The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-02-01

Ii performing the trick of the "pyra-
 mlde" for an admiring audience. i A number of the simpler tricks with
 which an elephant entertains his audi
 ence come as natural to him as the 1 laping of mil comes to a cat. For in-
 stance, the blowing of the mouth har- monica.
 MT. Rolker goes on to explain hiw an
 elephant is taught to lie down: Twenty feet to the right or to the
 left of the candidate four heavy stakes
 are driven into the ground, and from
 each of these runs a block and tackle
 connecting with each leg and manned I by ten or a dozen men. When all is
 ready the trainer stands in front of | the animal, raises his hook, and I Down! down." he roders. The ele- 1 pays no attention. He stands "weav- | ing his trunk and swaying his body from side to side. Down! down?"
 shouts the trainer again, and upon a signad some forty men begin to heave
 and tug, the blocks, the ropes creak,
 and while the trainer continues shout I ing his command the pachyderm S legs begin to be drawn from under him. With a scalp raising trumpet, the | startled creature begin to struggle, flashing with his trunk from side to side and groping with it's tip against the floor, frantically seeking for a hold to steady himself. But the re-
 relentless ropes continue to draw his i legs. The huge beast leans at a for biding angle, believing like a herd of steers and drowning the Down! doWn!" of the trainer. The great body begins to totter; for an instant it re-
 gains it's balance then it falls, crash ing with a dull thud on to the bed of
 straw. Trumpeting like the screech out of a cracked steam calliope, the brute
 tries yainly to struggle to his feet, until at the end of three or four min- utes he begins to realize that nothing
 so very startling has happened and that really he ough to feel very com- fortable indeed.
 The article goes on to explain how he is taught to life his feet and rear, to overcome his terror of q seesaw, and
 to walk on rolling cylinder ride a bicycle, endure the noise of firears, etc. One of the most interesting ac- counts describes how this 2,0OO tc 4,O00- pound animal is taught to stand on it's
 head:
 To teach this always spectacular trick the trainer again uses the block and tackle. To forstall the effects of a bad fall, the floor of the training stable Is thickly filtered with straw. Then
 the candidate is harnessed with chains and the bellyband and block and tackle as he was when learning to rear, the difference being that the chains from under the belly lead between the hind instead of between the fore legs, so that the hind quarters instead of the fore quarters bay be raised.
 Then the trainer gives his cue and sixnals to hoist. Be the animal ever so docile and intelligent, the first time he Is lifted in this manner he is mad clear through. Whatever is In reach of his trunk is razed absolutely. Right and left and up and down sweeps the trunk, tense as a steel spring, as ele- plants trunks are apt to be when on murder bent, Should the trainer at this time venture within reach he would be grasped hurled to the roof of the barn. and come down with every bone broken, only to be tram pied into pulpA Believing, trumpeting with rage, thes animal reaches beneath its belly to tear off the hated chain, and not until it is back on all fours does it begin tJ calm under the cares ses of the instructor. Then the can didate is hoisted again to the din of believing and trumpeting and still again and again lifted until he begins to realize that it is all in the days work. In time the hind legs are rais- ed higher and still higher until he is forced to bend rat the knees. Rarely before the fourth day has the pupil progressed so that he may be lifted clear on to his head where he is steadied by guide ropes to prevent fal- ing to either side, until at the end of week or so he not only knows how to balance himself, but makes an att tempt to perform the trick when or dered.