The Yale expositor., 1912-06-20
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

left the Office Of president has Col
Theodore Roosevelt been in Washing
ton to stay for more than the few
minutes which the south and west
bound trains stop in the Union sta
ton. In November, 1910, the colonel
came here to look over the specimens
OF his skill as hunter and collec-
tor, which are now housed in the
National Museum and many of which
are already in condition for exhibit
ton to the public.
The African hunter, while perhaps
he does not feel for personal reasons
that he ought to come to the
capital for any prolonged stay. keeps
himself informed as to the progress Of
the work on the large and small anil
mails which he collected in Africa
when he was the leader of the Smith
sonian Institution expedition.
There Is a huge elephant In the
Smithsonian Institution which fell be-
elephant has not yet been prepared
for exhibition, but its skin, its bones
and its ivory are in perfect condition
and one day will form one of the chief
geological attractions of the govern
ment institution.
About That Big Elephant.
When Colonel Roosevelt visited the
museum this elephant hide was spread
as a sort of cover over half dozen
tables which had been placed together
in the middle of one of the great halls
The hide more than covered the ia
bles and the overflow" went to the
floor and stretched itself scramblingly
IN all directions. 1t was the skin Of
big bull elephant, to secure which
the hunter had undergone good
many hardships. of which heat was
one Of the worst, and some little per-
sonal danger, although the latter point
was neglected when the colonel. when
on his museum visit, had his word to
say about this particular elephant.
Mr.. Heller, who went into Africa
with the colonel, commented on the
hide OF the big brute. saying that it
was absolutely perfect, and that the
same thing could be said of the bones,
which were slowed away elsewhere
Not hole in hide or bone" said Mr..
Heller. and something like a grin was
detected when he said it.
Colonel Roosevelt turned to his au-
dience of five and said: Heller won't
let up on me. ] toiled and .oiled and
toiled TO get shot at that elephant
and finally succeeded. He dropped
dead at the first shot Heller went
up, examined him and then said:
Colonel, this elephant died of apo
plexy' | see that he insists on telling
the same story today, and all that I
have to say about it Is that IL made a
miss that day this was the most con.
siderate elephant that ever roamed
Africa"
Birds Of Fiery Pluma1e.
The hall in the National Museum
which Is given over to birds collected
by the Smithsonian Institutions Afri-
can expedition allows one to use un-
afraid all the color adjectives at com.
mand. The bird skins are spread out
on trays, or were on the day of the
colonels visit to the museum. The
Baltimore oriole and the scarlet tan
aser OF America occasionally are
called fire birds because of the burn
ing brilliancy of their plumage. There
are perhaps a hundred birds among
those collected by Dr. Edgar A.
Mearns. who accompanied Roosevelt
into Africa. which might bear becom-
ingly the fiery name. Then there are
others in which the blues and the
green's and the yellows and the puppies
and all the other colors, hues, and
combinations of both mingle In
Africa, as elsewhere, the best singers
are to be found among the birds of
sober dress. II the scarlet tanager
could sing like the hermit thrush. the
species would become extinct from
excess Of vanity.
Mr.. Roosevelt's ornithologically in.
clined comrade, DR.. Mearns, sent back
shrikes whose plumage shames the
livery Of the oriole. the tanager, the
bobolink and the goldfnch.
Clark Reconcled to Houn'.
Speaker Champ Clark. prominent
Democratic aspirant for the pres
idential nomination, it is said on
pIODdUly SuUlCleHt authority WAS not
entirely enraptured with The Houn'
Dawg" song when he first heard that
1t was likely TO be hitched up, so to
speak with his candidacy for the high
est office in the land. 1t was limited
that Mr.. Clark thought that the song
was in way undigniied, but whethe.
it be true or not that he rather resent.
ed it at the first, he now has become
perforce reconciled to IL. for seeming
ly it has come to stay and moreover
nobody apparently has shown an in
cliDation TO hold the speaker respon-
sible for its entrance into the musical |
field and into the presidential cam
paign.
This is the second time that Speak. |
er Clark in a way has been tangled |
up with the animal kingdom Ii was
reported that prior to the congression- |
al elections OF 1910, he declared that |
he would drive a pair of Missouri |