The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1870-12-17
Personal RECOLLECTIONS OF MRS,
MAGPIE.
BY ROSE PHILLIPS.


| We are not quite certain that our lady
bird ever had a mate; yet we children
used to call her Magpie, on account of
a certain Evolutionary legend of an old
half-crazed servant at our Uncle's place,
which ran on this wise:
mistress Magpie did possess a hus-
band once he saba handsome, dig
nified- looking bird; but on the very day
that their nest in the hawthorne branch
es was completed he flew away, and did
not return again. They feared some
thing dreadful had befallen him, and
his wife had ever since remained a very
proper widow. She had not been guilty
of a single Irritation; and in fact, was
never known to have beau again, ex-
cept on one occasion, when an impudent
Jackdaw came accounting. But Mrs
Magpie seemed displeased at such pre-
sumption on his part, and the disdain-
full manner with which she received all
his lover-ike advances said palmer than
words could speak it. "A pretty figure
your dusky feathers would cut, to be
sure, alongside of my white and green
and purple and blue and golden plu-
mage And then she glanced at his
head, as if to say: That member is
large for the size of your body, sir. A
sure indication of craftiness Why, You
are not above the dimensions of a com
mon pigeon. Then those long legs and
feet of yours [ should think better suit
ed to your neighbOr the enough, if they
were only of red color And the rich
gilded combination of CLOSES upon Mrs
Magpie's tail appeared to wax brighter
and brighter in the glinting sunlight, as
she kept hopping further and further
away from her would-be adOrer, finally
disappearing from sight, leaving him
perhed up there upon the limb alone,
like great silly jack that he was, for
presuming that she would favor his
wooing."
This simple tale of blighted welded
bliss and loyalty to the memory of her
departed lord inspired within our child
ish hearts feelings of pity almost akin
to love for poor dear, disconsOlate wild
ow AIagpie And, indeed, had her 9th
er qualities been IN keeping with her
personal attractions, we would have con-
tinued to remain among the most de-
voted of her admirers. Strange rumOrs
were afOat though, concerning this in
teresting feathered friend, from which
we gathered that she was vain, restless,
noisy, quarrelsome, an unwelcOme in
truder in the poultry-vard, and never
missed an opportunity of doing mis-
chief But little Brother Fritz-who
said: cts jolly fun to 90 barefoot,
and wear ones trousers rolled up to
ones knees was not inclined to give
such idle gossip credit. He thought
her enemies slandered Mrs Magpie
and on the strength of this charitable
/ opinion undertook one time to cultivate
a more intimate acquaintance, when the
malicious bird spitefully assailed his
unprotected ankles, and pecked away
until his terrified screams brought the
entire household to the rescue. Mrs
Magpie's natural Incidence prompted
her to teaze the largest animals, when
she could do so with perfect security
Hence, it was favOrte pastime with
! her to alight on the back of patient OK
or defenseless sheep, for the purpose
/ Of seeking out the insects to be found
there, chattering and tormenting the
/ poor creatures meanwhile, till they
would turn their heads backward then
! she would stretch ont her neck, and
mockingly initiate whatever sounds they
uttered. Indeed, no food whatsoever
seemed to come amiss to this german
dizer She would make a dinner on
worms; was ready to share with the
raven in its carrion or with the rock in
its grain. And if young chicken
CHANGED to get separated from the moth
er hen, it was pretty sure to fall a vic
tim to her voracious appetite Should
it prove too much for one meal Mrs.
Magpie, with a providence rather I'M
usual with gluttons, would carefully
hide the remainder of the feast, and af-
fer time would return to the secret
hoard and devour the last morsel.
Neither did she hesitate to make
swoop upon timid blackbird's nest
and, if the parent escaped with her life,
the unfedged little ones would fall an
easy prey to their merciless assassin.
But besides Mrs. Magpies murder
ing and thieving propensities for rob
bling bird's-nests, she was likewise adj
dicted to pilfering other articles. Any
papers living about, which happened to
attrack her notice, were instantly torn
to pieces, probably because she saw
thev were valued And this habit of
petit larceny finally paved the way to
the commission of a still greater crime,
for which she was destined to suffer the
lust penalty. It seems that she had
contracted secret passions for shining
substances. And the whole family were
alarmed one day by the unaccountable !
disappearance of diamond ring |
Every servant was accused; and each, |
conscious of their own innocence, sus-
pected each other. No one thought of
Mrs. Maybe, until the stable-boy, upon
climbing on the roof to see about a leak |
discovered a uspicious-looking eXcava-
ton in the rotten timber. In another |
minute, Mrs. Magpie was beside him, |
displaying great uneasiness and began
to pace back and forth, bowling and |
screeching in her thin, sharp voice,
''Pretty Mag, pretty Mag" But cir
cumstantial evidence was against her.
and, search being instituted, to Ben's |
unspeakable JOY, the glittering jewel
came to light.
As Fritz declared that The was little |
prejudiced against the culprit, his name
was stricken from the iurv-ist selected
for her trial. Yet when our foreman
brought in the verdict, Guilty and
the fiat had gone forth, ''death by de-
l. l.