The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-07-01


the menagerie almost evry day after
school and her namesake shows un-
mistakable signs of joy as soon as
she catches sight of her chum.
Elephants are nearly always fond of
children and gentle in their move
ments with them, but Keeper Snyder
says this newcomer, Hattie, is par
ticularly pleasant-tempered animal.
Vicious elephants show the whites of
their eyes, the keeper says, but the
dusky skin wrinkles close about the
thick lids of Hattie's eyes in what Mr..
Snyder calls very "amiable" fashion.
II Is pretty sight to see Hattie, the
little girl; Hattie, the elephant; Billy,
the small Dorset lamb, whose mother
died when he was only few days DID,
and whom Keeper Snyder raised on
the battle, with the two terriers kept
as ratters for the elephants cages, all
playing together in the big square
room that is now the home of the ele-
plant, who, only a month or two ago.
had whole jungles to roam through.
Hattie is so gentle and SO little dis
posed to play hockey" that rope is
all that is needed to keep her where
she belongs. Very likely If she tried
hard enough she could break or slip
out of this, for it has proved too slight
for the strength Of other elephants,
and with them great chains have been
substituted. 1t looks, too, as if the sin
gle beam that is placed breast high
across the back door OF the elephants
houses, the doorway looking out into
the yard leading to the feed house,
would be easy enough for either Hat
tie or big Jewel, her next-dOOr neigh
Dor, to stoop under, but strange to say,
elephants never stoop under or climb
over things. If anything gets in their
way they batter it down with the
weight OF their great bodies. or go
around it.
Hattie, the elephant, is very fond
of both the lamb and the dogs. She
seems to know that the latter are her
friends, and indeed were it not for the
little fox terrier Daisy, and the black
and tan, Gyp, both Hattie and Jewel
cause of the mice and rats that swarm
their cages. These pests gnaW the feet
Of big animals during the night the
sleeping elephants never knowing what
they are about until the sharp little
teeth reach the quick. 1t takes long
time for such wound to heal and
there is good reason for an elephant to
be afraid of a mouse. Though it would
seem easy for such a big animal to
crush the tiny one with single stamp
Of it's foot, the elephants movements
are necessarily slow, and there is no
record of such a thing having been
accomplished The most that even
a great tree smasher and man killer
can do when mouse comes in sight
is to run or sQueal with terror.
Six loaves of bread day, three in
the morning and three at night, with
a bale or two Of hay, some freshcut
grass and two meals of bran porridge
a week, form Hattie's bill of fare.
Thought she weighs half ton and is
something like five feet high Hattie's
mouth is still too small to manage a
whole loaf of bread at once. So when
one is handed to her, she losses her
long trunk back out of the way over
her head and takes the crusty, chunky
thing daintily in her fat, flabby, pink
lips. Then she lays it carefully on the
floor. where, with the help OF her huge
feet and her nimble trunk she breaks
it into pieces small enough to suit her
taste. Hattie does not like peppermint
candy or gingerbread, but peanut brit
tie is her delight. One would think she
had lived on it in jungle land. to see
the way she swallowed the first bit,
offered her and trumpeted for more.
She is fond of sugar, too, and feels gen.
tly about the pockets in her godmoth-
er's frock for the little bulge with
many sharp corners that she has learn
ed TO know means sugar for her.
Hattie is only four years old just
the right age to begin taking lessons
in tricks which Keeper Snyder is go
ing to teach her. Some Of Hattie's
ancestors are said TO have lived for
nearly one hundred and fifty years; so,
if she learn as quickly as her keeper
things she will and lives as long as
her progenitors, there is a great deal
of pleasure ahead for generations of
New Workers who will year after year
visit Central Park. The first thing
that Hattie will be Taught is to lie
down and pretend to go to sleep; then
she will learn to ring the dinner bell
and kneel down and say her prayers
and dance in time with waltz music. |
Keeper Snyder, who will give her les
sons in all these things thinks that she