A Mischievous Parrot That Doomed a Young Girl to be an Old Maid.
    And so you never heard why Miss Elden killed the parrot? said the kindly old lady to a reporter. Well, I,ll tell you.
    Miss Elden’s father, you know, had been a seafaring man. He was a big man, had a hot temper that he never curbed, and a voice like a fog horn. He was not choice of his language and seemed to care little for anything in existence except his daughter and a parrot with a temper like his own, which he brought with him from the east. That bird seemed to have human intelligence. It not only picked up sentences with the ease of most children, but uttered them in the tones of those from whom they had been learned. It could imitate them all.
    As a young girl Miss Elden was very pretty, though a little self-willed and haughty. Because of these qualities and because the captain thought no one was good enough for her, none of the young men found things very comfortable for them at her home. The captain thought nothing of making them get out and stay out. At length she rebelled against this way of treating her beau, for her chances of marrying were dwindling. In the city she had met a very desirable gentleman and they were so congenial that he came out here to spend a few days so as to be near her. He went to the house with some fear, for the captain had a repution. They were scarcely seated on the veranda when that bird roared; “Get out of here, you scoundrel, or I’ll break every bone in your body.” The youth never waited for his hat and before morning was out of town. She promply wrung the bird’s neck, but that was her last beau.
Post a Comment