Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-07-03

was cdhtu eSpecldllS lor Hilh. iiiChoiy I
nuts were cracked and the delicate white |
meats thrust into his bill-making them I
literally . forced meats And at last he
came to enjoy being fused over and made
an invalid of so much, that | do believe
he was rather sorry when he got well.
His convalescence was rapid. After
once recovering sufficiently to cling feebly
to his perch, he very soon got strong and
steady On his pins as feathered cathe
dral and the first use of his recovered
feet was 10 kick and tear off his drawers,
seeming 10 regard them as badge of sui
fering and sickness. Or, as the summer
was advancing with rapid strides, per-
haps he found them uncomiortably warm.
How he did enjoy that summer. Hung
out on the yeranda in his cage, he would
fairly Shrek i'll his great glee until we
were tain to stop his mouth with sugar.
He never learned 10 talk in spite of all the
lessons that We're given him. | mean he
never learned 10 talk intelligibly. for,
though he kept up an incessant chatterin@
to himself. no one could tell what he was
saying. But he developed a surprising
faculty for initiating sounds. 1t vas
rather unfortunate, perhaps, that his chief
talent lay in the reproduction Of the most
discordant noises the clang of the pump,
the creakmg OF a cart, the strldulous s0Ilg
Of the patent self-actIng swing-all these
awoke his throat TO emulation and not
one Of them got the better of him. Indeed
he rather improved on the original dis
cords. and gave Us the shrilne,s with va
riations He had one soft note. however,
the most charmingly melodious whistle
ever heard. But. strangely enough, when
you wished him 10 pump or crcak, he'd
whistle; and, when you wished him u
whistle, he'd clang and creak. That con
Trajectory element of human nature was
NOT wanting in his breast. Whistling he
principally reserved for his own amuse-
mcnt. when no audience was gathered
round; then, swinging III his hoop, he'd
whistle for hours Little did think that
for him the old proverb would be reversed.
and that a whistling bird would come TO
a bad end, while many 4 Growing girl
lived and thrived the country over.
He was always crazy TO be taken out
from his cage and put up in the vines, and
among the apple-blooms. With the assist
ance OF that beak of his. he would perform
the most wonderful and funniest gymnas-
tics in the gravest way. Now he would
swing by it. or make his way from branch
to branch by its aid somewhat as that
beauty of the vermicular creation, the
measuring-worm. progresses; then. again.
he would hang by one claw, and take q
bird ,-eve view of things and the ky from
that most unusual position for accomplish
inc such views. He ate neither leaves.
nor apple-boons nor branches, but be de
lighted in pulling them to pieces. From
the utter recklossness with which he
ignored his inability to put the, pieces to-
eether again YOU might have thought him
am out-aud-out recou-tructlonist.
Atoeether, | do believe h. cujo> ed
himself. and was thoroughly happy, mover
once rearetting his native forests, nor his
dead aud ocean-buricd bride. Ia hi- Way
ne was philosopher, and the carpe dIeD
idea seemed to strike him most iavorably
Tie belonged to the nil admirari school
moreover. seemed to expect everything
and be surprised AT nothing, but accepted
events a. they developed themselves with
a perfect Indifference to causes, remote oi
immediate | never remember TO have
!
when some bluebirdS. Jealous OF his proN-
unity TO their nest. made rand on hin
Then hc u-aS a~toui~hed, dumbtounded
and utterly bewildered When the ill
TEMPERED wings came flashing around him
I'm their hucnc,- like the best temrere,
. Damascus blades. while beak- shipped "a
hi eyes ike scissors. look of astoniSh
ment did indeed Wrnkir hi- brow, o.
rather ms beak and he opened the lattr
in q threatening way on a general primer
pie oi' combativcne.S. though utterly IN
: capable Of making amy effectual and or
, ranized resistance On that one occasion
especially when dashed from my finger b
P their fierce onslaught he lost his compo
D sure. a. we'll a. his balance, but never los
he il before nor afterwards.
When / left him last September, hi
health, general and particular, seemed x
u cellent. and anv insurer OF birds live
would have taken risk on him at smal
rates against anything but cats II
seemed determined to live forever, and
had commissioned a medical friend, plyin
between this port and Panama, 10 ship III
; wife ior hun when the warm suns OF Jul
came. to cndow the experiment with
probabilit, Of success. But this morning
} mail brings me letter from Fanny, con
{ tanning sad news. | give il in her ow
words, and with her own punctuation, for
never take liberties with authors-as I'll
;, editors OF magazines do:
Il Poor Laurita is dead, he seemed pertec
y lv well one dav found him with his feet a
curled up Just as he was when YOU brougl
him here | put him in warm bath ar
,, held him in my hands he felt better, but a
t at once hc flew out of my hand to the flo,
B.; and died. We miss him very much he was
# happv that he always was whistling thin
= he died of too much happiness-good bye.
l. like TO get news in that way: II
n story is told without adornments or CT
)r cumlocution First, we are made TO u
Of derstand in one short incisive senten,
lie that the bird is dead then, without al
is unnecessary flourish of rhetorical ham
ne kerchiefs or torrents of that twaudle whiC
tn passes on paper for tears, we have the fac
in about his death, and the particulars of h
last moments. Yet another dispatch fro
81 home informs me that Fanny felt the 10
H. most keenlv, and came down to dinner wi
on her ewes red and swollen as though she h;
as been weeping. and looking over the OPP
Xt page of the letter before me, in which L
nd calamity is SO simply set forth, L can d
he cern blots on the paper which are all t
e- pearly to have been made by ink.
rd Poor Fanny; her pets seem fated
We well as mine Last summer she had
W. rose, rabbit, a kitten and a great Ne
N, foundland dog. The rabbit ate the ro
Il 1