The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-04-05
TWAIN,S RARE BIRD,
Fixing Up a Specimen for the Wiseacres to
Argue Over. ~>~-- -..&: $3.50 49,.

Mark had a constant playmate and
chum, a boy about his own age, named
Napoleon Pavey, or, for short, Pole
Pavey. One warm spring day, the two
boys having got holiday, Mark should.
cred an old flint lock musket and Pole
an old sqirrel rifle, without any lock
at all, which he carried along, as he
said, just for the looks Of the thing,
and went duck hunting over in Sny Bot
tom. The boys hunted faithfully for
several hours, and succeeded in killing
a q cken- hawk and crow, after which
the II commenced their homeward
march, not very proud of their success,
as in that region at that day game
abounded. Finally Mark stopped sud-
denly, as an idea struck him, and ex-
claimed: '~
':See here, Pole, let's git up rare
what dye call it? A rare geological
specimen for the boss; you see he's got
a great hankerin after these things"
whats a rare geological specimen,
Mark p said Pole, as he opened wide his
eyes.
''Why, its a rare bird that ain 'tnever
been seen in these parts before; some
thing uncommon like, answered Mark.
''Where are you going to git her at,
Mark! We amt got nothing but the
old chicken robber and egg sucker and
they amt a bit uncommon" queried
the skeptical Pole.
"We'll git her up to order, Pole"
answered Mark, as he flung himself on
the grass beneath a giant old elm tree.
The two boys went to work On their
rare ':geological'' specimen. AS
Mark would pick a feather from the
tail of the crow, Pole would hand him a
corresponding one that had been taken
from the tail of the hawk, which Mark
would carefully insert in the socket
from where he had just pulled the
crows feather. And thus after two
hours of steady work, every one of the
long feathers of the hawks tail had
been transferred to the crow, and it
would have required a careful exami-
nation to have detected the fraud.
SLOW is that for a specimen Pole?"
said Mark, as he admiringly exhibited
the retailed crow to the gaze of his
companions, respondent in the rich
plumage of the chicken eater.
''She is a sumner, Mark; a regular
sumner. l guess they hain't never
seen bird like that in Hannibal be-
fore.''
The hawk was thrown away and the
boys trudged homeward. BY the time
they arrived. in town, the blood of
the crow had CONCEALED, and the false
fathers in the tail had become firmly
fixed.
AS Mark had said, Judge Clemens,
his father, was somewhat of a natur-
alist, and had passion for whatever
was rare and strange in the animal
kingdom. - .-
"Why, Mark!'' he said, ':where in
the world did you get that strange
looking bird p
Its my opinion replied Mark,
with an air Of greater Importance than
he was accustomed to use in the pres
ence of his father, ''that is the Bird of
Paradise; leastwise, that it belongs to
that Species"
That night the bird was carefully
laid away in place where it would
be safe froV the devouring presence of
old tom cats, which Mark afterward
wrote about as creating such fearful
destruction at his sisters candy pull
ings. The report soon circulated
through the town that strange bird,
the like of which had never before
been seen, was killed and Mark and
Pole became the heroes Of the hour.
The next day being Sunday, Judge
Clemens invited all the wise men of
the village of Hannibal to his house
to examine and nacc an oninion IN tho
new geological specimen. They came.
The bird was exhibited on a table,
around which the Swans gathered.
One faction, headed by Dr., main
tanned that the bird was nothing more
than a common black crow, the tail of
which had been turned gray by some
accidental cause not understood, hav-
ing possibly had salt thrown on it in
the young and tender days of the bird.
The other faction, headed by Judge