Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1910-12-02
SEEING THE
ELEPHANT
By M. QUAD
Copyright. 1910. by Associated Lit
erary Press.

but Deacon Goodhue never missed u
Sunday.
On this particular occasion. however
much to his sorrow, the deacon found
himself interested in the circus bills
posted up on the highway barns. He
resented his interest. He tried to chase
it away. He wrestled with it as he
hoed corn. He could have got the bet
ter of it but for one thing The COM
ing circus had on exhibition an Afri-
can elephant weighing two tons. He
had lost an eye and one tusk, he had
killed five Keepers and it was expect
ed he would kill the sixth within
month. There was something in this
statement to appeal and interest.
"What l want" he said, "is to see
that elephant l want to look him
over for about half an hour, and then
I shall be willing to drive back home"
Brother Goodhue," replied the min
ister "as 1 understand it, there are
two tents. One is for the menagerie
and the other for the circus"
EYES, that's So"
zone ticket admits to both.'
at does'
"And the menagerie is the first tent
you enter"
81 guess SOL
"Well, the case seems to be right
here. Can you enter the first tent and
gaze on the elephant and not long to
enter the second, where the circus is :?
1t is surely no sin to gaze on an ele-
plant, but when it comes to a circus
performance, deacon, that is different,
you know. You must fight this out
alone. You are a strong man, but the
two ringed circus is an awful tempta-
ton"
He had q week to think it over.
Sometimes he was strong in his self
confidence. and again his knees wab-
bled. Why pay so cents to see the
elephant alone when it would admit
to all? Was it worth that sum to gaze
on even an elephant that had killed
five men? 1t was decision and indeci-
sion for week, and then the minister
inquired If his mind was made up.
mot skassly," was the reply.
"You doubt your strength?
"That's it. | do want to see the ele-
plant. and l don't want to see them
gals in spangles. and I'm sweating
over it,
Then wouldn't it be wiser to give
up the idea?"
The deacon went home and wrestled
another day and then decided not to
go near the behemoth. The circus
came, and his neighbors went. and a
peddler came along the road and told
him that it was the grandest aggrega-
ton on the face of the known world
and the words brought a lonely feel
ing.
The good mans reward was at hand
however. Just at shutdown he heard
a great yelling down the road. and lie
looked to see a great cloud of dust. A
haystack on wheels was coming his
way, pursued by men and dogs. The
deacon was at the barnyard gate with
a milk pail on his arm. AS the hay
stack came nearer he murmured to
himself:
'B'gosh. it's an elephant. and he's
.
very one l wanted TO see, and now
there won't be no temptation about
it."
Yes, the two tonner had broken
loose and was looking for summer
board. He was hiking straight ahead
when he caught sight of the deacon
and the open gate and the cows in the
q rn q
ted in. Brother Goodhue did not IN
derstand the situation until two Sec
onds too late. He was seized and
thrown twenty feet high to come down
on the wagon shed with a broken leg.
Then the four cows were picked I'D
and toyed with. They were tossed over
into the road or slammed against the
got his pain as he gazed. His wagon
was smashed to bits and his hayrack
pulled apart, and the behemoth played
ball with a pillow or two.
OF course the circus men were after
him all the time, but the two tonner
was out for fun, and he didn't sub
NIT to bondage until he had had it.
His last act was to burst through the
fence and walk up to the kitchen
Of the farmhouse and pick up the we'll
curb and the old oaken bucket and
send them sky high among the limbs
of a cherry tree. Then he gave in and
was led away looking as innocent as a
lamb. The circus proprietors agreed
to pay all damages, but as a matter Of
them. During his three months in
bed Deacon Goodhue had many callers.
Among them, as a matter of course,
was his minister. AS he sat down by
the bedside he asked:
Deacon. what do you figure up the
damage to beY