Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1889-07-11
He Was Anxloas to 'Match an EIephant.

At the last fair at IaraScon, France,
there were, of course, assembled q
troupe of gymnasts, jugglers, acrobats,
and multitude of menageries, in one
of which was an Asiatic elephant re-
markable for the largeness of his ears.
His owner called him "Kiouki H."
Among the acrobatic troupe was a
maker of red balloons, so popular in
England and America. He travelled
with the show, and seduced a couple Of
sous from the pockets of many q patron
of it by selling him balloon.
A countryman stopped one day be-
fore the menageIic tent, and, enticed
by a painted representation of the ele-
phant, paid his money to see him.
Astonished at his size, he asked the
balloon man as he, yent out :-..-a.ss,a..,i-
Docs that beast bring forth young
or lay eggs?"
Without moments hesitation the
mountebank replied:
HE lays eggs"
Il thought so.
"And if you wish one, to afford you
the happiness of possessing under your
own roof an individual of his species,
for franc 1 will guarantee that you
shall carry home what no one else in
the country possesses"
The greenhorn did not hesitate to
offer his money, and the acrobat pre-
sented red balloon.
Behold the egg 1 had the honor to
promise you. 1t is one franc only-and
only for you, because the Jardin des
Plantes, at Paris, buys all my elephants
eggs at six francs apiece, for the Alge-
rine expedition, where they use all the
elephants they can find for the wal
against India. chose the lightest egg
1 could find for You, that you might not
wait too long for it to hatch. It's mother
having already sat upon 1t many days,
it will suffice you to wrap it in wool,
and lay it in q dry place, to obtain,
without expense and without effort, the
magnificent Asiatic product which il
containsl"
"Astonishingl but now in regard to
sucking him?"
Easy enough. No consequence what
quadruped nourishes him. Lacking a
COW, n SOW, or even goat, you can
bring him up yourself on turtle soup.
The countryman departed, charmed
with his prize, and to keep it as safely
es possible wrapped in blue cotton
handkerchief, which he had bought at
the fair for his wife. But in spite OF
all the care of which egg that bore
Kiouki III. was the object, it was writ
ten in the Book of Destiny that its pro-
prietor should never see it hatched
under his roof.
Some little distance from the village
where our country man resides runs a
stream. He approached it for the pur-
pose of making a cup with his hands,
and deposited his precious burden on
the ground. He drank freely of the
water, then rising, turned to his
elephants egg. He looks above him,
sees the egg rising higher-higher-
and carrying with it his wife's hand
kerchief.
He believed that the elephant was
about to be hatched, and it was
not long after the egg was out of sight
that he returned home crest-fallen. His
wife asked him where the handkerchief
was he had promised to bring her.
Then he narrated the entire adventure.
The good woman opened her eyes and
ears, and, seeing her husbands grief
not only at the loss of the elephant but
of the handkerchief, exclaimed:
Content yourself, husband; I'll bo
content with my black handkerchief,
and I'm glad to know that the poor
baby hasn't gone off without swaddlina
clothes l"-Boston Saturday EUe11ing
Gazette.