The Washington herald., 1915-10-10
MASTERLY STORIES OF AMERICAN RANCH LIFE & E %H]

Western fellow he jump up and say:
1 shall play little Ellie tune
Il do not think he means it. No.
body would think such a thing, but
before l finish my gasping he has
gone, and the elephant makes no at
tempt to hurt him. and the Western
man play some festive Western music
on the piano.
THE elephant looks. with his head
cooked on one side like a small dog,
and listens very much. The Western
man call to us, How does he take it:
Has he got an ear for music?' and ]
say, because | am laugh to a jollity,
He likes your style of playing. but
/ would not try Senior Wagner or
him.
"He is quaint fellow that he will
joke with that elephant so nearby.
So he play music, and the elephant
listen, and by and by he strikes a mu-
! sic. and the elephant lifts one big
foot and then the other, and the
1rishman calls out, Holy smoke, Jim,
he is a trained elephant! Make him
dance
And then this Irishman comes out
too, and he roar in deep voice, Get
up and dancep He tells me afterward
he doesn't know what they say to an
elephant to make him dance, so he
makes his voice loud and rough. SO
the elephant can understand what he
pleases.
%And in the light, now, of the fire
and the moon, which has Just come
up, there in that road that elephant
! raised himself enormous on his be-
hind legs, and he began to dance. II
is not the joyous, light-hearted dance
that we have in our country. 1t is an
elephant sort Of dance, and he takes
| 1t very seriously and, for that mat
ter, so do | take it seriously, because
if he is dancing he will not nit me
with that trunk, nor stick those large
teeth into ME.
j Il cannot explain to you what
sight this is, and then that Irish boy
| says that he could shake leg HIM
/ SELF. | think we are all crazy now,
/ because out he comes, and he takes
| hold Of the elephant by the trunk and
shakes his trunk, and he dances too,
and that elephant seems pleased, and
| that Irish boy call to me, Come out
and show us something Spanish
well, | am not intended for such
| jocose sports, but l am called the
, boss OF the outfit; if this Irish bow
may dance with an elephant, why, so
must |, and so there am in the road
too, until that Western man says that
he IS getting paralyzed in his elbows
from playing the piano so much, and
as nobody else can play that music
| the dance must come to an end, and
then l think of myself, How will
this elephant amuse himself when the
dancing is over" and | am for going
back again to the FIRE; but that Irish
! boy he stays, while the farmer gem
tleman from the roof is speaking to
us so badly in harsh language.
| He tells us to tie the elephant with
ropes; he tells us many things, in
which l lose my patience with him
and tell him to come down and do
those things which he advises for US,
but he moves not
"And then that Western gentleman
yells. Clear yourselves, ladies and
gents! l am only good for two
chords more
"The Irish boy yells, Come on,
Senior Dom and We skip to the fire
and the music stops. That elephant is
! left standing like an enormous statue
in the middle of the road.
| "He stands out against the cold
moonlight on the house, huge and
black, and he looks very melancholy,
for his friends will not play with
him any more. and he sticks his trunk
in the air and gives lonesome howl
through it.
Then comes the Western mar
back from the piano. and he says.
| Now if our friend would only re-
main like that, we shall get the re-
ward
But this the elephant will not do.
He comes down upon his other two
feet again and shakes his head He
is silent. For a little while he does
not know what to do.
Then he goes slowly to the piano
and puts a finger of his trunk on it,
and back comes a sound. Each time
this make him little less scared, till
finally he makes up his mind what
he wishes is that piano. and he bends
his knees and sticks his tusks under
that piano, and he put his trunk on
top. and up he gets. and off he walks
with my wife's new upright silver
mounted cabinet-grand piano. and he