thick, long lashes, have
really wonderful expression of in
telligence and dignity. He has
long trunk, very powerful and grace
full but his tusks seem to be only
roots, just showing through the skin
at the sides of the face, and it is said
that he has kept them worn down by
rubbing them against the walls of his
den.
AS soon as it was known that our
great American Snowman, Mr.. Bar
mum, had bought Jumbo for his trav-
cling show, Jumbo, big as he is, was
in everybody's month, and a great
fuss was made about his own unwill-
ingness to go. The newspapers took
up the matter, and gave whole col
umns of talk to Jumbo. 1t seemed
to be taken for granted that nothing
more dreadful could happen to the
poor beast than to fall into Mr.. Bar
NUNS hands.
The newspapers printed a great
many letters from children, who Of
fered their pocket-money, in sums
from sixpence to three or five shil-
lings, to buy Jumbo back again.
They all wrote with the same idea,
that Jumbo would be cruelty used,
and would surely die, if he were TAX
en- away; but still it was quite clear
that the little writer's of these letters
were not entirely unselfsh in their
grief, for they had a great deal to
say about the nice rides they had al
ready had, and still wished to have,
on Jumbo's enormous back.
Older people went SO far as to pro-
pose to raise money to pay back to
Mr.. Barnum the $4,000 he had given
for Jumbo, and perhaps f400 or $500
besides for his disappointment, but
nothing more was said of this plan
after Mr.. Barnum telegraphed that
100000 would not buy Jumbo back.
AS Mr.. Scott, Jumbo's keeper, said
to me, s'Mr. Barnum understands his
business" and it began to appear
that the Zoo Society Council had not
understood theirs. Every one who
knows Mr.. Barnum knows that he is
exceedingly kind to animals, and
that they thrive, are happy, and live
| long under his care.
But the English people are not SO
well acquainted with Mr.. Barnum as
they will be, perhaps, when Jumbo
comes back to the English Goo
as Mr.. Barnum very kindly says that
he may-and tell his own story.
And, after all, it is only fair that
Jumbo should try for himself the
flavor of American buns, and find
that the boys and girls of America
are as pleasant to carry and as kind
as their English cousins.
People old and young iocked daily
to the 800" They carried bags
and baskets of buns, crackers, and
sweetmeats, and everybody went
straight to the elephant-house. Par
rots, monkeys, pelicans and lions are
nowhere. On Ash Wednesday (Feb-
ruary 22), | went myself, and when
| first entered the elephant-house /
thought it must be all going to tum-
BILE down, / heard such a loud, start
ling noise. But it was only Alice,
the elephant that they call Jumbo's s
wife, calling for food. The sound
she made by gathering her breath in
her cheeks, and blowing it forcibly
through her long trunk, was much
like that made by crashing both
hands strongly down on the bass keys
of a church organ when all the louds
stops are on.