Wichita eagle., 1888-10-05
THE FALL OF ULYSSES.


and If call attention to the high social and
literary standing of the gentleman whom I
employed as an accomplice in the affair, it is
not at all with hope of thereby lesscning
my own responsibility. 1t is certain that
furnished the unfortunate creature the cause
for bis desperation. I ought also to confess
that / 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 l to dos
When a man has an elephant on his hands he
should be Judged with kindly consideration
for the awkwariness of his situation
Ny elephant Was decidedly more irving
than the average variety, for the reason that
be was not rHetaphorical, but real What I
mean is, that am not speaking in figurative
language about some oficious friend or
troublesome relative, but about genuine
Asistio elephant, Ulysses by name, who came
into my possession several years ago. and of
whom L have but recently managed to rid
myself. Physically be was well developed
specimen, having no special characteristics
TO distinguish him from the rest Of his spe-
cies. intellectually, however, he was sort
OF a Frankenstein, and ] was the unfortunate
who was responsible for his existence.
Il intend to teach this animal all that an
elephant can be made to learn" said l.
L engaged an experienced mahout, or
driver, an intelligent native by the name of
Akbar. determined, however, to make use
of his services just little as possible in order
that Ulysses might learn to depend upon my
self alone. l attended personally to the
mater of food and drink, and took pains
that my protege should receive 10 favors
from the hand of any one else | soon learned
tho things that gave him pleasure, and Dut
myself to no little trouble to crafty him on
every possible occasion. l continued this pro-
cess, combining with it instruction in such
small services as ''house elephants" in India
are always expected TO perform. until I saw
that I had completely gained his con-
fdence and affection. During this
period of his tutelage. Ulysses would
have trusted and obeyed me to any
extent. | 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 shrill
truTnpetings. His devotion was annoying at
times, and one of the first difficulties that I
experienced was in teaching him to be less
demopStratiVe
IL Is TACT which most readers of this mar
rative have proved for themselves by actual
experiment that animals may be taught the
meaning of words. An intelligent dor, for
example, possesses a considerable 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 cur vocabulary.
Whenever be learned new word | made
note Of 1t in book, and by constant review
contrived TO fix it in his memory. AS soon
as he began to comprehend what my purpose
was, as he did after I had been laboring with
him a couple OF weeks, he became very eager
to learn, and greatly increased the rapidity
of the work
The process of teaching him nouns was
simple and essy. Each day L would produce
several new articles, tell him their names,
and have him hand them to ne as l called
for them I taught him to say Eyes" and
mo" by the waving of his trunk, and made
him appreciate that he was to use that means
of signifying To me whether he understood
Inc or not.
After was well into the work the mor.E-
ing lesson would go somewhat as follows:
Are you ready for your lesson, UlySsesf7
Ulysses lifts his trunk afirmatively. AL
though he does not understand ''lesson," the
word ''ready" is clear to him by frequent
Use
hold out ball, new object
''This is a ball. Ulysses-balLn
repeat It several times, until the sound
has fastened itself in his memory. Then l
lay it ON the table with pipe, a cup and
book / ask for them, one after another, and
he hands them to me- l add numerous other
objects, the names of which he has already
learned, and thus combine review with ad-
vance instruction.
Together with the noun ''ball, " teach him
tho verbs ''roll, throw and drop" and
perhaps an adverb or two, like fast OF
''slowly," and an elective, ''round" Some
times there Is an awkward hitch, and have,
TO abandon the attempt to teach him some
particular word, referring 10 it again when
his vocabulary has been increased in Some
other direction.
a certain point onco passed, it was sur
pFising with what rapidity proceeded One
word led to another q number of words to
phrases, and these to complete sentences |
finally dropped into q way OF talking to him
about the objects with which we were work
ing, much IS 1 would have talked to bright
child l was conscious at times that only
small part Of what | was saying was under
stood, 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 use in the in
btruction of Ulysses, I happened upon lump
of chalk. With this sketched various
things on a smooth plank of dark wood, and
found that they were readily recognized by
ny pupil From this l suddenly conceived a
new idea l sent 10 Madras and had large.
trrn blackboard usado, and ordered chalk and
rrasers. Then | began systematic and de-
ternined effort to teach Ulysses TO read and
wriSe
There Is one element that enters into all
.eaching, OF which it is difficult TO give any
roncepdon IN narrative of results. and that
Is time had been steadily at work with
Ulysses for nearly year before | began TO
nse the blackboard. and after / adontel that
assistant 1t was many months ere important
results began to show themselves. ANY one
who has ever iabored with a well meaning /
but obtuse pupil Will appreciate how slow and /
niscouraglns II times my work must have /
bsen. he will also understand how tbt /
progress, triding when considered day bv !
day, amounted 70 s Sood deal when viewed |
In the aggregate.
readily taught Ulysses to hold the chalk /
in the fingers OF his pIo5oscis and TO max
with it upon the blackboard. He understood 1
that he was 20 initiate, IS nearly as possible. /
the r.,0T-s-- e1,z- I ,>,-ff@ "
uiln TO print The letters Of the English alpha. |
bet in clumsy characters several inches in |
fize. Gradually he became more expert in |
ma lixcr fna-,, .-.A l-.a--,a.i ia