New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-04-18
SOME PLAIN WORDS ABOCT ELEPHANTS.

At TIE risk OF wcarying III" reader. W" snail
embrace the present occasion 10 max" our annual
spring remarks TO the Central Park AUTHORITIES
On the subject of their arranging 80 that tn emf
drcn may ride one VI the elephants. The folks
We want TO weary are the Park managers. We
want 10 weary them much that they will trot
out One of their carefully preserved elephants AMI
give the children chance. w" may never sue
cecd but We propose to up-and-at-cm every sprlni
As long ~ spring remains climatic phenomenon
and elephants exists and water runs down hill.
or course everybody knows that the Park p"o-
nile have only themselves TO blame for this thing.
II they hadn't promised elephant riding for the
children. il is probable that W. would never have
said "A word about IT, But they did, two or three
wears ago with Il great flourish Of oiicia! trun-
rcts and got the expectations of childhood raised
TO "A high pitch. since which time they have offered
nothing in the riding line but the same old sta
tionary ,onkcys and splrtlcsS goats. Nor have
they scarcely whispered elephant since. Once we
eoadcd them into making the lame excuse that
SNYDER was too busy, but our language was -
plain on the point Of hiring more Snydcrs that
they have never said another word. Tile fact is.
they know they are guilty. and that there is moth
inc which they can say. They stand at bay be-
tween the devil of their own elephants and the
qucncc.
The important fact must not be lost sight Of
that there are in the Park elephants which al
ready broken to ride II is not as if the slipcrn-
tcndcnt had to teach an unwilling animal. Br'ak-
inc An ELEPHANT must be highly unsatisfactory
business and We would not blame any man for
shrinking from it, II Is hard enough, sometimes,
to accustom "a horse To the saddle, but a horse,
even "A wild bronco, cannot reach up and take
hia rider of, set him down on the ground and
walk away with dgniicd tread. IL was Some
body the great English wit. who when his horse
kicked about till he got his foot in the stirrup.
simply remarked. Very well. if YOU are going Ia
ride | will get down" but if his horse could have
taken him OF and set him on IL milestone and
,rumpctcd a couple Of barrels of water from Il
rcirhbornr ditch over him it is doubtful if his
wit would have stood by him.
II we mistake not it is the Park elephant called
Alice which is at hcmc with til" howdah The
gentle AMcc. we suspect longs for the exercise
which the carrying Of score of laughing chill
,lrcn about the grounds ut % lrisirely pace would
give Now shy gets no exercise at all beyond eat
ing peanuts and scattering hay on her back. Just
what sort of a mental and physical wreck the
able Park managers think sclfrcspccting cc-
plant will he at the end Of a five or ten years
course OF peanuts u"'""hS' WI" frequent en-
tcrnal applications of hay, "" do not know. The
only genuine exercise the elephants ever get is
about once Il year, when the workm"n want to
move some small building and take one of them
out to push il along with his head. II they would
only take their biggest elephant on long walk
around the Park and let him hunt over about
every second bronze statue he came to they would
not alone be exercising him, but they would also
bc making him worthy to be president of the
Society soy Tue promotion Of uevsey AT. Htul