Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1909-05-20

|
was by no means an easy one to bring |
| up--for thirty eight of it's forty mem
bers are girls, and Of course, girls are
proverbially expensive to rear. A spe
cial dressmaker is employed all the
year round just to keep the gigantic
| family we'll dressed.
Two costumes apiece is the allow
ance for each member, but the clothes
make up in costliness what they lack
in numbers, ranging in price from 5000
to $500 apiece. Seven hundred dol
lars a week is a conservative estimate
of tie food bills for the family.
Have School of Their Own.
1t has a school Of its own, with spe-
cial tutors. The school is, of course
graded beginning with kindergarten
class, and ending with the bestowal Of
, a high school diploma. The most re-
markabe thing about the family how
. | ever, is that, although all forty mem
bers are generally housed under the
, same roof. they have never been
known to be all asleep at the same
time during any night of their exist
ence.
, But why prolong the suspense?
The largest family in New York con-
sists of the forty trained elephants up
: at the circus that rolls kegs, talk
through the telephone or the cannon,
: and Doc" Kcaley has been their keep
, er and best friend for thirteen years.
: / Mr. Keaey stood before the long, leath-
. cry line of his proteges today, whore
e four men keep constant watch lest
n anything happen to startle the herd
| to
i plunging through the tents of the
merry And there he discoursed to me
@ leismely of the thoughts and feelings
6 and customs of elephants in general
and his own family in particular.
we have to keep the men on watch
: constantly to forestall any possibility
/ of a stampede" he explained. "E e.
s. plants are very sensitive. Even at
q night they won't all go to sleep al
II The same time. May be at some hous
a. Of the night only one will be left
ID standing He is a sentinel, and q
is the slightest suspicious noise he vii
k trumpet and they will scramble t.
n their feet. all talking at once. Ger
IN tainly they talk to each other Any
w body that's ever been with elephants
knows that Some times I think the.
e. even tell funny stories.
IA Twenty Are "understudies."
ie only twenty of the forty elephant
- appear in the circus. The rest are I'm
dcrstudies and replace the principal
49, when they are sick. Thirty-eight o
~ the forty elephants are females. Tn
AZ other two are John L. Sullivan an
Badly We have only one baby ele
er Baby Boo She is named after tn
Baby Boo. She is named ater tn
n. circus home, Baraboo Wis, and she
II. out there now.
wv Alice. ever there. has had two ba
bies But she wouldn't have anythin
m. to do with the first one, and we ha
nd to bring it up on the bottle. 1t die
GU after thirteen months. The other on
she killed few days after it was bor'
be You know we have a regular scho'
as for the elephants out in Barabo
~ There's no way Of telling an elephant
49, age when you get them. l was in II
' elephant importing business before
'Ae joined Ringing Brothers, so l knoN
wv But the right time to begin trainir
l. him is when he is four feet high FL
ne the first two years all we do is to az
10 custom him to the surroundings. +
We, is not allowed in the professions exec
he chained to another elephant. That
ap the kindergarten course.
ill 'In the next grade we teach the
ak the easy tricks, like standing on
Nv bucket or rolling a barrel. After tn
to they learn to telephone and to dan
with their hind feet. It's easy for ;
.d elephant to dance with his front fe'
in, Wilhelmine. our star elephant, c;
stand on two feet and raise up Gig
=, feet in the air.
- II treat elephants just as if tn
~ were children. I punish them VIII
90 they are bad and give them Jumps
sugar when they're good. There q
eA- twenty five men employed here just
lea care for them. And they have ST
eks cial dressmaker.
cen Their rainy day clothes cost abe
bit 5000 a piece, and their best coats, s;
osh $500. They are very vain Of the
est and they are jealous, too. If one g
in a peanut the others have to have 0
my But on the whole. guess they
int pretty good children"