The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-05-28

Would you not like to hear an ac-
count of clever little pet pigeong 1
have been told the story, and believe ii
to be quite true. / fancy my little
friends will be as much touched by the
story as Twas. sJF flfssess
\ ma certain town in Belgium lived a
man who kept great many pigeons.
He bred them to sell He had all sorts
of these pretty birdsy- -pouters, fantails,
carriers, nuns, and all kinds Of pigeons
that you ever heard Of. For some he
was paid q great deal of money--for
those that were very handsome or were
Of a rare kind; but now and then there
appeared amongst the number Of his
pigeons poor little ugly one, and then
/ am afraid 1t was Killed or sold for
next to nothing.
Now, the pigeon-keeper had q little
daughter, who used to love her fathers
pretty birds very much; she used to
iced them, and help her father general
ly to look after the pigeons. Little
Marie was q sweet, gentle little girl,
and the pigeons all knew her and
would come at her call; but there was
one very ugly little pigeon that nobody
else would have noticed much or cared
for, that little Marie took under her es-
pecial care. This little pigeon was de-
voted to her little mistress; she would
perch on her shoulder, kiss her as well
as pigeon could, and indeed display
an amount Of gratitude and affection to
the child that was quite wonderful in
any bird.
One day, when little Marie happened
to be away from home for short time,
an ,Englishman came 10 her fathers
house to buy some pigeons. He was a
good customer, and made a large pur-
chase of many expensive birds, and then
said, just as he was going away, that he
would take few common birds, as he
wanted them for Hurlingham-y you
know that Is the place where cruel
men, Who call themselves sportsmen,
shoot the poor little pigeons. By some
i'll chance, Marie little pet bird, whom
she had named Laidrone French
for "ugly one"-was among those Of
she common pigeons taken away by the
Englishman. You may imagine the lit
tie girls distress when she found, on
her return home, that her pigeon was
gone. And when she knew the sad
fate for which it was destined, she was
inconsolable. She iinplored her father
to write and insist upon having the
bird back again, but this he declared
it was to late TO do. So the child could
only cry bitterly, though quietly, and
60 about the house, looking a pale, sad
little likness Of her former merry self.
But now comes the wonderful part Of
the tale. One day little Marie was
feeding the pigeons out in the yard,
when she saw little dark speck in the
air coming toward her. She watched
it as it came nearer and nearer, and
she could scarcely believe her eyes
when there 1utterd down at her feet
her own dear little ugly pigeon Lai-
drone! uglier, though, than ever, now,
for the little creature had been deprived
Of her tail by one of the Hurlingham
sportsmen, Yet the affection Of that
little bird and her courage had enabled
her to fly back to her little mistress all
those hundreds of weary miles tailless.
How she found her way is a mystery.
You may well suppose that after this
the little pigeon was greater pet than
ever--Philddelphia CALI