A butterfly with spangles gay,
Met a bumble bee, one day,
Where the sunshine warmly lay
Turning clover into hay.
“Hark!” said lovely Shining Wings,
“Hear how loud that blackbird sings!
Don’t you think the summer brings
Just the brightest, sweetest things?
“See the color of the sky;
See the clouds that sail so high;
See the milkweed floating by”—
Said the dainty butterfly.
“Smell the clover blossoms there,
Scenting all the summer air;
Nothing half so sweet or fair,
As this meadow, anywhere!”
Bumble jerked his little head,
Then he rather crossly said:
“Well, I like the clover red,
Not for perfume, but for bread!
“All the world knows that a bee
Much too busy is to see
Beauty merely. All that he
Cares for is utility.”
Shining Wings then made reply:
“Though I’m but a butterfly,
Beauty’s faithful lover I,
And without it fain to die.
“Life itself is naught, poor bee,
If it’s but utility;
Sure am I ’twas meant that we
Should the beauty, also, see;
“Else there were no summer sky,
Nor the clouds to sail on high;
Else no milkweed floating by,
Nor spangles for the butterfly!”
Angry Bumble flew away,
Leaving Shining Wings to stay
Where the sunshine warmly lay,
Turning clover into hay.
Sarah E. Sprague.
[Illustration: INDIAN OR ASIATIC ELEPHANT.
(Elephas asiaticus.)]
THE INDIAN ELEPHANT.
(_Elephas indicus._)
The Indian Elephant (_Elephas indicus_) inhabits the wooded parts of
Southern Asia from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean, and is found
throughout Burmah, Siam and the Malay Peninsula. It differs from the
African Elephant in having much smaller ears, a concave instead of
convex forehead, smaller tusks, and in the possession of a finger on the
end of the proboscis which, working against a tubercle on the lower part
of the trunk, serves many of the purposes of the human hand.
The proboscis, which is an extension and enlargement of the nose and
upper lip, is composed of as many as forty thousand interlacing muscles,
and is capable of the most delicate and varied manipulation. At times it
is used to strip twigs and leaves from overhanging trees, or again to
uproot bamboo shoots or to pluck grass and plants from the ground,
carrying all to the ever-grinding jaws behind. By sucking it full of
water the Elephant may give himself a shower bath or squirt water into
his mouth or even over people who offend him.
The presence of the trunk and tusks has greatly modified the cranium of
the Elephant. Although a very intelligent animal, his brain is
relatively small in proportion to his immense size. The great, rounded
humps which crown an Elephant’s head are composed of bony air cells, and
their function is to provide surface for the supporting muscles of the
trunk. So thick are these bony processes that they will stop a rifle
ball; and on the other hand Elephants have been shot through the skull
without the least injury to the brain.
The tusks, which are often lacking in Asiatic Elephants, especially in
the females, are the incisors of the upper jaw, grown straight out, and
serve primarily as weapons, although in domesticated animals they are
used to dig and lift and to carry heavy burdens. Besides these teeth the
Elephant has four large molars, two in each jaw, and he is able to chew
from four to eight hundred pounds of green fodder a day with them. In a
wild state the Elephants wander about in bands through the forests,
following their leader from feeding grounds to water, and concern
themselves largely with eating and drinking and escaping from their
enemies. The young weigh about two hundred pounds at birth, and attain
to over eight thousand pounds at thirty years, when they have reached
maturity. At sixty an Elephant is counted in his prime, and many live to
be a hundred or even a hundred and fifty years old. Eleven feet is the
extreme height of the Asiatic Elephant. His specific gravity is so great
that in swimming rivers his whole body disappears below the surface; but
this gives him no trouble, as he breathes by thrusting the tip of his
trunk above the water and can surge up enough to get one eye out when he
wishes to see where he is going.
The eyes are small and, probably on account of living in the forest so
much, they are not very sharp-sighted. This defect is counterbalanced by
very acute hearing and sense of smell. In browsing the Elephant is
probably guided altogether by touch and his sense of smell; and in a
dark forest even very sharp eyes are of little value either in selecting
food or detecting enemies, especially in an animal with so short and
heavy a neck.
The feet of an Elephant are great elastic cushions with which he passes
noiselessly through the jungles. When he chooses to stand still it is
almost impossible to distinguish his brown skin from the foliage with
which he is surrounded. But an animal as large and strong as the
Elephant does not need to conceal himself, except from man, his great
enemy, and when a troop of Elephants wish to pass from one place to
another they often charge through the jungles and forest, smashing down
trees and vines and leaving a broad trail behind them. When disturbed or
wounded by hunters they rush furiously through the thickets after their
tormentors, and if they fail to catch and crush them in the first charge
it has often happened that Elephants have returned and smelled them out
as a dog scents a rabbit.
On account of the slow growth of young Elephants it has been found more
satisfactory in India to catch wild Elephants than to breed them in
captivity and wait fifteen years for the young to reach maturity and
usefulness. The plan usually pursued is to build a huge corral in a
tract of forest where wild Elephants roam, usually across an Elephant
path. Where the path enters the corral a heavy gate is made and
suspended over the way, so that it can be instantly dropped and
fastened. Then, when a herd of wild Elephants wanders near enough to the
trap on the gate side an army of native beaters is hastily gathered and
the troop is surrounded on three sides. Each beater is provided with a
tom-tom or torch, and in the confusion of shouting and torch-waving the
whole herd is driven into the enclosure. At first they charge the
stockade wildly, and the natives rush from side to side, resisting their
attacks with fire and uproar. When at last they stand huddled together
in the middle of the enclosure tame Elephants are driven in and allowed
to mix freely with the wild ones. Cautiously they single out an
Elephant, surround him and hold him in place, while men called noosers
slip quietly down from the backs of the tame Elephants and fasten
strong, soft ropes about his feet, after which he is marched out of the
corral between two Elephants and tamed to work as they work, carrying
heavy loads, dragging and piling timber, or perhaps marching in the
splendid processions of Eastern kings.
Dane Coolidge.