The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-10-12
BUY PRETTY POLLY!

,
less professions of reeling, rocking. rolling
wagons, piled high and heavy as if with the
wealth of half a worldf Do yon know their
pavements, down which the ii 10 of life flows
so strangely mingled; where men of all ma
tions meet face to face: where the returned
convict jostles the merchant prince, and
tawdriness and rags fiutter with the gay dress
of the merchants wife and daughters Z viii
the women of the wealthy classes in our over
grown manufacturing towns ever find out by
the by, how much better simple style OF
dress, and sober coiors, would suit dimgy
streets and tall chimneys? At present, it
seems to be the rule, that the more smoky u
town, the more conspicuous the ladies Will
make their outdoor toilet.
These remarks Mrs. B. and were excisaug-
.ng, so.to race, in respect of be-y OF fair Ian
oastrians in snowy DRESSES, pink bonnets aud
light gloves, who, like ourselves. were wait
ing at the top of of the prin cipal streets III
Liverpool for the chance of Il safe crossing,
when the request W Iiich heads this paper
Buy Pretty Polly i--screamed cut close be-
hind us, put an end TO our CRITICISMS. 1t came
from the beak OF gray parrot in n cage over
Il ashop-door-much ch like a little Did man with Il
whitish head and gray sd ii II double and Just
reminded my wife that ssie had al ways wished
for n parrot-that had promised to buy one,
which l didn't at all remember--that there
wasn't "a better place for the purchase than
Liverpool, and weren't we leaving O-day,
and might never be tlxkTe ag:tin---facts not In
my power TO etinsa aaf1e sspshot was, that
we found ourselves III the shop the neSt min
ute. The place looked more like warehouse
than Il shop: IL was llnea with cages from the
ceiling TO the tioor--a complete Noah's ark of
feathered fowl. Nobody seemed 20 be gurrd-
ing them, and for some minutes stood
watching the Gagged crowd within, sereeoLiGg,
Whistiing, huttering, singing, i'll curious con-
trast, and yet not without u certain likeness
to the peramb'IlatiHg crowd without Here,
too, was u babel of notes and voices; here WAS
the strut, the sgagger here were beaks like
hooked noses, both owned by birds of prey:
hard, cruel eyes--eyeS yindictiye, M meiuncholy,
bright, restless, treacheFous, suspicious, shy.
Furry owls blnked out from one corner with
the air OF we'll do fathers OF families; aud
you might have sworn the monkeys, psering
through their cages on the ground, were own
cousins to the street boys.
Some had ragged suits fowls roughly used
by the world others wore respectable black
brown, gray, like their fellow creatures
without; and how that scarlet niacaw, ard
those lories, put to shame the finest feathers
OF the finest birds outside The longer l
looked at the feakered people round me, the
stronger the likeness grew to my own sDccies;
and don't know what point it would have
reached, il the master of the shop had not
started up from somewiele-a little dry OH
man. with q bright eye and iiu3fy yellow hair,
standing neatly upright, own brother he
looked TO the cociiatoo winiEing on its perch
tehind him. Our negotiations, which had to
be carried on at the extreme top oil our voices
and ekcd out by dumb show, SO deatenlng was
the din about us, enued in the old man oiIer-
ing me my choice among fifty young parrots
for a sovereign. picked out the youngest OF
them, q shy, quiet bird, not fully iiedged aud
about six months old. Just the Old man
was putting it into the travelling cage said
in Il tone meant to be highly impressive -
"N0W, mind, you warrant that bird free from
all detects; and IL he dies as soon as we get
him home, l shall look TO you to make il
good"
II dunno about. that replied the seller,
cycling Inc over his shoulder more like q
cock2too than ever. ''fe look healthy, and
t1th sa, u
ve may be gone tomorrow, and SO may She
We nun all go, men and birds. Ma, don't
promise to ma ne her good
What could mortal mar find 10 say against
this rejoindert 2 not made impertinently or
doggedly, bet simply, as il it were the most
natural thing to say. L retreated somewhat
discomfitati, and felt more than usually dis
posed to buy insurance tickets when we got
TO the Lime Street Stftion that morning
had sundry good reasons for not choosing
our acquaintance al the hop door: first in
consideration OF many plishments, his
price was five pounds second, l had a curios-
ity watch young bird grow un to full
grown parrots estate under nay own eve ::
and lastly, that highly educated fowl 1night
very likely have some words in his vocabu-
larry which Mrs Il. would not like to listen
to. That such things have been we could both
bear witness. Though the thing took ,jlacs
years ago, yet could anybody who Was pre-
sent at that continuation luncheon at Wat
erWc1d SiCaTage, forget what haDuanet. tbenp
Our vicar, the Rev. Arthur Simpson had not
long been transferred from a curacy to Water
wold, and his wife, who, with a large family
and small means, had not often played the
hostess, ttlt this en- ter taiDmeHt, to which a
numb ber of guests were to be asked to meet
the bishop, very nervous affair In her per-
ple1ity, Mrs. Simpson Consulted Mrs b.,
who prides herself on being au fait in such i'm
portint matters. Ie Gods, what solemn dis
cussionS went on between those two ladies
about the game, and the fowls, and the wait
inS, and the creams, for a week beforehand.-
l knew every dlsh and could have mapped
the whole table out on paper. BY dint OF
hearing SO much about the luncheon [ natu-
rally came TO take II deep interest III its sue
cess, SO that when on the grea day we were
usEered IN to the Yicarage dining ROOM was
IT'S Mr.. Pepys says, mighty pleased that the
table did look SO handsome and shared my
wife's satisfaction on Observing that the great
jelly -lion-tor a long time Il refractory beast
bent upon coming out of Its mould minus its
head--had been melted down in to submission
and shook the terrors of its mane, every hair
complete, in full view OF the bishop. He was
a grave but genial 1nan. The party proved
particularly pleasant; and poor Mrs. Simp-
son. towards the middle OF the luncheon
found leisure 10 think how well it was going
off, when his iortiship took notice of q parrot
which, swinging IL his cage suspended from
q hook in tile ceiling by the window, looked
down on us all with a sort OF yindictiye sur
prise.
lyon haze Il fine bird there, Mr. Simpson"
slld tAe prelate; II keep one myself at Eul-
ford. Does yours talk much p
''No, nay lord. I've taught him every day
myself for the three weeks I've had him, but
he won't say anything"
"lndeed!' (The bishop looked benignly at
the bird through lis spectaclesl "Why
Coco, can't you talk? Haven't you anything
to say to ne, Coco ~
Al the sound OF Coco" his OWE name,
which he had not heard at the xicarage. the
bird set up ali his feathers perhaps lie was
excited, too by the sight Of So much COM
pany and good cneer; perhaps he felt bound
to answer when addressed by a bishop
Opening his beak with II scream which made
everybody Jump, be burst into the ileartitsJ
combination service {. bishop ever had the
luck to listen to- You may iIuasine. though
[ can't describe tie connection. The ladies
held their ears, the best thing they could do :.
the servants could not reach the cage to get il
down aad how that bird went on while the
steps were beins brought, and our host, very
red aud nervous, unlocked and hustled him
out OF tie room ut last 4! The vicar came back
III a minute or Two, with his finger and thumb
bitten, believe III ia attempt 10 wiring the
creatures neck. Nothing short of such a
measure could have stopped the bird, and
this had not succeeded, for all the rest OF the
luncheon, though every body tried hard To
seem Us II they didn't hear it, there was per
petual grinding growi, the exact voice OF the
Irish sailor, Coeo's previous owner, issuing
from the dark closet uader the stairs TO
which he had been consigned OF course,
we all felt Wha! very naughty words the bird
was saying, and the conversation fl. .ged
toftH"itn somehow, 1t WASH easy to keep
up churcG-talk, and school talk and reli-
gious societies talk with the accompaniment
OF a swearing parrot in the background -
AFTER sueh an experience, you may suppose
| should avoid the purchase OF Il bird which
might, like Coco, talk ''not wisely but too
weit."
For those who have any curiosityin obsery-
Ing the steps by which an animal grows per-
Iect III its little round of experiences and ac-
tions, young parrot is a most interesting
study. A bird OF six months is Il quiet little
thing tive thirds ofits fun size sitting stup palv
its perch all day long. Besides getting its
full feathers, and growing a fine red tail. il