The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-11-11
The Miseducation of Elephants.

The huge performing elephant, En-
press, lately killed a Waterman in The
winter quarters of F~orepaugh's circus n
Philadelphia, completing, 80 far, a tally
of three men killed, aud more than Il
dozen men and women woun!cd. We
desire to call attention to two facts.
Empress, with this record of victims,
was a performing elephant; Jumbo,
whose docility and very good nature
was a proverb, so far as American TX
perieuce of him went, was not. These
facts entirely coincide with the scien-
tihc fact that the elephantine train, which
is practically non-convolutcd, is not
adapted to the comprehension of the
sort of tricks exhibited in the circus.
This, again, is proved by the extraordi-
nary difficulty experienced in educating
an animal noted for its almost human IN.
telligence in some directions above a line
of conduct wholly foreign TO its nature.
It is an established fact that in such
directions as road building, engineering,
and even attack and defense the cle-
plants sagacity shows itself spontan-
%eously; on the other hand, in the range
of circus tricks only the most atroclous
cruelty can succeed in teaching the ami
NAL. Perfected education is continuous
ly practiced; the whole nervous system
is deranged, and a memory of the wrongs
endured and sulterings inflicted may
we'll tend to establish a misanthropy
that is always smouldering and may at
any time break out. E%lephantine tricks
are difficult; ia the language of good
old DR.. johnson the spectator may we'll
wish they were impossible. Nor have
they any justification. When one goes
to the circus it is not to see the teacher.
The only excuse for keeping a beast in
captivity is that it serves to educate the
public in zoology. But a trick elephant
is abnormal and pon-instructive, it is
ten parts trainer and only one part
elephant. Mr.. Bergh and his sympathl.
zers could do nothing more sensible and
humane than address themselves to the
indefensiblc folly of miseducating ele'
plants. -Brooklyn Eagle.
Italian Industries in the Metropolis.
The humble sons of Italy in the manu-
facture of macaroni and vermicilli have
almost a monopoly in New York. Flour
and saffron are the principal ingredients
of these edibles and the component parts
are cut into small pieces or threads like
worms (vermicellD by forcing the mix
ture with a piston through little holes
in the end of a pipe. The kneading OF
the flour is done by q wooden poe at
tachcd to a part fixed in the ground and
worked up and down as q lever, under
one end of which the paste is placed.
The dough is sometimes piled up and
after being trodden, is rolled by a
r%olling-pin in the ordinary method.
Subsequently this paste is forced through
an iron arrangement full of holes. The
largest rolls are macaroni, the second
largest vcrmicelli and the smallest fedc.
lini. The flour generally used in Mime
sofa, as it approaches in quality to
Italian flour, full of gluten or starch.
The saffron used at present is wholesome
vegetable matter.
The Italians who arc seen in Crosby,
Mott, Elm and Baxter streets, carrying
bags of dilapidatcd boots and shoes, are
far from being paupers. They get thirty
cents per 100 pounds for these apparently
worthless soles, and thus do they sup
port the body, mainly by INDUCING in
native wine and the manufacture above
referred to. The Italian, fortified with
these two articles, can ave money on
small earnings, where an American would
starve. The Italians who are a grade
above the lazzarcni or beggars, take the
world very easy, and travel as they say.
con commodo-i. e., at a convenient"
rate of speed.
"Where do they sell the old shoes"
Mostly in Newark, where the leather is
burned to make prussiate of potash,
which by the way, has almost driven
Prussian blue from the market. Of the
five firms in the United States manufac-
turing prussiate of potash, two are
located at Newark.-New York World