Evening star., 1934-12-09


BERLIN, GERMANY, December 1. 1894.
IN THE year ZIG BIC. Hannibal, the Cartha-
ginian general invading the Roman EN-
pire, crossed the Alps with large army.
The route followed is now called the Little
st. Bernard Pass and leads from France
into Italy just south OF Mont Blanc. Ac-
companying this army were 81 elephants aboard
which Hannibal and his ofncers rode and
fought.
This crossing. over 3 pass 5000 leet high.
marked in those times only foot path, At
season when the snow lay deep on the ground,
il truly one Of the great military triumphs In
history.
The idea OF buying an elephant Of my own
and riding it, in the tracks Of Hannibal across
tho Alps and down to the walls Of Rome. has
been q pet fancy Of mine for long time. And
So recently in Paris, set about to try and
realize this ambition.
The date was late in Autumn. Unless cold
weather was delayed longer than 1t had been
for 10 Autumn seasons past. all Alpine passes
would be closed in another two weeks I had
not . moment to lose.
The logical place to look for an elephant
properly trained to march down the highway
was . circus. Circus elephants would be ac-
customed to carrying howdah and baggage and
passengers ard accustomed, likewise, to automo-
biies motor buses, bicycles, with which they
must share the highway.
CTRAIGHrAwAY I went to the Cirque
- d'Hver, bought = ticket with the intention
OF watching closely the elephant act, and pick
ing out the beast whose beauty grace and in
telligence most appealed to me. OF the 16
elephants performing one-a lady-completeay
took nv heart. She could stand on her two
front legs, sit upright on q red stool and lift
t~or NH into he al o..
portment 50 demure and genteel, contrasted
sharply with the manners Of her companions
who pushed, raised their voices and bolted their
hay.
After the show I called upon my new in
amorata. fed her three bags of peanuts and
scratched her back with steel -pronged rake
She purred with pleasure and seemed to re-
turn my romantic glances Hannibal, felt sure.
never had such a beautiful and affectionate
mount as this I had visions Of myself, seated
in my howdah riding Lulu proudly down to
Rome.
The circus manager seemed bit surprised
at my request to buy or rent Lulu for an Alpine
expedition Such q project had never been
heard Of in elephant history since the time OF
Hannibal himself Fortunately. the manager
had o sense of humor and responded properly
tn nv plans But alas! could not have Lulu
for rather personal and intimate reason.
Lulu was in trouble. Her af1ectionate nature
had led her from one affalre du occur 70 an
other had caused in fact. no end of scandal
among the other circus performers And just
as all the malicious gosSips had predicted
Lulu was about to have q baby. 1t was ex-
pected any time now within the next IL months.
Such a strenuous mountain journey at this
critical period would be most unwise. I was
heartbroken.
However, the manager had other elephants.
There was Marie, and Josephine Baker and
Yvonne. Whatever elephant took must be
female-males might become too obstreperous.
For a thousand francs a day I could rent
Yvonne. Her morals were beyond reproach.
Her skin looked dry and old. When she stood
on her hind legs, she groaned from rheumatic
pains. could forsee that the Alps were going
to bore her terribly. But it was Yvonne or no
elephant so after considerable bargaining to
lower the price I paid down my deposit and
found myself the owner for a month, Of several
tons of elephant.
The howdah that went with Yvonne fulfilled
all my dreams of giory-gilt wood frame COW
cred with scarlet bunting and carrying . gilt
armchair inside for me to sit on. The native
East Indian mahout who was to 60 along as
chauffeur had . costume composed Of red
embroidered coat and red leather boots Eor
mo there was q white satin coat. with turban
to match studded with huge imitation dia-