AND THE PARROT DIED.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 387, 8 October 1903, Page 6

AND THE PARROT DIED.

j «t».Ob«tlm*te Bird "«"■■ Toa Good •*?rV V - Talker at the Ww»»ST Tim*. - /;

wooH have.a pet. They hJ utjable-'takeep a dog or-a cati cJ»ei.2hbors fed thV<fog poisoned meat 4 * and "the cat died' of The house ws« sort of lonesome without a pet of some kind, there being no children, so when she saw fht swarthy son of Italy going down the •tfeet with parrots perched all or«r him she went oufc to investigate.] Young as they wce«, they seemed to be good conversationalists, and she determined to invest in a parrot, says the Detroit Free Press.

"It'll be good company for me when Charley is at the office," she mentally observed, "and, besides, I may '!)« able to teach it to salute him when he neglects to come home at a seasonable hoar, as he occasionally does. The parrot may be the, means of 'curing him of the habit. Happy thought!" She had little difficulty in selecting • suitable bird, with the aid of the glib-tongued vendor. "Precta Polla," said he. "Gooda talk. No swear—no teacha him swear. Sella di parrot fiva dollaire. Say all gooda word."

The parrot seencd to talk intelligently enough, and the bargain was struck and the bird given conspicuous place in the parlor. After the vendor had gone, the lady thought she-would indulge in a little experimental conversation with her new pet. She started off with the customary salutation. "Polly want a cracker?" said sho. in a high treble. Polly looked at her in a puzzled way, but never uttered a word. Again and again she tried to lead the parrot into conversation, but the ijTvrn-fcaihf'red guvst pcrststriitly refused to respond t-o all qu.-ytions. The tn.u'.ile was made clear within a few days when a newspaper item stated that the police were warning people against a ps chllrr of parrots who made thein appear to talk through the. art of ventriloquism. The lady felt humiliated and indignant, but she did not despair. Polly was a young parrot, and, being a female, would no doubt learn to talk in time.

One morning recently Charley came home as the chanticleers were heralding the approach of dawn. He had quietly removed his shoes ai 1 resorted to the usual strategic inovetnents in the hope of getting into bed without arousing anyone, when he unfortunately stumbled over tomethihg. It proved to be Polly's cage, which her mistress had neglected- to hang up for the night. And ■uch an uproar! Polly had found her voice at last. She squawked and ehattered like a disturbed barnyard, and Charley w*« caught like a rat in s trap. But Polly'* auccess as a husband reformer wu abort-lived. The other morning she w»» found crtfd and stiff in death. PoH/a mistress had her suspicions, and «he had almost determined upon • post-mortem for evidences of poison when some one spirited poor Polly's corpse away. Now Charley rest* pnder a terrible cloud of suspicion.

Orgsa aclmdar'a Woes.

The street organ grinder is a sad and diicontented man, and spends part of his transplanted Italian life : swearing gently and melodiously to himself at his new enemy, the fly screen man. To the layman it would "appear that spring ought to be 'synonymous with prosperity and pennies to the organ grinder, but it is not. "Business is getting good now?" was asked of on* who' has a whole fleet of "rag timers'* oat in the residence districts. His description of the of trad* is not fit for literal reproduction in a family newspaper, Hoiit in effect it was that the modern fly-screen is a delusion and a snare. The women, in particular, he declared, would sit behind a fly screen bfside an open window, listen to all tiae pieces th* organ contained, and tfcn quietly retire without the organ man even getting a glimpse of her. days before fly screens were 'tovented it was no trouble to toss a out of the open window, and if window waa closed few-women aIHWi. the effrontery to open it and then fail to contribute to til* musician.—Chicago Tribune.