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THE MAMMOTH 



" His legs were as thick as the bole of the beech, 

 His tusks as the buttonwood white, 

 While his lithe trunk wound like a sapling around 

 An oak in the whirltvind's might." 



In the October number of McClure's Magazine for 1899 

 was published a short story, " The Killing of the Mammoth," 

 by " H. Tukeman," which, to the amazement of the editors, was 

 taken by many readers not as fiction, but as a contribution to 

 natural history. Immediately after the appearance of that 

 number of the magazine, the authorities of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, in which the author had located the remains of the 

 beast of his fancy, were beset nnth visitors to see the stuffed 

 mammoth, and the daily mail of the Magazine, as fvell as that 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, was filled with inquiries for 

 more infonnation and for requests to settle wagers as to whether 

 it was a true story or not. The contribution in question was 

 printed purely as fiction, with no idea of misleading the public, 

 and was entitled a story in the table of contents. We doubt if 

 any writer of realistic fiction ever had a more general and con- 

 vincing proof of success. 



About three centuries ago, in 1696, a Russian, 

 one Ludloff by name, described some bones 



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