Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-27
THE FALL OF ULYSSES.

1hI TALL UT ULlNSEN,
cannot deny that was entirely to blame
Tor the calamity which overlook Ulysses.
and II call attention to the high social and
literary standing of the gentleman whom
employed as an accompfce in the affair. it is
not at all with hope of thereby lessening
my own responsibility It is certain that /
furnished the unfortunate creature the cause
ior hls desperation. l ought also to confess
tnat felt a sense of profound relief when he
accepted the only means apparent to his
limited understanding OF freeing himself
from his dilemma But what was to dol
When man has an elephant on his hands he
should be judged with kindly consideration
Tor the -Awkwardness of his situation.
nv elephant was decidedly more irving
than the average variety, for the reason that
be was not metaphorical, but real. What
mean is, that am not speaking in flgurative
language about some officious friend or
troublesome relative, but about genuine
Asiatic elephant, Ulysses by name, who came
into my possession several years ago, and of
whsm l have but recently managed to rid
myself. Physically he was well developed
specimen, having no special characteristics
to distinguish him from the rest of his spo-
cies. intellectually, however, he was a sort
OF a Frankenstein, and was the unfortunate
Who was responsible for his existence.
intend to teach this animal all that an
eiephant can be made to learn" said l.
a. engaged an experienced mahout, or
Akeer, an intelligent native by the name of
of b;s, determined, however, to make use
that rrrvices just as little as possible, in order
self .lsses might learn to depend upon my
matt. attended personally to the
that ~, VI FOOD fnd drink, and took pains
from ~, protage should receive no fayors
-.ha 49,. e9se1Tnd OF any one else. soon learned
rFN-~ sgs that gave him pleasure, and put
myself to no little trouble to crafty him on
every possible occasion. continued this pro-
cess, combining with it instruction in such
small services as 'house elephants in India
are always expected to perform, until saw
that l had completely gained his con-
fdence and affection. During this
period Of his tutelage. Ulysses would
have trusted and obeyed me to any
extent. l think he would willingly have
laid down his life or endured torture for
my sake. Nothing made him happier
than TO be near me as | sat under the banyan
tree IN my garden, smoking and reading,
When opened his stall in the mornings and
called to him to come out, he fairly quivered
with JOY at the sound of my voice, and gave
vent to his satisfaction at seeing me by shriil
= trumpetlngs. His devotion was ANNOYING al
times, and one of the first difficulties that
experienced was in teaching him to be les
demonstrative
1t is fact which most readers Of this mar.
rative have proved for themselves by actual
experlme that animals may be taught the
meaning OF words. An intelligent dog, fol-
example, possesses a considerable vocabulary,
proposed to undertake systematic course
OF instruction in the English language with
Ulysses, and to ascertain to what extent bf
was capable of acquiring our vocabulary.
Whenever be learned new word | made
note of it in book, and by constant review
contrived to fix 1t in his memory. As soor
as he began TO comprehend what nv purpose
was, as he d after had been laboring with
him couple Of weeks, be became very eager
to learn, md greatly increased the rapidity
Of the wol <
The process of teaching him nouns was
simple and esSy, Each day would produce
several new articles, tell him their names
and have him hand them to me called
for them l taught him to say Eyes and
''no7 by the waving OF his trunk, and made
him appreciate that be was to use that means
of signifying TO me whether he understood
me or not
After | was well into the work the morn
ng lesson would go somewhat as follows:
"Are you ready for your lesson, UlyssesF
Ulysses lifts his trunk afirmatively. Al
though he does not understand 'lesson," tn
word ''ready' is clear to him by frequen
use.
i, hold out q ball, new object
This is ball, Ulysses-bali"
repeat il several times, until the SCUM
has fastened itself in his memory Then
lay it on the table with pipe, cup and
book. ask for them, one after another, an
he hands them to me- add numerous othe
objects, the names Of which he has alread
learned, and thus combine review with &C
vance instruction.
Together with the noun ''ball. - l teach hir
the verbs ''roll, 4" throw" and drop, an
perhaps an adverb or two, like fast {
SLOWLY ard an adjective, round Som
times there is an awkward hitch, and hay
to abandon the attempt to teach him son
particular word, referring to it again whe
his vocabulary has been increased in son
other direction.
A certain point once passed, it was su
prising with what rapidity proceeded Oh
word led to another, number of words
phrases, and these to complete sentences.
finally dropped into way of talking to hi
about the objects with which we were wor
ing, much as | would have talked to a brig
child. | was conscious at times that only
small part Of what l was saying was undo
stood, but it accustomed him to hearing t
words that be knew, used in association wi
others, TO form complete statements.
in my search for objects to use in the
struction Of Ulysses, l happened upon q lur
of chalk. With this | sketched vario
things on smooth plank Of dark wood, a
found that they were readily recognized
my pupil From this l suddenly conceived
new idea. l sent to Madras and had q lar;
firm blackboard made, and ordered chalk a
erasers. Then began systematic and
termined effort to teach Ulysses to read a
write.
There is one clement that enters into
teaching, of which it is difficult to give a
conception in a narrative of results, and IL
is time. / had been steadily at work W
Ulysses for nearly year before l began
use the blackboard, and after / adopted IL
assistant it was many months ere imports
results began to show themselves ANY c
VINO has ever labored with well meant
but obtuse pupil will appreciate how slow a
discouraging at times my work must ha
been. He will also understand how
progress, trifing when considered day
day, amounted to good deal when view
in the aggregate.
readily taught Ulysses to hold the Oh,
in the fingers Of his proboscis and to ms
with 1t upon tho blackboard. lie understt
that he was to initiate, as nearly as possit
the marks that | made. In this way tau,
him to print tie letters of the English alp
bet IN clumsy characters several inches
size. Gradually he became more expert
making them and learned the names
which they were called. 1t was great
umph for me when first succeeded in G
ting him to write the letters of his own ma
as | called them off, and saw myself
proud possessor of an elephant who CO
~ o"H ndeN5i dPh' per udl'e tho III 81
his species who ever performed that enlig
ened but compromising feat
All this was easy enough, but to make h
comprehend that certain groups of these
culiar marks formed pictures, which were
suggest definite objects to him, was v,
different sort of an undertaking. The hi
In the proceedings at this point was SO 81
Gus tnat, Tor time, | gave up all hope
accomplishing my object. 1t seemed
possible to establish the necessary conr
ton in his mind between the writ