The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-01-24
TOLD BY OLD CIRCUS MEN.
The Giraffe Catches Cold. Which Settles
In Its Neck.

"Seems to me told you once" said
the old circus man, "about the glraf1e
having sore throat? 1t is serious m at
ter for any giraffe to have sore throat,
bad for the giraffe and bad for the owner.
When you come to take an eighteen foot
Giraffe like ours a sore throat meant large
expense, and large amount OF trouble;
and the big fellow hadn t more'n gothoyer
this before something else happened to
him that gave us even more trouble. He
caught. cold, and the cold settled In his
throat suppose he was still sensitive
there-and it gave him a stiff neck, SO
that he couldn't bend his neck at all.
"You can have any idea what stiff
neck means until you see q giraffe affiict-
ed In that way we'd had all sorUs OF
trouble with animals In one way and an
other. but for real bother this beats en-
all. We discovered it one day on the road
The giraffe always ducked his head under
the branches that hung down, sort OF Ike
swan or goose does, but this DAY car
rying his head right up straight in the air
he brought I'D against q branch that
was at least fifteen feet above the ground.
That was such an amazing thing that we
knew something must be the matter, and
when tho giraffe's keeper came up and
smoke 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 knew what was the matter. Well,
of course. the first thing we did was to
set q man to march alongside ofahim with
o tent pole with a orutch in the end OF it
to lift the branches for him. Most of the
time almost all the time, in fact, we
could steer him clear OF overhan&lng
branches, and of course slots sof 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 branch to let the big giraffe go
under.
'tHe went that way for about 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 than
eight,or ten feet, but he couldn't do that
now. So we set q ring in the center 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 it, and hoist 1t up and
let him eat there. On the road we used
to throw that rope over the crotch OF a
tree at suitable height. For his entry
into the great tent at show time we had
to cut great slit in the canvas; but we
mighty inpressive.thing to see him march
in that way. Itsmade him look thirty
six feet tail instead of eighteen.
"Twice day man used to go UP on
a ladder and put strap around his head,
and we'd hook on fall with q DO sun S
chair, and 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, which showed that his neck
was coming around all right, and also
indicated that he'd take his breakfast this
morning in the old way,ssif you please