Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-30
ART OF TRAINING ELEPHANTS
How THE BIG BEAST rs SCHOOL
ED Foe THE CIRCUS.
Obey Men Not Because They Fear
Them, But Because They Like
Them-Policy Of Kindness.

| From Appleton's Magazine.
On a number of points all elephant train
| ers agree. These are: First, that the tall,
fat-legged, small-eyed elephant of big girth
| Is not only the handsomest but also the
most docile and intelligent of his kind.
| Second, that an elephant Is fully aware OF
| his prodigious strength compared with
| mans. and that the reason an elephant
obeys his master is not because he is afraid
| of him. but because he has an affection for
| him. Third, you may beat a bad ele-
| phant to death or kill him by ramming red
! hot irons down his throat in an effort to
press the "sQueal of surrender out of him,
but the one and only way to train an ele-
| plant to perform tricks is through kindness
and patience unending. Lastly, but not
| least, with out exception, the intelligence
| Of the elephant far exceeds that of any
nther animal.
Elephant trainers maintain that training
an elephant to perform is like teaching a
boy circus riding, only less difficult. Where
the boy, despite all his agility and supple
ness, requires years to learn his profession,
the elephant despite his bulk and seeming
awkwardness, learns his most difficult
tricks within few months. Generally 1t
| Is necessary only to make an elephant COM
prehend what is wanted to have him per-
form trick. For. strange though 1t may
seem. this mountain OF flesh is somewhat
of gymnast. In his own wild domain he
can readily negotiate the steepest mountain
side, can charge through thickets over the
toughest ground at express train speed, and
may be seen at play rearing up on his hind
legs and even resting his ponderous fore
feet across the spine Of another elephant
as II performing the trick Of the "pyra-
mid for an admiring audience.
Playing Instruments.
A number of the simpler tricks with
which an elephant entertains his audience
come as natural to him as the tapping Of
milk comes to a cat. For instance, the
blowing of the mouth harmonica.
Twenty feet to the right or to the left of
the candidate to be taught to lie down four
heavy stakes are driven :nto the ground
and from each of these runs a block and
tackle connecting with each leg and
manned by ten or dozen men. When all is
ready the trainer stands in front of the
animal. raises his hook and Down! down.
he orders. The elephant pays no attention.
He stands weaving his trunk and sway
ing his body from side to side. Down!
down" shouts the trainer again, and upon
signal some forty men begin to heave and
tug, the blocks squeak, the ropes creaK
and while the trainer continues shouting his
command the pachyderms legs begin to be
drawn from under him. With scalp-rats-
ing trumpet, the startled creature begins to
struggle, flashing with his trunk from side
| to side and cropping with it's tip against the
floor, frantically seeking for hold to
steady himself. But the relentless ropes
continue to draw his legs. The huge beast
leans at a forbidding angle, believing like
herd of steers and drowning the Down!
down. of the trainer. The great body be-
gins to totter; for an instant it regans its
balance. then it falls. crashing with dull
thud on to the bed of straw. Trumpeting
like the screech out Of a cracked steam
calliope, the brute tries vainly to struggle
to his feet, until at the end of three or four
| minutes he begins to realize that nothing so
ho hov l,1& =
| he ought to feel very comfortable indeed.
Standing on, His Head.
To teach him to stand on his head the
trainer again uses the block and tackle To
forestall the effects Of bad fall, the floor
Of the training stable is thickly Uttered 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 headquarters instead Of the forequarters
may be raised.
Then the trainer gives his cue and signals
to hoist. Be the animal ever SO docle and
Intelligent, the first time he is lifted in this
manner he is mad clear through. What
ever Is in reach Of his trunk Is RACED alb
solutely. Right and left and up and down
sweeps the trunk, tense as a steel spring, as
elephants 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 trampled into pulp. Believing, trumpet
ing with rage. the animal reaches beneath
| Its belly to tear off the hated chain, and not
| until 1t Is back on all fours does 1t begin
to calm under the caresses Of an instructor
Then the candidate is hosted again to the
din of believing and trumpeting and still
again and again he is lifted untf1 he be-
| gins to realize that 1t is all in the days
work. In time the hind legs are raised
higher and still higher until he is forced to
bend at the knees. Rarely before the fourth
day has the pupil progressed so that he
| he is steadied by guide ropes to prevent
falling to either side, until at the end of a
week or SO he not only knows how to bal
ance himself but makes an attempt to per-
form the trick when ordered