The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-12-29
THE TALKING ELEPHANT.
Old Ike Neglecss His Business 10 Tell
 the Truth.

the Truth.
 The other evening. when a binding slee, had driven the chickens to early roost young Mulki,tle wen, to old lke's cabin and found the aged African sitting before his fire. humming a tune in quaint accompaniment to the song of the coffee pot
 "Glad ter see yer, honey. Alers vel come in de ole mans 'ouse. Fl jar wus mere 'tention paid ter chillun an less ter grown fokes, dar wouldn't be nigh so many mean men in de worl'. No, sah rec"
 Uncle Ike, I've come over to hear i about ghosts and witches"
 Doan know nu,hin 'bou, 'em dis eb- snin'. honey. Ghosts an witches doan run roun' in de sleet, so when ebenin' lack dis comes, yer may know ,dat yer's safe" and the old man resumed his hum- ming in accompaniment to the coffee pots song. Some iokes thinks dat ghosts would ruther p'rade roun' on dark nights, bu, da's wrong. Dark nights IS de nights fur witches an 'jack-er-mer-lan- terms, but ghosts wants moonlight. Wy. honey, CT ghost would rusher set on de fence when de moon is CT shinin' den ter come back Tn de flesh an own de fastes' team an de biggis' par O mules in de county"
 Where were you born, Uncle lke?" hoping to lead the old man into nara ton instead oi comment.
 Afrika, honey"
 That's a long ways from here, ain's n!"
 "A righ, sharp step, honey. turder den from heah ter kaintuck"
 Was you boy bout as big as am when you left there!"
 "l wuz righ, smart chunk O a lad when lef dar: but 1 ken recolleck ebery,hing thes CT we'll CT ef |, wuz yis- tedy members de elehns thes lack l member de dogs ou, dar. Talk CT 'bou, de eletns whut comes CT long heah wid de shows. wy da doan mount ter nu,hin' Wy, honey. my ole daddy had more ele- fms den dar's mules on plantation. l neber wen, no ~har in dem days lessen l rid eletin,. an' de one whu, rid. honey, had so much sense dat he uster toa, a hankercher ter blow his snou, on. We had one elefn Shu, could talk"
 Talk like people :" asked the boy in as,onishmen,.
 Talk lack de guaner O dis state dat $ how he could talk. Tel yer how i, wuz. Out in de lot we had long uof whu, dc eleh ns licked salt outen. Wall, one day some O de chillun driv nail in de troff an when one O de ele6ns runned his lounge ober de nail, it split ole'r out Daddy seed whut klamity had hap pened, an thinkin' da, de mos valerable animal on de place was dun ruint, he ,ole us boys Ter turn de creetur outen de lot an let him go on of an die. We turned him ou, an he went away, wid de blood runnin' in a stream ou,en his mouf. Bout two nuns ar,er dat, we ~ui eaiin dinner one day an some body holie, hello We all went ou, an dar stood ole Steve, de elefn what we though: was dun dead How's all de fanny he axed. bowin in a mighty per lite way We didn' know whut ter think O dis business tell ole Steve splained dat dc spii,,in O his tongue 1us de cause O him larnin' de langwege."
 Ina, isn't true. is il Uncle Ike S'
 Thes lack I tells yer. Wy yer ken take Jaybird an spli, his tongue an he'll talk done dis one, an de blame bird axed me so many tool questions da, driy him often de place.
 "Wha, become of the talkin' ele- phan;?
 Wy he go, ter be sch in,eres,in' comp'ny ia, ~e made a big bench fur hir, out ID de yard Go. So he wouldn' eat Iu,hin bu: pie. an eben when we'd fetch him anything else, he'd turn up his snou, a, it. He go; So oberbeann' long toward de las, dat VIC oouldn' stan him. He got mad ~id daddy an when daddy 'nounced hissef az CT oanerda,e fur iessice O de peace. wy ole Steve went roun' maxim speeches asin him One day he went inter . crowd Q elephants an gin ter cut his scailops, an monstrous ole feller vent up ter him an smacked his