New-York tribune., 1908-03-01
Gfx'Sr7f Cundo q Hafb.

There are probably . Eoo6 many of the Little
Men and Little Women who would rather like
~ be Gu-da. the big elephant up At Geological
Park in The Bronx. these cold days. OF course
II would be nuisance 70 be shut up behind iron
ha-s. as GUCCa Is. but there IS one thing about
his lie that most boys and girls would think
very jolly. He only has TO have a bath once q
moth II winter. Even in summer GunGa's
bath day does not come oftener than once a
fortnight
BU- when i does come. what an undertaking
il is for the keepers who do the scrubbing,
CuIda is very good natUred about It. and helps
IS much he can by getting his huge bulk into
Just The right positions He may be rather slow
about II. but then large bodies move slowly
as the Little Men and Little Women have doubt
less heard before
When Keeper BGy-Uther stands in front OF
Gunds end says Get down" Gunda at first,
merely -.7ilks with his trunk" as one small
boy said. and moves one OF his enormous hind
les about four inches Then the keeper says,
re-sEasiveiy- Hurry Up, now. hurry up and
GCrda. after thinking about il a bit longer,
kreeIs with his TWO hind legs. Then he crooks
the TWO front ones under him. and comes down
with astonishing ughtness, considering how big
n Is And there he lies while the keepers. with
s11 brushes and soap and pals upon pals Of
water. scrub his rough back and SIDES and
over and under his ears and around his little
eyes. Then he raises his three and one-haIf
tons O. flesh 10 Z standing posture, and his legs
are scrubbed down = rhiroCeros must be care
fully wiped with cloths after his bath, but that
Is not necessary with elephants. the keepers
le- The air dry Gunda. When he is quite dry
they give him thorough gTeasng all over with
cccoa1ut OIL and GUnda's toilet IS finished for
the month.
Gun6a Is very fond OF Keeper Bayruther, and
Re Is very fond Of the crackers Keeper Bay
-1the7 gives him for z treat when he IS good.
Probably some OF the Little Men ana Little
Women would md Il hard TO say Just how much
q their love is Tor the uncle who brings them
candy ard how much is for the candy uncle
brings Thai Is doubtless the way with Gunda
when he poI-es his trunk out through the bars
n his cage and grasps Keeper Bayruther. who
happens 70 be passing, and gives him Al af-
fec-01ate squeeze, at the same time carefully
searching The keepers pockets with the flexible
Up O. that useful trunk As for the keeper. he
gri2s and says: Get away. Gundar' And then
r. -elenJs and goes and gets some crackers.
Tremendous tidoits they are, Dig saucer.
and = least an inch thick And Gunda takes
then daintiIy with his trunk. one by one and
puts them in his mouth. and mUnches away.
with his little eyes twinkling happily.
little Men and Little Women who have read
suue Of Rudyard KipIing's wonderful stories
about life N India know how intelligent the Ind
ler elephants are. Gurda was born in the jungles
ot Indiz, and he is as wise as he is gentle. He
doesu'J pull tree stunps, because there aren't
any 70 pull in his cage. and in this country We
cont use elephants 20 help IN clearing land, as
they % il india But Gunda can poke his
t-Znk o1t ard n1utely beg every visitor TO the
elephant house for q penny, and when he gets
= he drops il IN a box that IS fastened up in
lis cage and then he rings q little bell But