The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-12
ELEPHANT TRADITIONS UPSET
JOHN RINGLING LAUGHS AWAY
SOME CHILDHOOD STORIES.
Big Beasts That Like Tobacco-Go
INTO Spasms Of Terror at Sight of
Mouse.

Eyes, the elephant has good men,
ory.' said Mr. John Ringing, in the
course of a general talk on circuses
yesterday, but some of the startling
stories told about him to prove this
fact is pure CANNON.
Take, for instance. the story of the
man who stuck a pin in the elephants
trunk, and years afterwards was del
| uged with dirty water by the remem-
bering elephant. 1 am surprised that
anyone should take that yarn serious
ly. Why, the average thickness of an
elephants hide runs from half an inch
to two inches deep. Now, imagine a
pin going through that thickness of
hide on an errand of pain. 1t would
swallow a pin and break a needle.
Another familiar story makes the
elephant resent an offering of tobacco
One of tae busiest things in the world
is an elephants trunk. 1t is forever
reaching out searching for something
that will mingle comfortably with its
internal economy. We have an ele-
plant with our show who really Graves
| tobacco and will take anything from
pound plug to Turkish cigarettes. This
animal is female too, and she swal-
lows cigarettes. paper and all, with a
smacking relish that shows her keen
fondness for this papers poison that
dwdrfs the average youth.
THE only old-fashiOned elephant
story that has any real basis of truth
is the one that makes the big brute
afraid of a mouse. Fantastic as it may
seem, this great, big mountain of flesh
positively shrinks from a tid-bit of a
mouse. The winter quarters of a show,
where mice and rats thrive. convinces
one of this fact. A mouse will make
an entire heard noisy with fright, and
rat will put them in condition of
desperate fear.
while this may seem odd on the
face of it, there is, after all, good and
sufficient reason for this seeming para
dox. An elephant may defend itself
against a lion, tiger or any other nat
ural enemy, but the insignificant size
of a mouse battles his conception of
offensive or defensive warfare, The
mouse.is too quick to be crushed under
foot or to be caught by his trunk and
can tantalizingly scamper over his
rough hide with impunity. The ele-
plant realizes his rhelplessness against
such a diminutiye foe and. learns to
fear it as he fears no other animal.
Elephants are capable Of strong af-
lection; quite as much so as dogs and
horses. They become very fond of
season a. baby elephant was added to
our immense herd. She was only
few months old when taken from her
mother and brought direct from CeyIon
to the Ringing b os' -menagerie When
placed among the big family of her
kind with our show she fretted a good
deal, and some OF the big fellows in
the collection seemed to find pleasure
in adding to her discomfort.
She was. chained next to Old Babe,
the biggest one of the twenty-five we
carry, and the latter soon began to
take an obvious interest in the new
arrival. This was shown by her turn
ing on the fun-nakers of the crowd
who had picked cut the baby for a
mark, and ended by her taking the
little one completely under her mater
nal care. AS Babe is he boss of the
herd in every way. none of the others
dared go against her wishes, and now
the little one is the cherished pet Of
the whole number. Babe and she are
inseparable.
Nearly everyone has noticed the
friendly relationship that seems TO eX-
list between elephants and their keep
ers. This is entirely due to the efficacy
of kindness. An elephant will resent
cruelty as surely as sunrise. He is a
crafty animal and vindictive,. and will
await his opportunity to square ac-
counts Trainers, therefore, who
break elephants by cruel methods can
never depend upon them doing their
work. They will shirk at every oppor-
tunity. and sometimes ruin perform
ance by unexpected stubbornness.