Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-04-12
ELEPHANTS AS WORKERS.
Docile, Gentle and Intelligent, But
Very Expensive.

Very Expensive.
That he likes peanuts and eats hay
is the extent Of the knowledge Of most
Americans about my lord the ele-
phant." They have seen the ponderous
pachyderm lumber past in procession
In the circus tent and seen him hobbled
by chains at the park, and know that
he is big and thick skinned. The coun-
try schoolboy doubtless knows one fact
more than this, as he has been obliged
to use his ingenuity inventing a plau-
sible excuse for being tardy because an
elephant shuff1ed past in the dusty road
that morning while he was on his way
to school, and his nature demanded
that he should stay his progress to ex-
anime the footprints and carefully
pace off the distance between each one.
Perhaps the time was not Ill spent.
The elephant has the gentleness and
docility Of greatness and the obedience
Of a we'll trained child. Indeed, he is
described as the most gentle of all an
imals, and except when frightened, the
slightest tap with a small stick on
either side Of the head, the pressure OF
the knee, or even word Is sufficient
to guide him. The government Of In
dia has officially stated, in pink-tied
documents, that "all who have had to
deal with elephants agree that their good
qualities cannot be exaggerated; that
their vices are few and occur only in
exceptional animals; that they are
neither treacherous nor retentive of
injury, and that they are obedient, gen.
tie and patient beyond measure"
The Indian government owns 1000
or more elephants, and ought to know.
Possibly the killers one hears of
in the United States are the 'excep-
tional animals" Runaways sometimes
occur, as in the case of horses. The
rider in such a case feels much as he
might astride a runaway locomotive,
whose headlong flight he is endeavor-
ing to restrain by hooking the crook OF
his walking stick around the smoke
stack He is fortunate II he escapes
injury. The elephant, however, is
more gentle than a horse. A horse,
however loving in disposition, is as
likely to plant his hoof on the corns OF
his master as on those Of his worst
enemy. The elephant Is more consid-
crate, almost never stepping upon
a human being. A man standing In
the midst of a herd of elephants has
little to fear from the forest Of legs
about him. Perhaps this trait Is due
to their method Of protecting their
young. When alarmed, the young OF
q herd Of wild elephants disappear be-
meath the huge forms of the females
and are seldom seen again. Coming up
on such a herd, one would describe 1t
as containing only adults. G. P. San
derson, the officer in charge Of the
government elephant catching estab-
lishment in Mysore for number OF
years, declares that in the many rushes
and crushes Of large herds which he
has seen he has known Of only two
young elephants being disabled.
In many things "a decidedly stupid
animal is governments next Of
fetal statement regarding the elephant
John Lockwood Kpling comments that
" simplicity Of fscharacter were a bette,
word than stupidity. A stupid Great
ure refuses to learn and obey. The ele-
phant, under sympathetic treatment
always tries to obey, and can be
taught to perform acts foreign to all
we know Of it's nature" The natives
would never accept the governments
characterization. They tell tales In
support Of the elephants intelligence
that have a Munchausen flavor One
mahout told a tale Of how an elephant
wreaked his vengeance upon his dri-
ver against whom he had a grudge
When on the road, 1t was the drivers
custom to sleep beyond the reach OF
his hobbled charge. One night the ele-
phant possessed himself Of bamboo
and chewed the end until the f1bres
were loose and the whole resembled a
kitchen broom. Reaching out with
this, he entangled the fibres in the long
hair Of the driver, pulling him with
In reach in this way, destroyed him.
Another elephant was skillful In
counting. His daily ration included IL
wheaton flapjacks. One day the
mahout, who had large family took
one for himself. The wise animal dis
covered the short deal and proceeded
to turn the pile over and lay them out
In a row, trumpeting loudly when the
mahout passed by. A third elephant,
with his mahout, was engaged by a
British tea planter to root up a large
quantity Of bushes. Like the office boy
when the ball team Is in town, he en-
joyed going to funerals. On this occa-
sion the mahout asked for ten days
leave of absence to attend a funeral
assuring the planter that he had in
structed his elephant to work faithful
ly under the goad of substitute. The
planter consented, and the elephant
was duly charged to behave we'll and
work hard during his masters absence.
The funeral was a thirsty one. and on
the eleventh day the driver had not re-
turned. On this morning the substitute
was observed to run to the bungalow
of the planter. Breathlessly he an
nounced that the elephant had declined
to continue his labors. The planter
said, in his British wrath, that he
would see about that. and went out
with whip to reason with the recall
citrant beast. He was soon seen re-
turning to the house at full speed, the
elephant I'm pursuit, with trunk raised.
No work could be performed until the
mahout returned, two days later, when
the elephant assumed his usual meek
demeanor and again obediently took up
the task. The planter, 1t Is added (and
this appears to be the most probable
part Of the tale), decided that he could
not afford to employ union labor of
this sort, with the constant danger Of
strike tying up his plantation. and
locked the combination out.