OCR Text |
Show iwwMwr'. f I j vy HE TVas born an arlstocrati ncr H ; tastes and manners arc arlsto- ( wSVsiy cratic, and her surroundings ! VT'jV n-l'ays have been aristocratic, 1 SssrSM from ncr viewpoint, save for a TQt j few brief months, and they y probably will be so for the next y hundred years or so, for she is now in a nlco 7.00. the petted darling of some thousands of children. Her name is, Miss Jim, and she Is a mere Infant. In-fant. 33 years old. And few humans of 33 years have had the experiences, ex-periences, have seen so many different cities and countries and have moved In so many different dif-ferent strata of society ns has Miss Jim. A wild, free' creature of the Jungles, then the pet of royalty, roy-alty, wiih jeweled headdresses and cloth of cold robes, the envy of every feminine creature that I saw them, then a star actress of a big London theatrical production, then a circus performer. men -whisper -it softly, for It is the one darl: chapter of an otherwise aristocratic career a common farm laborer, and now the pride of the zoo. The only human career at all comparable wtyh hers in romance and Kaleidoscopic changes was that of tho celebrated Lla Mondoza, the dancer, the pet of kings, who in her brief career was everywhere in tho mining camps of California V t in those early' days following the first rush for ;p3J gold. In the cities of Panama and Colon when they were tho resorts of adventurers from all ovef the world, In New York, In the gay capitals capi-tals of Europe, tho pet of kings. Lola Mcndoza had a varied career, but it did not extend as far around the globe as has the career of Miss Jim, t and, remember, she is still a mero chicken as regards age. For an elephant lives to bo about 150 years old. , ; She first saw the light In the far Interior of ; India, and her mother was the largest and strongest of the females of a herd which numbered num-bered more than a hundred. She was but 3 feet high when she was born, but she was a strong and lusty youngster. There were other infants In the herd, but it would appear that she grow ;, ; faster than they did and was stronger. At any. : -1 rate, In a few months, when tho herd began moving farther out from the recesses of tho Jun- gle, she kept paco with her mothor and was as - playful and frolicsome a creature as one could hope to see. They were 'far from the haunts of man In a wild region, mostly Jungle, and tho only living things they dreaded were the fierce tigers which abounded In that region. But the elephant's cense of smell is extraordinarily keen, and the '' tiger which was wary enough to approach close f enough to pouueo upon an elophant was rare. A Once, indeed, while the herd was scattered in a 'fc$k Jungle, eating tho soft shoots and branches from tho trocs, a tlgor crept up on the side toward which the wind was blowing, and his presence was not detected until there came a wild scream of rago and terror from the outskirts of tho herd. Instantly there was tho rush of a. hundred ' or more elephants to tho aceno, all screaming their anger. Tho tiger had sprung upon the ole- ; phant's trimk and brought her to her knees. Now, the trunk of the elephant Is the most son- j sltivo part of the body. When the animals are excited or angry, or are charging upon some enemy, they always hold their trunks high in the air, as far a3 possible out of tho cncmy'H ! reach, and whenever they are wounded thero they appear to feel it more keenly than at any ' other point of tho body. ! "When the others of the herd reached tho spoJL I : they found tho tiger clawing and tearing with 5 Its long, keen daws and sharp tooth at the prostrate elephant's throat. In a moment the I' tiger and Its prey wcro surrounded by tho ele phants, all with upraised trunks and all screaming, scream-ing, and tho huge malo elephant, the leader of tho herd, sprang at him and endeavored to trample him under foot. But the tlgor quickly broke looso from his prey and started to dash away. lie darted under tho huge body of tho K king of tho herd, but a3 he dashed away an- Jt other elephant planted ono of her hugo forefeet Wnl upon him. The others rushed to her nssistanco, 5ir nnd In a moment what before had been a fcro- Hft'"" clous beast was but a trampled mass. Mi Miss Jim, at that time, was a year old. Sho ma had already learned to wade In deep rivers, and If whenever the herd crossed a river Bhe was m swimming by her mother's side, with her tiny mff Irunlj h,eld,.iilv.out-othc water, for it was m through this that she breathed. She was fond of water, too, and often hor mother would take her to the bank of some stream and, filling her trunk with water, would spray It over the body of her daughter, until tho latter learned to bathe herself. On a warm doy, .toward evening, whenever thero were the necessary facilities at hand, the entire herd would enjoy a bath. Each elophant would fill ils trunk with water and spray It over . Itself, and then they would play by blowing water on their neighbors. U was a wild, carc-frce existence. Thero was food in abundance, consisting chiefly of th? tender shoots and branches of trees, especially espe-cially those which had gum In thorn. A Dut it was soon to end, as far as Miss Jim . was concerned. We arc calling her Miss Jim, . because there Is no means of ascertaining what was her name at that stage of her career. And thun, one evening toward sunset, there KMfx xM9yyy x A Kirrlj 'xymSKfWXyxy were signs of uneasiness In the herd. Thero was much raising of trunks and sniffing In tho breeze. Tho herd generally fed in tho early mornings and late afternoons, remaining In the cool shadows of the Jungle during the heat of tho day. But there was not much feeding that evening, for, after a. while, the leader of the herd started away, and, In close formation, the entire herd followed him. All night they traveled, crossing two deep rivers riv-ers In their Journey, and thoy did not halt until un-til almost midday the following day. Then they rested and began feeding in tho cool of tho evening, all signs of uneasiness having disappeared. dis-appeared. But next morning thero were strange elephants ele-phants In the herd, although no ono noticed them at first And then a half dozen of tho strnngors, all females, gathered gradually about the huge leader of tho herd, and suddenly thoro was a fierce rush of men on horseback and on other strange elephants, and tho herd scattered In terror while the strango elephants crowded about tho lcador and held him captlvo until tho men had tied Mb legs with chains so :hat ho could barely move. Miss Jim had become separated from hor mother in the excitemont, and in her terror was rushing about, with her little trunk upraised, up-raised, emitting shrill cries, when suddenly ono of the stranger elephants colled its huge trunk about ono of her legs and threw her to the ground, holding her until In a few minutes several sev-eral of the men had dismounted nnd ohalnod Miss Jim.as they had chained tho leader of the herd. "Shfl will do for tho rajah's little daughter," they cried. "Sho wants a baby elephant." Miss Jim was terrified, but the strango elephants ele-phants petted hor, In tholr way, and, tlod to ono of thorn, sho meekly followed her captora. Thoy made camp near by that night and saw no tracs of tho scattered mombora of tho herd. BoBldcs tho lcador of tho herd, a couplo of the grown females had been caught, and these, with Miss Jim, wero to be placod In tho stables of a rajah, ono of tho native rulora- of India. It was four or five days before they reached tho rajah's palace, and by that tlmo Miss Jim had become quite accustomed to humans. Thoy petted her, and sho soon became friends with thorn. And then, when they had been placed In the huge stables of tho palace, Miss Jim was carefully bathed. Scented soap was used, nnd sho was dolighled with this, for hor olfactory nerves wero keen. And then a beautiful plcco of cloth of gold, heavily ombroldered with scarlet scar-let flowers, was brought In, and after sho had carefully examined it It was placed on her back. And then a headdress of gold and silver sot with Jewels was fastened to her head, tho heavy golden tassels hanging far down her head be-tweon be-tweon tho eyes. Miss Jim was a feminine creature, and she took a great dolJght In her clothes, for thoy were tho first she had over worn, and few girls can boast of such garments and Jewels, especially espe-cially ns their first clothing. And then sho was led to the palaco Itself and through a carved archway into a beautiful courtyard, sot with blossoming shrubbery and beautiful trees, In tho midst of which a fountain foun-tain sont sprays of water high Into tho air. Tho first thing Miss Jim wanted to do was to play with tho flashing wator. and sho tried to mako n dash for it, but tho two koepers, with their little sticks, each with a hook on tho ond, prevented pre-vented hor, by tho slmplo expedient of catching tho hooks Into her trunk and holding her back. Then the little 10-year-old princess, with a number of hor maids, carao out of tho palaco. An soon as tho child saw her now pet sho gave a crj of delight and, rushing up to Miss Jim, eho threw her arms around tho animal's neck. Mrs. Jim quickly put her trunk about hor now mistress waist and tho latter handed hor a piece of candy In tho end of tho trunk. It was tho first candy tho Uttlo Jungle-bred aristocrat had ever caton! Did sho like it? Sho did, and aa soon as sho had carefully taBtcd, then swallowid it with a grunt of joy, sho held out her trunk for moro. Sho and hor llttlo mistress played all the afternoon and 00a .became fast friends. Later ono of the keepers took up the education of the baby elephant and taught her all sorts of cunning tricks. He taught her to carry short lengths of wood and pllo tlicm neatly; ho taught hor to rear up and stand up on her hind legs, to walk on three legs, to sit in a chair, to ring a boll and many more trJckB of tho same kind. ThlH existence lasted l'or moro than two years, until tho olophant was largo enough to carry on her back a howdah, a beautiful glldod sort of box with curtains, In which the royalty of India rod in Btate..procesalons. By that tlma ' IPte VJ " a rg?g u Miss Jim had grown too largo to be a: pet, and although sho was the princess' favorite riding elophant, tho two no longer played togcther.- Miss Jim was-trained as a hunting elephant, for often tho rajah would hunt tigers, and ho always did It from tho back of an elophant Sho soon bocamo accustomed to having guns 6hot from hor back, and after tho first two or three times sho would nover start at thoreport. Sho was ono of the aristocrats of tho rajah's stables. Thero wore other elephants which woro only used as laboring animals, to carry heavy loads and tho like, but Miss Jim was only used as a riding animal. Finally another rajah -visited Miss Jim's mas-tor mas-tor and admired Miss Jim so much that sho was given to him as a present. Her lifo in her new surroundings was .not much different from k tho old. But finally sho was sold to the agont of a European firm of animal dealers, was taken to a seaport and shipped to Europe. ThOHo wero miserablo weeks sho spont upon tho wator, but finally sho wa3 landed in Germany. Horo she was taught many now tricks. Sho learned them quickly and was soon ono of the most valuablo elephants the dealers owned. Sho was docllo and good tempered and hor owners put a high prico on her. Later sho was sold to an English company and taken to London, whoro sho performed per-formed In a circus for awhile and becamo used to tho- plaudits of admiring crowds. r Wm cJIo I And then sho (became an actress. At-tho Lon- IH don HIppodromo thoy wcro preparing to stage IH a hugo spectacular production. Punch and IH Judy. The company was gathered together, H scvoral hundred persons, a number or animals IH and tho two stars of the company, "Punch" and H "Judy." But the elephant cast for the role of H "rudy" wa3 rather temperamental, as aro many IH human actresses, and, after a fow rehearsals, IH sho bocamo so hard to manago that it was IH doclded to obtain another elephant. And that is how Miss Jim becamo an actress. H Sho took to the footlights and the limelights H and tho painted world from the very start, and IH when the big produotion was finally put on, H Miss Jim made one of tho biggest individual IH hits, sharing honors with the human actors. I She liked tho life and she liked tho thunders of applause. She woro beautiful clothes, all tho IH colors of tho rainbows, and she woro the most dazzling headdresses that ever -adorned an ole- phant's head. Everyone In London knew her, H and during tho year sho was on tho stago slid5 H was as popular as any prima donna at Covent H Garden. H After that she appeared in several other the at- H ncal productions and then, later, was sold and brought to America. That was eighteen years ago, and sinco then sho traveled all over tho l country and soveral times visited Canada. Sho lf liked tho circus life that Is, she liked the ap- rather hard at times, especially when the show IH was playing ono-day stands. Last fall sho was sent to the winter quarters lf of the circus on a Missouri form, and hero it was that sho underwent the most humiliating H experiences of her life, for she was forced to lf do common farm labor. She was mado to carry B wood and to draw heavy loads, and then, when H everything appeared darkest for hor, sho was IH purchased for a zoo. And now sho is visited H every day by admiring children, who feed her l peanuts and sometimes candy. And ofton a jH huge sort of double saddle is placed on her back IH and sho takes them on little rides through tho l Sho Is now 83 years old and weighs 45SO IH pounds. Sho takes her daily exercise, -but sh hates to carry logs. Her keeper makes he? H carry thorn sometimes for exercise, but whon H sho feels tho least bit tired, and sometimes H when probably sho isn't tired, sho gently and H firmly refuses to carry any more. Sho has a H bath every day, which sho enJoys,for sho Ilea jJ down and makes tho keeper turn tho hoso on jH her and scrub her with a broom. Sho lives a H regular life, retiring cvory night at 10 o'clock, H and always arising at C In tho morning. Sho lies H down on hor sldo and sleeps all through tho H night, excopt for a brief period, always at 3 H o'clock In tho morning, when sho awakens. B stretches herself and then arises, cats a few IBSB wisps of hay and then goes to sleep again. BV 14 or rinllv ration Is two bales of hay. a peck HHH of oats and about forty gallons of water. H JuBt at this tlmo of tho year her coat Is very H rough, for In tho spring sho always sheds her IHAVJ VBVJ Now, although she is a. hugo animal, and Is 33 H years old, she is not full grown. Tho avorago H llfo of an elophant Is said to be 150 years, and HAVJ Miss Jim's trainer will tell you that ovon after they are CO years old they will continue grow- ing, not eo rapidly, of course, as in the first RAVI few years, but taking on a fow more inches BVAb every ten or fifteen years while their bodies nM l out-and thoy become .much heavier, , VAVJ .bhhhhhj |