News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1901-09-18
THE FLIGHT OF ASIA"
The Most Advertised of All Elephants
Ever, body Has Heard of Him.

The Most Advertised of All Elephants
Ever, body Has Heard of Him.
once the Light of Asia" riding IN
luxurious palace car, attended by
Siamese servants who famed him
when he was warm, blanketed him
with jewelled blankets when the cold
nipped his beautiful, white sides.
Now one of the soubrettish octet OF
pachyderms, mud-colored and COM
mon pirouetting lumberingly about
circus ring and receiving prods in
stead of pats, hay instead of honey.
Alas! how have the mighty fallen!
Light of ASIA" sacred white ele-
plant, to one of the chorus! Heu!
But such is the come-down of 9th
clio, the most-advertised elephant
that ever ate peanut or threw
tTunkful of straw over his back.
1t was only a few years ago that
Barnum's circus presented to our awe
stricken public 1.-The only sacred white
elephant in captivity" Not to be out
done, old Adam Forepaugh also pro-
cured and presented the only sacred
white elephant in captivity"
We went to Barnums show and
kowtowed, or whatever you call it,
before the "only' sacred white ele-
plant, while Singalese, Siamese and
Hindoo slaves tom-tomed to him. And
then we went to Forepaughs show
and again saw the "only' sacred, etc.,
etc, with all the details repeated.
The sacred white elephants" SEEM
ed to enjoy it, for it must be fun to
| be sacred. Perhaps they enjoyed be-
ing kalsomined scraped and sand-pa-
pered every day. At any rate, neither
| exposed the fact that he was a sham.
But he was-both were.
Soon the novelty wore off, people
got tired of being stepped in awe be-
| fore the platforms whereon these dis
ciples of Oriental divinity displayed
| their massive sacredness, and the cir
Gus people had to get rid of the only"
white elephants.
The Barnum people we're relieved OF
the trouble of disposing of theirs.
| The fire at their Bridgeport quarters
kindly burned their sacred beast. But
the Forepaugh people were left to
shift for themselves. So they an
nounced that the sacred white ele-
plant" was spirited away" There
was no proof to the contrary. The
elephant was never seen again as a
sacred white" elephant.
| But all at once a new elephant ap-
peared in the Forepaugh herd. His
name was John L. Sullivan. He wore
a boxing glove on his trunk and
boxed a clown. He was hit
None recognized in him the "only
sacred white elephant" Who. for in
stance, would ever suspect a bishop Of
going into the prize-ring? But John
L. Sullivan was none other than the
shiny white pachyderm which had
enthralled the civilized wolrI year
previous by its divinity. and had tom
toms thumped for it by Siamese at
tendants. ....as19s1
So John L. Sullivan or the sacred
white elephant, whichever you choose,
once more came into the public eye.
Sooner or later, however, even the
pug'istic tendency # John L. palled
on the circus-goelI, md. from leading
a double life, John L. was forced to
begin the third stage of his incarna-
ton
They taught him to dancs! And
when the Forepaugh and Sells Broth
ers' great shows consolidated, the
erstwhile sacred, pugilistic pachyderm
was introduced to seven other terp-
sichorically inclined elephants and in
structed in the art of doing a minuer.
And there he is to-day, Othello, his
name is. His companions are julius
Caesar, Richard Ill, Hamlet, Cleopat-
ra, Rosalind, Ophelia and Desdemona.
Do they curtsey before his past
grandeur? Do they treat Othello, who
was once white as the driven snow
with proper humility? Not they.
And yet he is the most-advertised
elephant in the world.