The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-02-04
TOLD BY THE CIRCUS MAN.
The Big Giraffe Catches q Cold,
Which settles In Its Neck.

dig l0tcues SOlus
Which settles In Its Neck.
''Seems to mo told you once. said
the old circus man. ''about the giraffe
having a sore tbroats 1t is serious mat
ter for any giraffe to have a core throat,
bad for the giraffe and bad for the owner.
When you come to take ap Is-foot giraffe
like ours, q sore throat meant large ex-
pense and large amount OF trouble; and
the big fellowlhadn more n got over this
before sornsthipg else happened 10 him
that gave us even more trouble. He
caught cold, and the cold settled In his
throat-I suppose he was still sensitive
there-and IL gave him "a stiff neck, so
that he couldn't bend his neck at all.
You can't have any idea what a stiff
neck means until you soc giraffe afflicted
that way; we'd had all sorts of trouble
with animals in one way and another.
but for real bother this bent EN- all We
discovered it one day on the road. Inc
giraffe always duoked his head under the
branches that hung down, sort OF like a
swan or goose does. but this day carry
ing his head, right up straight in the air
he brought up against branch that was
at least Is feet above the ground. That
was such an amazing thing that we
knew something must be the matter, and
when the giraffe keeper came up and
spoke to him, and all he did was To bend
his nose down and look down. why, we saw
he couldn't bend his neck, and then we
xpaw ~ hat WAS the N, altar
"Well, OF course. the first thing we did
was to set man to march alongside of
him with a tent pole with crutch in
the end of IL To lit the branches for him.
Most of the time. almost oil Of the time,
in fact, we could steer him clear of the
overhanaing branches. and OF course lots
OF the way there was long stretches
where there wasn't any trees at all; and
then we'd come to places where the man
would have to lift q branch to let the
big giraffe go under; and great pity 1t
was, too. TO sea him compelled to 60
about in that manner.
"He went trat way II ab lut ten days.
Ordinarily we used to put his feed for him
on top of an animal cage, so that he
wouldn't have to bend down more ii al
eight or ton feet, but he couldn e do that
now. So we set a ring In the centre pole
eighteen feet from the ground, and we
used TO reeve q rope through that and
make one end fast to the bucket with his
food or drink in IL, and hoist IL NJ and
lot him eat there. On the road we used
To throw that rope over the crotch Of a
tree at a suitable height. Fer his entry
into the great tent at show time We had
TO cut great slit In the canvas; but we
didn't regret that, because it WAS a
mighty impressive thing to SEQ him
march in In that way. 1t madstim look
thirty-six feet tall instead OF eighteen.
"Twic, day aiTan used to 60 upon n
ladder and put strap around his head,
and we'd hook on fall with a bo'sun
char, and q man would ride down his
neck and rub IN liniment. He used TO
like that very much, and it helped him
greatly. too; and one morning, when the
men went out TO give him the usual rub
they were delighted to see the old chap
with his head down pretty near to the
roof OF the grizzly bear cage, which
stood next to him, wh ich showed that his
ne.k was coming around all right, and
also indicated that led take his break
fast this morning In tho old way, II you
pie 40 "-ThessSun.