The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-02-10
ELEPHANT SCHOOL.
SUGAR SUCCEEDS THE PROD AS A
MEANS OF PERSUASION.

rnstruction Begins In the swsddling
| Clothes stage--Docility OF . sixtecn-
months-old PupiI-some Of the Things
They Are Taught to do.
The cleverncss of the elephant and the
remarkable tricks which the big animal
performs at the bidding of n trainer are
we'll known and have called forth many
sxclamations of wonder. But to see a line
Of elephants march out upon the stage Of
. variety theater and calmly proceed to
pound drums, balance themselves on one
leg and ride bicycles gives one no idea at
all Of the extraordinary amount Of patient
training that has been necessary to bring
them to do these things. Just how 1t Is
done has puzzled many, and, indeed, al
most any one would be greatly interested
by a visit to an elephant school.
| At one Of these establishments, recently
opened, the elephantine pupils now number
| four, but as the schoolmaster Is endeavor-
ing to enlarge the school there will prob
| ably be some additions soon. The school
sessions arc held morning and afternoon,
with an intermission for lunch, and no
schoolboy ever felt the chains Of discipline
more oppressively than do these little
pachyderms. They are all babies, and
their names respectively are Pinto, Mary,
| Jennie and Fannie. The smallest weighs
about 400 pounds, which is an unusually
| light weight for an elephant The full
grown animals weigh as much as 10000
pounds.
The schoolmaster is Albert Stalder, an
animal trainer of ten years experience.
He was lately found conducting session
of tho school with a whip In one hand and
| half pound of loaf sugar in the other.
/ In front of the schoolmaster sat Pinto, and
this young lady was actually sitting, the
seat being an inverted tub. Her fore feet
and trunk were beating the air in mute
appeal to her teacher who was patiently
and laboriously endeavoring to induce the
unruly trunk to curl its prehensile termi-
nus around the handle of bell. Ten times
the waving trunk swept the bell on to tho
floor, and each time tie whip cut the poor
little beasts tanks. The eleventh time the
trunk carried the bell into the air, and the
clapper rang
A few Jumps Of sugar were thrust into
the mouth Of the elephant, and the saga
cious animal, quickly pcrcciving that be-
tween the bell and the sugar there was
some subtle connection, was induced to
ring the implement second and third
time. Pinto was kept at this one lesson
until it was time for the next class to be
called up.
When Pinto retired, Jennie shuffled to
the front. This elephant was the smallest
of the quartet. In fact, the little animal
was scarcely bigger than large sized dog.
The trainer laid aside his whip, remarking
that this baby was too young to castigate.
Sugar Is the only means of persuasion used
s,, Tor ;.,a TIT
son began with remarkable series of
gymnastic feats. Jennie stood on her head,
balanced herself on one leg and ate Jumps
| Of sugar from tho trainers hands while
| standing rampant on her hind legs.
| Then the baby was put through the
| most difficult Of all her tasks It was the
language session at the elephant school
The lesson was given to teach Jennie to
talk Questions were asked by the school.
master, to which the appropriate answer
would be "Yes' or "No." An elephant, of
course, cannot be expected to use articu.
late speech, SO the trainer explained that
the baby would reply by lifting and low
ering it's fore feet. The patience of the
trainer with this diminutive specimen of
elephant life was remarkable Crouchine
down, the schoolmaster lifted the foot and
lowered it the requisite number of times
after each question, stroking the baby's
trunk and administering copious doses OF
sugar The infant proved u tractablc pu
pill, and before the lesson was over she had
made an attempt to answer questions with
out the aid Of tho teachers hands. 1t will
require many weary hours of instruction
before the little animal understands and
responds to the teachers voice. Jennie Is
young yet-only 10 months old, in fact,
the swaddling clothes stage Of an ele.
plants existencc-and she has in all prob
ability plenty Of time before her in which
to grow wise and learned
The remainder of the school, consisting
of Mary and Fannie, was taken In one
class. The whip came into use again with
this class, for the trainer explained that
Mary, who Is trifle older and conse
quently less of baby than Jennie, has n
reputation for being ugly at times. The
class was called for the study Of the bicy
Gle. The bicycles were big wooden affairs,
| like small wagons, and tho little animals
had to be urged with both whip and sugar
before they could be induced to trust them
selves to this style of locomotion. First
the two animals were pushed along by tht
schoolmaster and his assistant. AS they
| felt the machines move the sagacious ba
DleS RrdDDeO Ine SUES I'D bUestuy tncinSelNes.
necessarily touching the pedals that moved
the wheels, causing them to revolve. H.
this way, explained the teacher, the ele
ptants would gradually get to know what
was expected of them, and SO the bicycle
riding would progress from the schoolgirl
| to the exhibition stage of performing ele
plants life
The lesson lasted for an hour and wa
| accompanied by a prodigious outlay of sug
| ar. The little elephants seemed to have 8
| most capacious NAV for the storage Of
sweets. This, explained the instructor, IL
| new adjunct to training. The old way
| was to prod the animals with cruel spikes
and bully and browbeat them into submis
sion. The present system works much
better, the elephants doing for sugar what
no amount of punishment would induce
them to do.-Philadelphia Press.
| Identified tho Reporter.
A gang Of hobo tramps were docketeo