L'ÉLÉPHANT

Thème.

There is no more useful animal in India than the éléphant. He can be trained to do the hard work of a laborer, and also take care of infants. He will carry heavy burdens, and will also take a baby out of its cradle and place it in the lap of its mother.

For travelling purposes the éléphant has no equal; thick woods, deep rivers, are no obstacles to him, and he is as obedient as any servant. At the order of his master he kneels down to allow the travellers to climb on his back, and his gait is quite rapid. He marches alone, seemingly unconscious of the load he has to carry, picking hère and there a bunch of grass, and eating ail the way without slackening his pace. If the journey is long, when the caravan stops for the night, the éléphants are unloaded and after being shackled they are allowed to roam around. At day break they promptly answer the call of their master and the journey is resumed. Unhappily, ivory dealers mercilessly hunt the poor animais, and it is to be feared that if a law is not enacted to protect them, they will soon be extinct. It is then only that people will

realize their great usefulness. Men are very thoughtless, and they very often destroy by their rapacity fortunes given to them by nature. They are like tlie Indian who eut down his apple-tree in order to hâve less trouble to get the fruit it bore.