New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-09-09

just as little as possible, in order that Ulysses
might learn TO depend upon myself alone lone
attended personally to tho mattes OF food and and
drink, and took pains that my protegc should
receive no favors from the hand of any one else
] soon learned the things that gave him pleasure,
and put myself to no little trouble to crafty him
tinued this process combining with with
il instruction in such small services
as house elephants in India are always expected
10 perform. until l saw. that ! had completgly
gained his confidence and affection. During this
period of his tutclagc, Ulysses would have trusted
and obeyed me 10 any extent | think he would
Willingly have laid down his life endured to-
ture 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
10 come out, he fairly quivered with JOY at the
sound Of my voice. and gave vent TO his Satisfac-
ton at seeing me by shrin trumpetings. His de-
voilon was annoying at times, and one OF the first
difficulties that experienced was in teaching him
10 be less demonSt-ative.
1t is fact, which most readers Of this narrative
have proved for themselves by actual experiment.,
that animals may be taught the meaning Of words.
An intelligent dog, for example, possesses con-
siderable vocabulary; / proposed to undertake a
systematic course of instruction in the English
language with Ulysses, and to ascertain to what
extent he was capable of acquiring our vernacular.
Whenever he learned a word made note of it
in book, and by constant review eont-ived to
fix it in his memory. As soon as he began to
comprehend what my purpose was, as he did after
had been laborng with him couple OF weeks,
nc became very eager to learn, ana greatly In
creased the rapidty of the work
The process of teaching him nouns was simple
and easy. Each day would produce several new
articles, tell him their names, and have him hand
say yes" and no" by the waving Of his trunk
and made him appreciate that he was to use that
means of signfying TO me whether he understood
me not
After l was we'll into the work, the morning
lesson would 90 somewhat as follows:
Are you ready for your lesson, Ulysses''
Ulysses lifts his trunk afirmatively. Although
he does not understand lesson, the word ready
is clear TO him by frequent use.
/ hold our bail. new object.
This is n ball. Ulysses: ball"
fastened itself in his memory Then lay il on
the table with pipe, a cup, and book / ask
for them, one after another, and he hands them to
me. add numerous other objects, the names Of
which h has already learned. and thus combine
review with advance instruction.
Together. with the noun BALI I teach hin, the
an advcrb or two like fast slowly" and an
adjective, round" Sometimes there is an awlS-
ward hitch and have TO abandon the attempt to
teach him some particular word referring TO it
again when his vocabulary has been increased in
some other direction.
\ certain point once passed it was surprising
with what rapidity proceeded. One word led to
another. number Of words to phrases, and these
TO complete sentences. / finally dropped into a
way of talking TO him about the objects with
which we wore working, much as / would have
that only small part of what was saying was
understood, but It accustomed him to hearing the
words that he knew, used in association with
others to form complete statements.
In my search for objects 10 in the instruction
of Ulysses l happened upon lump of chalk
With this sletched various things ON a smooth
readily. recognized by my. pupil From this
suddenly conceived a new idea. 7 sent to Madras
and had large, firm blackboard made and
ordered chalk and crasers Then l BEGAN
fio 1ofa 1afTo 70
to read and write.
There is one element that enters into all teach
ing, Of which il is difficult TO give any conception
in narrative of results and that is time. had
been steadily at work with Ulysses for nearly a
year before / began to use the blackboard, and
after l adopted that assistant it was many months
ere important results began to show themselves.
Any one who has ever laho-cd with well-mean-
ing, but obtuse pupil VIII appreciate how slow
and dlscouraging at times my work must have
been He viii, also. understand how the progress,
triiling when considered day by day, amounted to
a good deal when viewed IN the aggregate.
I readily Taught ULYSSES TO hold the chalk IN the
fingers OF his proboscis, and TO mark with it upon
the blackboard He understood that he was to
initiate, as nearly as possible, the marks that
made. In this way I taught him to print the
letters of the English alphabet in clumsy charac-
ters several inches in size. Gradually. he became
more expert in making them and learned the
names by which they were called It was great
triumph for when ! first succeeded in getting
him to write the letters Of his own name as
coilcd tnCm OH. ana saw myS"n the PROUD
possessor of an elephant who could write his own
autograph perhaps the first of his species who
performed that enlightened but proms-
ing feat
All this was easy enough, but 70 make him
comprehend that certain groups of these peculia-
marks formed pictures, which were to suggest
definite objects 10 him: was very. different sort
Of an undertaking The hitch in the proceedings
az this point serious that, foc time, /
gave up all hope Of accomplishing nv object. 1t
seemed impossible TO establish the necessary con-
nection in his mind between the, written chaGac-
tors and the spoken word. At last, il suddenly
dawncd upon him, and he learned fatal omen }
the word book The acquiring of one word
constituted the test in my calculations That
point being gained, the rest was only q question
Of additional wo:1 and continued patience
II was not long before Ulysses could write upon
the board the names Of most Of the objects which
had been used il his instruction thus far and the
verbs which had taught him in connection with
them; o combine these words into sentences
was LARGELY a matter OF imi;ation, foc he had al
ready come to understand them when so arrang ed
In short time were carrying on long con-
fcrcnces, and the vocabulary of Ulysses had in
creased 10 the point Of embracing most Of the
words used in daily conversation. With the
establishment of This mode of inte--communjca
ton Ulysses was able to explain + me what his
difficulties were and could proiTcr more available
assistance then, for the first time. enjoyed an
intimate acquaintance with h-ain that was not
human. could look into IL and study its cha-ac-
ter and mode of action. ] need not add that the
occupation was fascinating
Our conversations which were at first limited
to visible actions and concrete objects. straycd
into distractions The rapidly with which he
grasped the analogy between seeing and thinking,
and lifted himself out OF the material into the
metaphysical plane astonshcd me beyond meas
urc lie possessed an overruling sense Of logic,
keen and penetrating. yet so swift that il seemed
TRANSPORTED TO intuition. Bat the most wonderful
feature of his intellect was his memory. Now that
words were supplied him, tools with which TO
conduct his thinking, what were before mere vague
impressions became definite ideas, fixed and ever
lasting. ! found that il was necessary to
be absolutely accurate in all that said to him, as
he quick to detect any inconsistency, and his
memory covered the full amount Of all that / had
said since he had come to have command OF the
language.
For some time We conversed together every day,
/ talking or writing and he using the blackboard.
As print was too slow for practical use, I taught
him to write shorthand One day nc made some
inquiry OF me concerning the novel happened 10
have in hand. and l read him seYecal chnntors of