The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-12-06
ALIVE.

I uaVa4uuS SaSaClLy OF a DOOUl6Q ElS-
plant.
did I ever see an elephant die9'
said the keeper, repeating a New York
Tribune reporters question. "Well,
1 did and 1 didn't"
How was that9" asked the reporter,
feeling for his Cookbook.
ct did not see him actually die"
replied the keeper, without the vestige
of a smile. He was living when I lost
sight of him. He wasswallowed alive. ,
This is going to be a pretty stiff
yarn, keeper" remarked the reporter,
as a shade of disappointment crossed
his face. Ct guess I won't need the
note book. You saw him swallowed
alive, eh9" I always thought you we're
an antiquity; 1 never suspected you to
be antediluvian. What did it, a mega
losaurus2"
"Never heard of such a thing" said
the keeper, gruf1y. "This was a
quicksand."
"Oh, a quicksand! Go on, old man"
responded the reporter, delighted, as
he pulled out a pencil or two. Tell
us all about it,"
ct was in india" said the old
keeper, where I learned a good deal
about elephants, never thinking that
it would come useful to me in Barnum's
menagerie in after years Elephants
are common beasts of burden there,
and on this day a heavily loaded one
was crossing a shallow but broad
stream by wading. The sagacious
brute had refused to step on the badly
constructed bridge which the natives
had erected; but his instinct did not
warn him of a dangerous quicksand
which the water concealed, near the
farther bank.
II was attracted to the scene by the
shouts of his owners, five Indian mer-
chants, whose wares he carried from
one bazaar to another. They did not
know of the quicksand, and could not
understand why their elephant did not
come out of the stream which he had
almost crossed. When they learned
the predicament he was in, their bowls
of grief and despair yer ear splitting.
I suggested that bundles Of turf and
branches be thrown to the elephant,
and this was done. The old fellow,
seemingly aware of his danger, took
each bundle with his trunk and thrust
it under water. Then with a mighty
effort, dragging up one foot out of the
sucking sand, he would put it on the
bundle of fagots and press it down.
He got a lot of them under him in this
way with more skill and precision than
you would think possible; but the soft
sand took them all in, and still let him
down farther into its depths.
His master procured a small 1oat,
and poled it out to him. Then they
took all his load of goods off, put them
in the boat, and brought them ashore.
This lessened his weight a good deal,
but the sand was by hal time up ABOVE
his shoulders, and soon his entire back
Was sCONCICO ny UA0 WdVC1. Ouly LIS
head showed now, and still the old fell
low was the only calm and collected
individual in the crowd. l can not
help thinking of an elephant as a per-
son, no one can who has been with
them andrwitnessed their intelligence
as much as / have.
COLLECTING some floating boards
which had been thrown out to him, he
made a sort of raft of them. 1t was no
use, however. He was doomed, and
we knew it. Before long the water
covered his mouth. Then he lifte1 his
trunk and curled it back over his fore
head. The water filled his ears, and
he tapped them vigorously for a time.
Soon it reached his eyelashesand then
his big, burning eyes, just at the waters
edge, took on a pitable expression.
They seemed to beseech aid and succor
from those he had served so long and