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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 1904)
3S THE SUNDAY OREQ0NIAN, PORTLAND, , ATJGUS? 21, 190. SHORT HISTORY OF LITTLE JUMBO The Thrilling Adventures of an Elephant . as Told by Himself f M M M Chapter II. r HEN I was a year old I was about the size o a circus pony, though much heavier, and my mother no longer gave me any attention. Sometimes I -wandered through the forest In company with four or five other elephants, and sometimes we gathered In a herd number ing as high as" fifteen. It would have been a very lazy life in deed but for the dangers. Some days wo would travel 20 miles, feeding as we went, and again, when we had found a place to our liking, we would rest for a whole week. There were always many white hunters In the forest, and the natives were always planning how to trap us, and I had many a fright before my flr3t adventure came. One day, when the herd was resting in the forest where food was plentiful, and we had not been alarmed for several days, I started out by myself to get a drink at a pool about a mile away. Two male elephants were acting as guards of our herd, and had either one known of my purpose he would have called me back, but I sneaked away as a boy often does and It happened that no one missed me. This was the first time I had ever got away from the herd, and I felt quite proud as I wandered along the path. I reached the pool all right, but after I had quenched my thirst I did not turn and go back as I should have done. I stood there and sucked up water In my trunk and squirted it about, and I was having a happy time of it when all at once I ecented a lion. Before could turn to run way, the beast, who had crept up through the grass and bushes to within ten feet of me, was on my head. He was a full-grown lion, and the weight (of his body as he sprang almost tumbled me over. He began biting and clawing savagely, and the pain was something awful. I remember that my mother had told me to rush through the thick forest in case a lion eprang upon my head, and away I went. The limbs and bushes soon brushed the beast off, but he leaped upon me acain from behind. I dropped down and rolled over, hoping to crush him. but he was too quick for me. "When I scrambled up I found a second Hon ready to assist the first and then I trumpeted to the herd for help. Both beasts now attacked me, but while I fought them I heard my friends coming. The first to arrive was one of the bull elephants, and with his trunk be seized the Hon who was clawing and biting at my back and dashed him against a tree and broke every bone In his body. The other beast fled, and though the mm fiC BECAIf SITING AND (FLAWmG msmGEEY- elephants went crashing about and hunt ing for him for half an hour, he could not be found. My hide was yet tender, as I was only a little over a year old, and the lion had bitten and clawed me in a terrible way. I not only had that pain to endure, but one of the bull elephants gave mo a good mauling with his trunk as further pun ishment for my foolishness. When he had struck me a dozen hard blows, he ald: "You deserve to have your ribs broken for being so foolish. Have you not been told a hundred times never to wander away from the herd? Had we not been within all the Hons would have, finished you in ten mlnutea more. If you ever break the rule again we will beat you to death." I was then conducted to a spot beyond the pool, where the ground was very soft, and ordered to He down, that the cool mud might take the pain out of my hurts. It was two days before I got out of my muddy bed, and it was a full month be fore my wounds were healed. On my trunk today are two long scara made by the lion's claws. It was a good lesson to me; and one to last me a full year, and yet I did a moro foolish thing than that after a time. Some boys are prudent and careful. while others are heedless and headstrong and always getting Into trouble. It Is so with young elephants. I am sure I was one of the heedless sort, and even, now Pete often tells me that I get Into trouble because I am Inclined to rush Into things instead of stopping to think. The herd did, not move very far until I was nearly recovered, and then one morning we got a bad scare. It was an hour after daylight, but some of us had not yet risen to our feet after lying down foi the night, when there was a sudden yelling and shouting of natives close at hand. Guns were fired, bells rung and drums beaten, and In a minute we were all wild with fear all but "the oldest bull ele phant. He trumpeted for us to come to him, and 3s we gathered around him, he said: "There are white hunters In the open ground to the west of us. The natives are to the east, and they are making all this noise to drive us out where tho hunters can shoot us down. Now, then, I shall take the lead and break through the line of natives. You must follow me In single file. Do not stop for anything. If you can strike a man with your trunk as ypu pass along, do so. "We will break" through and gain the dense forest on top of the hill, and there we will be 6afe. All ready, now, and here we go!" We started with a rush, I being the very last one, and In my next chapter I will tell you of several things that hap pened, one, of which will be sure to make you laugh heartily. (To be continued.) , PUZZLE CORNER. Answer to Age Puzzle. (1) . Hom-age. (2) . Foil-age. (3) . Carrl-age. . , (4) . Assu-age. , (5) . Pres-age. (6) . For-age. (T). Bond-age. " . (8). Umbr-age. ' WITCH WHO WAS NOT THOROUGH " " ' How Other Magicians Fooled Her Into Riding a Broomstick Answer to Curtailed Words. (1) . Lad-y. " (2) . Cub-a. (3.) Qult-o. (4) . Borne-o. (5) . Tour-a. (0). Wonn-g. The Very Hard Search for Fleeting Content Allegory of the Seventh Son of a Billionairer NCE upon a time there was a seven- times billionaire, who had six sons. After he had educated them for their high stations in life and given them all the money they could desire, he wished for a. seventh son, because, as he said, "I have seven billions of dollars. and it Is highly appropriate that I should have seven 'sons." One day as he sat in his office watch ing his clerks carrying money around in bushel baskets, his telephone bell rang, and when he asked "Who is it?" in the unkind voice which everybody uses when talking into a telephone, a silvery voice answered: "A. fairy!" "Nonsense!" answered the seven-times billionaire, angrily. "No, Indeed," said the silvery voice. "Go right home and you will find that you. have a seventh son. It Is my gift." The seven-times billionaire immediately hurried home in Ills brass and aluminum automobile', and, sure enough, there was a pretty little blue-eyed son, and every body in the house congratulated him. When the day for the christening ar rived a great company had gathered from far and near. It was a carefully selected company, great as it was. Nobody of a rank less than that of Captain of Indus try was there, and most of them were Brigadier-Generals, and even Major-Gen-erals. Away in front in the best seats sat all the Kings from Chicago and New York and Philadelphia and everywhere else. Everybody had a present for the seventh eon. The Diamond King had a valise full of diamonds of the first quality. The sec retary of the Ink King presented a pink catfn basket full of golden Inkstands. The Candy King had sent a special train with a special locomotive full of the best mixed candy for him. Even the Watermelon King was there, and he brought a deed of gift for all the melons that the seventh son could eat In one day. Just as the dignified joy was at its solemnest height, the footman announced seven strange and uninvited guests, who would not send their names in. They were a strange company of guests, Indeed. Five of them were beautiful as the morning, with garments so rich that even the Bessemer Queen herself couldn't compare with them. But the other two were quite different. One of them was a gnarled, brown-'faced, brown-listed old man with a wooden leg, and the other was an old, wrinkled woman dressed in a, plain cotton gown. "We have come to bring your son pres ents," said the most beautiful one of all. "I am Luxury. If you will let me touch his forehead he will never be without me." "And I am Health," said the tallest. "If you will let me kiss him, he will grow up strong and no ills can touch him." "Come in, come in," said the delighted" seven times billionaire. And he rubbed his hands as the third one advanced and said, "I am Wealth. Let me touch his eyes." And the fourth one said, "If I touch his cheek he will be beautiful. For I am Beauty." The fifth one was Success, and again the seven times bil lionaire bowed Joyously and Invited them in. - "But who are your companions? salcf he, looking superciliously at the old woman and the man with the wooden leg. "They must speak for themselves," said the five beauties, sweeping through the portals, "and you must decide for your self." "I am Content," said the old woman, bowing humbly. "And this is my brother Work." "I like your Impudence," said the seven times billionaire. "What usg do you sup pose the seventh son of a seven times billionaire is ever going, to have for your miserable gifts? If you were not so ut terly unpresentable I would let you take a peep at tho presents that have been brought for him, so that you might learn something. As it If, my footmen will show you the door." "Very well," said Content, "but remem ber that I call on mankind only once. i y .. . ...f I . I 1L 1 "Woul J ryku -rather liear. Sea-Lion IiowJino, zl v ii oi .i , UmrA - N&rgmtL.WilUte, After that he who wishes for me must hunt far and wide and may still fall to discover me." So saying, Work and Content went down the marble steps, while Beauty, Health, Success, Wealth and Luxury gave their gifts to the seventh son and ex changed elegant and high-class compli ments with the Kings and Generals and Captains. The seventh son grew up tall and strong and handsome. It was easy to see that the fairy gifts were his, for whatever he did was successful. When his father died and left him his wealth it grew in his hands without a single effort from him. He built himself palaces in every place that pleased his fancy and surrounded himself with all that he wished, and still his riches were greater every day. But by the time he was 25 years old he began to wish for something. At first he did not even know that It was a wish. He knew only that something troubled him, and as he had never fell trouble before it made him most unhappy. He thought that perhaps he was ill, so he sent for the family physician, who, of course, was the greatest physician in the country. The great physician prodded him re spectfully, tapped his chest with, solici tude, and listened to his heart solemnly. "You are sound as a bell," said he at last. "I will give you a little something for your liver, and we'll see how that will make you feel." The seventh son took the little some thing for his -liver, but it didn't make him feel a bit happier.- So he discharged his cook and hired the one who had been cooking for the Czar ot Russia. But it made no difference Then all at once, one day. he discovered what was the matter with him was that he was wishing for something. But he didn't know what it was, and no matter how hard he thought he couldn't even guess. So. having tried physicians and secre taries and cooks in vain, he sought out the old professor who had taught him in college. The old man listened, nodding his white head at intervals. When the seventh son had finished his story tie said: "My son, you have wealth and health and all else that heart can desire except one thing. And that one thing is some thing that no money can purchase. It is content. "Is that all?" thought the seventh son to himself. "Well. I guess I can find that" So he lumped Into his swiftest steam yacht and sped away out on the flashing- sea, beyond the purple capes, toward the rim of the world. There, swinging up and down, up and down In the great rollers were the fishing smacks. The men in them had faces cut by the wind and hands made sore by the brine, and they never knew when they went out If they should see land and heme again. But they were laughing and singing while they swung, and as the shining wet fish came over the sides they ap peared happier than the seventh son had been in many long days. "I am looking for Content," he cried to them. "Surely she Is with you." The fishermen looked at the gleaming. stately white yacht and ceased their sing ing. They looked at the luxury of cab ins and decks and ceased their laughing. Then they stared at him while, the eldest fisherman answered bitterly: "What! Do you expect men to be con tented when they must wrest poor wages as we do from the sea, while others, like you, speed over it as a pleasure ground?" The seventh son sighed and turned hJs prow homeward. He jumped into his swiftest automobile and drove It criss cross over the land. He went so .fast that the burgomasters of 17 towns met In conclave with the common councils of 14 others anl passed laws against him. Fast as he sped he could never over take Content. He stopped at palaces and said, "Surely she Is here." But the own ers always answered, "We cannot be con tent till we are as rich as you." He heard a ploughman singing as he went along the furrows. But when he stopped to ask him if he knew Content, the song was hushed and the ploughman said, "I thought I did, but now I know that I am a miserable wretch who Is destined to drive the heavy plow while luckier people dash through the world in idleness." The seventh son saw a mother petting her three children. And she looked so happy as she gazed at them that he said to himself, "Surely Content dwells here." But when he, approached and the moth er saw his elegance, she sighed and said, Alas, poor ' folk have no business to have children." He found a mountaineer who sat on a rock gazing over the world with such placid eyes that the seventh son felt cer tain that his quest had ended at last. "Content is with you, is she not?" he asked. The mountaineer looked at him cheer fully and said, "Yes." But the next in stant he-rubbed his hands over his brow and added, "At least she would be if I did not know that the riches of the world are so unequally distributed." When he left the mountaineer he came to a tramp dirty and foul lylnsr . half asleep In the sun by the side of the road. And when he asked him the question, the tramp answered, "Yes, I am content." The seventh son shuddered and fled. "If there Is where Content dwells," said he, "I want none of her." But ho couldn't get over wishing for ner for all that. So he jumped- into his swiftest special train, but the train was not swift enough to catch her. "You must make me a swifter .loco motive," he cried to hl3 locomotive builders and engineers. ) They built him the swiftest engine that had ever been made, but still It was not swift enough. "I see," said the seventh son angrily, "that I shall have to build one myself," Immediatley he sat down at a desk and began to draw plans. And after, the plans were finished he carried them to his machine shops himself to explain them to the workmen. Day after day he went to the noisy, hot. dirty shops, and before long he was so interested that he put on overalls every day and worked over forges and lathes till he was ready to drop with fatigue But he was too proud to let the workmen see It. and so he labored as long and hard as that every day. "You are getting to be as skillful as any locomotive-builder In the place," said the old, one-legged foreman to him one day It made him feel prouder than he had ever felt before In his life. . At last the wonderful new locomotive was finished. Shining and immense, full of vast power, she stood in the round house. Grouped about her were experts from everywhere, who talked learnedly about economy of combustion and feed and speed centers. But the seventh son, standing by the side of the old foreman, looked at the locomotive and thought: "How very strange! Now that I have built a loco motive fast enough to find Content I do not -seem to be anxious for her at all. The old man and he climbed into the cab of the great locomotive and she slipped softly out of the yard and into the open country. Her mighty wheels went around as If they were running on velvet. She took the switches like a vaulting horse. Sitting close to the old foreman, the sev enth son told him why he had built her; "But," said he, "now that she Is fin ished, strange to say, I do not feel at all anxious to pursue Content." The old foreman smiled. "That Is be cause you have foundMier," said he. "I do believe you are right," said the seventh son, clapping his hands. "But how and where? I have been so busy over this locomotive for the past half year that 1 have had no time to look for her." "I will tell you," said the old man, "as soon as we have taken on water here." The locomotive stopped at a little way station In a ravine. While she was drinking, the seventh son looked out and, lying by the side of the track, asleep In filth, lay the same tramp whom he had seen once before. He said to the old foreman, "That tramp there once told me that he knew Con tent," ! "That creature?" said the old man con temptuously. "He- never saw Content. He knows only Non-Ambition, a low cheat who masquerades as Content, but can de ceive only lazy persons." "How did I find Content?" asked the seventh son. "Look at me!" said the old man. The seventh son looked and saw, as he had often seen before, a gnarled, brown-faced, brown-fisted old man with a wooden leg; but he noticed, as he had not noticed be fore, that the very spirit of calmness and strength and certainty seemed to shine from the simple figure. "I called to bring you a gift," said the old man, "when you were born; but your father refused It. Now you have won It for yourslf, and through It you have found what you have been seeking. I am work, and only those who first find me can find Content.' JULIUS MULLER. ' . r-tv. -O.! 3 . ( 4 A PRETTY PEASANT GHtXi LIFTED HER HEAD. A Jingle From Jong. A person who lived In Thibet Said: "This Is exciting, you bet! . Things are at a fine pasa! A Crowd's going to IHassa. And. I guess our Grand Lama must get!' And the British replied, glad and j;ay, "Your Lama we'll lam if he'll stay." N the Black Forest there once lived an old witch who was so ugly that most, persons who caught a glimpse of her asserted that she was, without doubt, the worst witch of them all. But this was not strictly correct. Her Intentions were wicked enough for any dozen witches; but she had never been thorough in anything, and It was the same way with the witch business. So, although she was a graduate from-the Witch Academy with honors and pos sessed a huge sowskln diploma on which was written in the best blood that she was a Bachelor of Arts In Witchcraft, she really did not know the trade. Almost all her charms went wrong. Once she tried to transform a stingy peasant into a pair of boots, and instead she changed him into only one boot, which was of no use to anybody. Another time she waved her magic wand over an old hut and ordered It to become a cavern. But it transfromed Itself into a pretty cot tage, and the old" woman who lived in it was so delighted that it made all the witches ill to hear her talk. Of course old Thunderblunder. which was the old witch's name, would have loved dearly to tinker with her spells when they went wrong, but she couldn t. Old Inkyink. the president of the Board of Magicians, who held a patent on all charms, had decreed that there must not be any second attempts at any one charm. He explained this order by saying that it every witch were to tinker at her magic no work would ever be finished; and be sides, he thought that' a witch ought to know her business well enough to make a success out of the first attempt. Consequently poor old Thunderblunder could not correct her errors, and before long the country around the Black For est was full of Imperfect enchantment- There was a cow that gave the finest vanilla Ice cream, much- to the delight of thev children of the village. Old Thunderblunder hated her owner because he had walked through a new ball-gown of cobwebs that she was spinning In tho moonlight one night. So she tried to put the evil eye on the cow, but her charm went wrong as usual, and Instead of giving curdled milk she made her owner rich. In the nearest town there- was a phy sician whom she trled once to change Into a duck. But she hadn't changed him at all except that sometimes at un expected moments tie would suddenly say "Quack! quack!" The physician should have been glad enough to escape so easily. But he wasn't. He had himself operated on and took medicines by the gallon. And of course old Thunderblunder was morti fied beyond words because shej hadn't changed him into a green-winged duck with a red head and a yellow bill. So no body was happy over the matter. The other sorcers and magicians were ashamed, too, because they said that mistakes of this kind served to discredit the whole profession, and they even talked pf forming a union, to be known as the Amalgamated Sorcerers and Witches, to punish members who made blunders. Inkyink, the Chief Magician, was the maddest of them all, for he knew that he was to blame In a measure because he had given Thunderblunder her di ploma. He used to shut his eyes when Ire went abroad so that he wouldn't have to see the half-baked enchantments that were to be found in every village. There was a dog that the old witch had tried to transform into a pig, and she had succeeded only in giving him the pig's twisted tall. His owner promptly started a new breed with him that became very pop ular with old ladles. That Is how tho pug dogs came into the world. Then there was a village drunkard whom she tried to change to a pump; but instead he remained a man, only he suddenly acquired such a wonderful thirst for water that he became strictly temperate, and finally he was elected Burgomaster and was pointed qut as a model citizen. The climax was reached when old Thunderblunder was offended by a goose-herd. She tried to change his biggest goose Into a Hon that would eat him up. The goose didn't change a bit, and old Thunderblunder went home so angry that she absolutely and truly ground her teeth until each one had a positive razor edge. About five minutes afterwards Inky ink and the Board of Magicians came along that way, and Instantly the goose rushed at them, seized Inkyink, bit him in a dozen places and dragged him Into a ditch. The Board of Managers tried to help him, and the goose turned on them, biting them in legs and arms and faces and driving them away in mad flight. Several of them left their magic wands in their hurry and the goose chewed them to pieces, so that they had to work nights to make new ones. Of course they soon found out what had happened. Old (Thunderblunder had failed to turn the goose Into a com- nlete Hon. but she had filled its breast with a lion's courage and given It a lion's strength. After that no magician dared to go along that road, for the goose seemed to be able to smell a sorcerer a mile away and would rush to catch him, although she did not harm other folk at all. When Inkyink got out of the hospital he called a council, and the assembled Board of Magicians decided to punish old Thunderblunder. Now. In the central part of the mathe matical middle of the Black Forest there was an enchanted triangle and In the middle of that was a magic circle. And in that magic circle, chained fast to blasted tree, with a chain made of three parts of lightning and two parts of mag netic iron, was a mad broomstick. All the arts of the best sorcerers had failed to break this broomstick to harness. It would kick and rear and plunge and bite as soon as anyone tried to ride on it. In a word, it was a bucking broncho of a broomstick the only one that ever was known, and no doubt there will never be another like it. The chief sorcerers felt so ashamed at being unable to tame it that they had kept it a secret. So none of the com mon witches knew anything about it. In an indigo midnight in the dark of the moon, when the north wind was blowing from the south, which only hap pens once in every 10,000 years, the broomstick used to grow tame . enough, to be led. And as this time -was just at hand, the Board of Magicians repaired to the place and each one mumbled a charm and seized the chain. The broom stick plunged and kicked, but allowed himself to be led out. When they got to the regular meeting place of the witches, the Board of Ma gicians hastily chained the broomstick fast to the council rock. And when Thundreblunder appeared, Inklnk made a speech complimenting tier on her talents, and said, in token of his esteem, he wisb-ed to present to her an Arabian broomstick of the purest blood. did Thunderblunder Immediately burned with" a desire to show off, and she leaped on the back of the mad broomstick. At the same instant the Board of Magicians oast off the chain, and the broomstick, with a yell of rage, shot up in the air, bucking like mad. It carried old Thunderblunder ud to the clouds and down again to the tree tops in one Jump. The next jump took them up to the clouds again, and when they were over a village the broomstick bucked in earnest, and down went the witch. There she lay. groaning and Iamentincr. for a dozen bones of assorted sizes had been broken inside of her and she felt as If she had appendicitis and measles and rheumatism combined, which Is pretty bad. A pretty peasant girl came along, lifted her head and gave her water. Then she took her home, where they nursed her till she began to feel better. Old Thunderblunder, ugly as she was. could not help but be melted by the kindness of the peasants. So she not only swore off from witchcraft, but told the good folk how they could drive away all the other wizards, such as nailing horseshoes over their doors, and all the other simple arts that the peasants of the whole world practice now. As a result, the witch business became so poor In Europe that many of the sorcerers went Into bankruptcy and some actually starved. The others became discouraged. One stormy night they packed their magic -potions on pack broomsticks and mounted their saddle broomsticks themselves, and they all emigrated to Thibet, where the British are after them now. And that's all. TREES THAT CAN'T BE KILLED Oar Own Poplars and Catalpas Ate Marvels. fEOPLE talk of the wonderful growth of the tropical jungle," said a traveler last week, "but they rarely think of the wonderful vitality and swift growth of our own domestic trees in this country. "There is the 'poplar, for instance. Rip branches from a tree, thrust them Into the ground without any care whatever, and inside of three months every one of these branches will have sent out a mass of roots and be de veloping fast Into a tree. "I have just passed through a thicket of poplars In New York State where trees of about 15 feet In height stood so close together that a man could barely push his way between them. They were all flourishing. healthy young trees with good thick trunks. I "To my surprise, I learned from my guide that this whole little grove had sprung up from branches stuck Into the ground after a windstorm had torn them from other trees along the road. "A still more wonderful tree Is the catalpa, known to most boys on ac count of its long bean, which some of them use for smoking after it is dry. The catalpa has such a remarkable vitality that even after a tree has been cut down and sawed into lengths the lengths have been known again and again to strike root and sprout and finally grow up into good trees. "I saw a fence in the Middle West that nnnslsted of a stcaieht row of beautiful catalpas, each them nearly 20 feet high. The row was so mathe matically straight that I wondered how- the trees had grown so, especially as the row was nearly half a mile long. So I rode over to them and discovered that barbed wire was stretched from tree to tree, evidently as a division fence. Later, I met the ownor of the land, and he explained to me how the trees had come to grow In so perfect a line. " 'About ten years ago,' said he, 'I wanted to raise a barb-wire fence along the line of my property to pre vent my cattle from straying. I went Into the woods and we chopped down a lot of small catalpas, about sapling size. We chopped the roots off, leav ing a pointed end at the base, and sawed the crowns off clean, thus mak ing stakes about eight feet long. These we drove into the ground in the row that you saw, and attached our barb wire to them. Inside of six months every stake had begun to sprout, and since then the fence stakes have grown into trees.' " --A Mix-Up Song. Bill Roberts to get down his wait Thought that he ought to strike a gate; So ev'ry morning he would flea Along the streets fast as could bee. "Hurrah!" the neighbors cried, "itt'a, grate To see him run so swift and strait!" But he replied: "I cannot weight Because I still have too much wait!" He ran until he got a pane. And then he said: It's all in vane That I should etrlve and try like that! I see I can't try out my fat! Mary's Belongings. Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. Mary had a little lamb. All fricaseed with peas. Then a little lobster salad And some energetic cheeae; A quart of hock to wash It down. A taste of mountain dew , All these our little- Mary had. And a little coffln. too. Wasn't YY. Indianapolis Sentinel. A maiden who monkeyed with BB While out In the yard picking PP. Felt the place on her head Where they stung her. an-said. "G! Don't they bite hard when U TT?" Little Willie Say. pa. what's the good of war. anyway? Pa It takes a lot of brass bands to the front, my son. Chicago Dally News. . . THE ARITHMETICAL, PICTURE PUZZLE HOW MANY APPLES ARE IN THE BASKET? The question asked by this picture puzzle Is: How many apples are in tho basket? Now the picture above the basket of apples answers the question with matho matical exactness. If you will read each pictorial Item correctly and apply the plus and minus signs properly, the answer will be plain.
