Elephant Wisdom.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 430, 21 December 1889, Page 5

Elephant Wisdom.

A wkitkr in { Murray's Magazine ' eulogise 3 the intelligence and amiability of the elephant, which, lie says, has a heart, though the way to that organ may be through the stomach, and its affection dependent on ofi'orings of oranges, pineapple i rinds, and other refuse of fruit. An elephant employed in Ceylon, in building a huge stone dam, to close up a river and thus form a lake, was one of the sights of the place. He tir.st of all drew from the quany the huge stone that was to be used ; he then undid the chain by which he had drawn it. He next proceeded to roll it with his forehead along the narrow stone wall, or embankment, until he fitted it exactly iuto its place. On the one side of this wall was a preci- ! pice, on the other a deep lave. As the stone \va3 pushed by his forehead, it would at one time incline to the lake, at another over the precipice, but he immediately made it straight again with his foot. He was doing the work of ten men, and with the acciuacy of a skilled mason. One day, when he was at work, a bystander asked if ho would take up a large sledge-hammer, lying on the ground, and break an enormous rock close to ic. The otticer in charge of the work said this was asking too much, but the Mahout who heard the conversation leplied, giavely : • Bombeva can and will do everything he is asked.' Ho then said someching to the elephant, who took up the sledge as if it weie a feather, and knocked the stone to pieces. ' Now take your pipe and smoke it,' said the Mahout, upon which the animal stuck the eledge in his mouth, and walked oft with it. Another elephant, also employed in mo\ing stones, perfoimed, o£ his own accoid, a most intelligent act. He was carrying a large and heavy stone down a steep declivity, and as tbo chain was some what long, the stone struck lepeatedly against his knees. He stopped, made what the sailors call a bight of the chain, and, having thus shortened it, carried the stone to its dt&tination without fuither discomf 01 b.

M>ss Nellie Fan en bays: — " Whab do I think of ladies smoking ? Why, I think it's simply beastly. I can't think how they do it. if I had had time I would have written to the paper and ?aid so. What ds women want with tobacco? They talk about it being necessary to women who work with their heads, bub that's all nonsense. They doit because they think ib attracts men. Well, they're welcome to the men it attracts. I don't want 'em. I've worked as hard as any woman, head and body, and I never wanted it. The only time I ever smoked vi as because 1 had to in my stage business, [twas in a piece called 'Our Oleiks,' in which I played with Mr Toole years ago. Mr Toole had to play at being ill, and everybody &aid how wonderfully clever ib was. It they'd known how I had to play at being well, with that horrible oigar in my mouth, they'd have thought it a good deal cleverei'i Oh, what I suffered ! I have never smoked off the stage — not even a whiff of anything. Idon'b mind men smoking. It looks natural in then), and they seem to like it, though how they can is a mystery to me. For women to smoke is simply disgusting." One of the latest manifestations of the spirit which may be said to be the soul of the Eastern difficulty is the promulgation of what are called " Russia's Ten Commandments." These commandments, printed on small leaflets, are being largely circulated throughout the BaU an States, "and, indeed, all over South-eastern Europe. They consist of a series of propositions, and givo a comprehenshe summary of what may be called Pan-Slavic ideas and designs. They are as follows :: — '• First, Russia will no longer allow the Catholic propaganda carried on in the Balkan Peninsula by Austria ; second, Russia will annex the so-called .Russian Galicia ; third, Transylvania and somedisbricts in Southern Hungary, and Bukowina will be given to Itoumania ; fourth, Bosnia, Slayonia, and some Hungarian districts will go to Servia; iifth, the Itoumanians shall replace their present Protestant dynasty by an oithodox one ; sixth, the Servian throne shall be offered bo Prince Nicholas of Montenegro ; soventh, the armies of Greece, Sow a, Roumania, and Bulgaria shall swear allegiance to the Czar ; eighth, all orthodox churches to be subordinated to the Russian Church ; ninth, Catholics and Protestants to be expelled from all the Balkan countries; tenth, the Bulgarian Churcb to be united with the Greek Church."