The Minneapolis journal., 1902-06-21
FACTS ABOUT ELEPHANTS
AS TOLD BY JOHN R1NGL1NG
Tobacco ana Pin Stories Laughed
At-But the Mouse story
Is True.

Yes, the elephant has a good mem
ory," said John Ringing the other night.
But some Of the startling stories told
about him to prove the fact are pure gam
mon. Take, for instance. the. story of a
man who stuck pin in the elephant's
with dirty water by the remembering ele-
phant. I am surprised that any one
should take that yarn seriously. Why,
the average thickness of an elephants
hide is from half an inch to two inches.
Now. imagine a pin. going through that
on an errand of pain. 1t would swallow
a pin and break needle Continuing,
Mr.. Ringing said:
Another familiar story makes the elephant
resent AN offering OF tobacco. One of the
busiest things~in the world is an elephants
trunk. It Is forever reaching out, searching
for something that will lningle comfortably
with its internal economy We have an ele-
phant with our showNthat really Graves tobac-
CO, and will take anything from pound plug
to Turkish cigarettes This animal is a fe-
male, too, and she swallows cigarettes, paper
and all, with a smacking relish that shows
her keen fondness for this papered poison that
dwarfs the average youth.
The only old-fashioned elephant story that
has any real basis of truth is the one which
makes the big brute afraid of mouse. Fan
tastic as it may seem, this great, big moun-
tain of flesh positively shrinks from a tidbtt
Of a mouse The winter quarters of the show,
whore mice and rats thrive. convince one of
this fact mouse will make an entire herd
noisy with fright, and a 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 seem
ing paradox An elephant may defend itself
against lion, tiger or any other natural
enemy, but the insignificant size of 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 elephant real
ICES his helplessness against such a di1ninu-
tive foe and learns to fear it as he fears no
other animal. -
Elephants are capable of strong affection,
quite as much as dogsIand horses. They te-
come very fond of each other and their keep
ers. Last season a baby elephant was added
to ur&imnlense herd She was only few
months old when taken from her nother ana
brought direct from Ceylon to the Ringl1ng
Bros rnenagerie. When placed among the
big family of her kind with our shoW she
fretted "a guod deal, and some of the big fel-
lows in the collection seemed to find pleasure
in adding to her discomfort. She was ehaaneo
next to lOld Badly, the biggest one OF the tnlr-
ty we carry, and the latter began to take an
obvious interest III the new arrival. nnls was
shown by her turning on the funmakers OF the
crowd, who had picked out the baby for a
mark, gand ended by her taking the little one one
completely under her maternal care -?
Baldy is the boss of the herd in every way
none of the Others dared go against her Wish
es. and now the little one is cherished pet
Of the whole number. Baldy and she are IN
senarable22 Her di1ninutive elephantine lady
ship may be seen at the circus Monday