The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-10-09
ZIP PUSHING BABY CART.

take care of large number of
babies. Once having been told to
mind 4 baby, or several of them, he
will never desert his post as long as
there is breath of life in him.
Zip pushes little Irene's carriage
along the pathways of the island in
an extremely gentle and regular man
ner, never running the carriage over
stones or humping it in any way.
When told to do so, Zip takes the
baby up on his trunk and handles
her in the air, which pleases her
greatly. He also lies on his side and
allows her to play about all over him,
thus making a very nice sized hill
for her use.
Zip not only does his full duty
conscientiously, but he strives to
amuse the baby also. When she
gives him certain signal he trum-
pets. AT another signal he yawns
and at another he makes corkscrew
out of his trunk.
lips advantages as compared with
nurse maid are numerous and OBJ
vious. He never firts with police
men or reads silly novels, or allows
the baby carriage to roll away while
he gazes idly in another direction.
A trained elephant is, of course, a
great luxury, and an expensive one,
even mere SO than a French chef or
an English butler. But if you have
room to keep him he will be very
useful and amusing. He will watch
the other servants and see that no
Objectionable persons are admitted
to the house. No burglar could get
near place guarded by a trained
elephant. The animals smell and
hearing are so fine that he can tell
stranger a mile away. 1t is i'm
possible the bride or fiatter him. He
takes orders from his master and
there is an end to it.
The mahara iahs and princes of In
dia have a very high appreciation of
the value of elephants as domestic
servants. Zip, in fact, was brought
up in the family of his highness of
Nizamul-Mulk, of Hyderabad. He
was trained to care for the Miami
babies in the splendid gardens of the
palace at Hyderabad, near the an
Gent city of Golconda, once famed
for its mines. The Nizam, being an
eminent Mohammedan, and not re-
stricted in the matter of wives, has
an almost uncountable swarm of
children, but he takes excellent care
of them all. For this purpose he has
a number of well trained elephants.
The elephant is particularly valued
as a guardian of children in India,
because he can be relied on to kill
all snakes and noXious reptiles. As
soon as he sees a snake he puts his
foot On it and that is an end of the
snake. The elephant has no fear of
snake bite, for the fangs cannot pen
citrate his thick skin. He has an eve
so keen that nothing escapes him.
Elephants seem naturally good
tempered fellows and very fond of
children. When they are kept in con-
finement they become vicious in
course of years, but in India, where
they work i'll the open air and have
plenty of exercise they keep good
tempered nearly all their lives, which
sometimes lasts as long as 1870 years.
That able novelist, Charles Reade,
long ago blackened the character of
the elephant in his remarkable novel,
Jack of All Trades" According to
that story, while elephants are i'm
mensely clever, they are only waiting
until their masters backs are turned
to do hem dirty trick. He men,
tons an elephant which punches out
knot in a wooden partition, kneels
down at the hole and peeps through
in order to watch what is happening
on the other side, and plot some mis-,
chief later on. But some circus ele-
plants have an excuse for being
wicked, seeing their bad quarters and
the Treatment they get. Mr. Rud.
yard Kipling and other excellent au'
thorities who have seen elephants at
work n their native countries, con-
slider them more reliable and respect.
able than the average human being.
The elephant never forgets a kind.
ness nor forgives an injury.