CHAPTER VIII.. Jumbo’s Departure From England and Voyage to the United States.

JUMBO’S DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND AND VOYAGE TO THE UNITED STATES.

When the English public was informed of Jumbo’s intended departure loud protests were raised. The feeling was intense, and the people were so earnest and determined that Jumbo should not leave England, that a proposition was made to raise by subscription from the masses, a sufficient sum of money to buy him from the Zoölogical Society.

Elaborate preparations were made for Jumbo’s shipment. A large box, made of the strongest oak, and as big as a small house, was constructed for him, to be used from the Gardens until he arrived in the United States. It was furnished with every comfort that could appeal to Jumbo’s luxurious tastes.

Strange to say, “his majesty” did not seem to appreciate it, for when we invited him to enter he vigorously refused. We tried to get him in again and again during two days, and succeeded only on the third in doing so. We fastened him in securely, leaving only a space or hole in the top of the front, through which he could see and flourish his trunk.

In the dawn of a fine spring morning we started on our journey to the New World. The box was drawn by sixteen horses, and the weight was as much as they could draw. Thousands followed Jumbo to the river-bank, expressing their regrets at his departure. The grief of the children was really sorrowful.

At Gravesend Jumbo held a levee, and a very fashionable one too, for a distinguished company came on board the steamer to wish him bon voyage. Among the party were Miss Burdett-Coutts, and her present husband; also Mr. Henry Irving, the great actor, and several other wellknown ladies and gentlemen.

One poor old lady gave me several cakes and bottles of soda water to be given to Jumbo on the passage.

Jumbo was somewhat alarmed at first by the noise of the machinery and the rolling of the steamship; but I was always at his side, and managed to calm him so that he became quite a sailor when he got his sea legs on.

We arrived at last, and Jumbo seemed to be delighted. He trumpeted out his joy, as much as to say, “Ah! Mr. Scott, we are at last in the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave.’” When Jumbo’s house was hoisted on the dock ten horses were hitched to the car upon which it was placed. Then two of his brother elephants, called “pushers,” put their immense heads to the back of the house, and at a signal the horses commenced to draw and the elephants to push; and after an hour’s work we arrived at Madison Square Garden, where Jumbo was released from his narrow quarters, and seemed so joyful at his freedom that he twined his trunk around me in an ecstasy of delight.