Did you ever hear of a mother having a 200 pound baby? If you read the title of this column, you would not say: “preposterous”; rather, you would reply: “of course, an elephant.” I don’t know how I became so enamored with elephants. Could it have been the 2,000 word senior theme I wrote in high school, at which time I selected Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus (Ringling Brothers)? Imagine 2,000 words! Many times just two of my columns amount to more than 2,000 words. I must say, we had to use umpteen sources (obviously no Web sites in those days) and cite each source as well as take notes on three by five cards from each source. Of course then you had to type the theme on a manual typewriter (actually, my mother typed mine and two years later I typed Barb’s).
Possibly my fondness of elephants started around 1979 when we took our first son to see Ringling Brothers circus in Philadelphia. In any case, I think the mammoth pachyderm with the ivory tusks (not the female Asian elephant) and the proboscis (trunk), used for feeding and drinking, etc. is a grandiose creature made by God.
Several years ago, I started to collect elephants. Some of them were rather small and I would buy many of them at a time because I gave them away to children. I have even given them away to people in their seventies to their nineties. When I gave them away, I explained to the recipient that I liked them because elephants are known to have good memories but nothing like the perfect memory of God who sent his son, Jesus Christ, to earth to die for our sins. The only thing we have to do is believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. There was no other way to enter heaven. I gave dozens of elephants away. Unfortunately, the manufacturer must have gotten wise to me because over the years the price of the elephants has almost tripled. These elephants have been among my favorites because I gave them away.
There are other elephants that have special meaning to me: One is Emily, the 12 pound one (my smallest elephant is an ounce or two) that was given to me by members of my family (I’ve used her in Vacation Bible School with preschoolers).
Unfortunately, during one of her introductions, part of one tusk was broken off. I have often wondered why it hasn’t grown back. One source I checked: (http://www.answers.com/Q/Do_elephant_tusks_grow_back_after_being_cut_off?#slide=6) indicated that technically, tusks do continue to grow because some elephants need to have their tusks filed down they get so long. However, this method can’t be used for controlled tusk harvesting because they grow so slowly.
Other favorites include a mother and baby on a platform, at work hauling timber. These two elephants were purchased in India years ago by a missionary, who in recent years gave them to me. Another gifted elephant was made in Vietnam, which a high school friend purchased for me while doing business there in recent years.
There is also Gertrude (Gerty to her friends).Gerty is a drawing of an elephant that measures four feet by three feet that hangs on one of our walls. She came from a furniture store. I really wanted her but her price was too exorbitant. Every so often I would stop in the store to see if they had lowered her price. I even went to the salespeople and gave them my name and phone number to call me if Gerty ever went on sale. I told them that one day Gerty would be mine. Then the day came! In passing Gerty’s store, they had a Going Out of Business sign on it. Barb and I discussed our strategy before entering the store. It was a “good cop, bad cop” scenario. I took the salesman back to where Gerty was living and told him the story of how Gerty and I had become friends. Barb (the bad cop) sat in a chair, while I (the good cop), told him how Barb controlled the purse strings and she wouldn’t allow me to pay any more than so much. Barb can look pretty stern when she wants to! The salesman looked at her stern face as she nodded her approval of what I said and he gave in at the price I had suggested. Gerty found a wonderful home and we don’t have to shell out vast sums of money for her upkeep.
Finally, there is a family of six elephants on a base that Barb gave me a year ago for my birthday. They are peacefully marching along to their next feeding ground.
Why all this attention to elephants at this time? Easy to answer: My next column will be a review of the book “The Elephant Keeper” by Christopher Nicholson.
Jeff Hall, of Honey Brook, contributes columns to Berks-Mont Newspapers. Questions/commentsmay be directed to jeffreyhall77@comcast.net
