Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-04-17

W my lubuIe surroundings. llH ssfI
she, and the result was we bopobf ~
dishes lue
Parrots
Parrots are very mischievous birds IA
In the West Indies they are as plentiful
sparrows are here. In the towns ai1,i.1 u
every house has parrot or two and b.'
fly in the woods in great fiocl1s If yo1 ~
through a town in Hayti or St. Domi,-,C
or Jamaica you will hear yourself "a oftsr
greeted with Good day, sir. spokan T.
very good French, that you will think tba
people, whom you cannot see, are the n,ost
polite in the world but after visit an t,-o
you will find that it is the parrots franz
their perches IN the windows who root
you so politely. But in the wood,
the wild parrots are not at all poita
but on the contrary, are extremely rude.
and II traveller Is unluky enough ID oat
under an apricot tree they will 90 in fosks
to the tree and shake and bite off the frnit
until it falls down upon him And this 4
serious matter, for apricOts in those
countries grow to the size of aman s head
A contributor signing himself as an "O9
Salt sends Merry Times an account of
parrot he used to possess. She was 4
grey parrot with scarlet tail. and he
traded a Crimean shirt for her with q no.
gro at a place called Annamaboo on Tia
west coast of Africa The Ashantee war
was in operation at the time. and Pan
could only talk what was called 'bnsb
talk, which was IN fact, no talk at all
but series of unemthly sereetches. But
she soon learned to say many things
Good evening. Goodbye What do
you want? Goon-goon. Hullo Poor
old Poll Scratch Polly's head. Here
Bob, seek. Here, Watch, seek Watch
and Bob were the dogs. Get up, there;
g'long, Gee. Haw Woo-ish. Coekq.
too, Pig-pig-pig-huoy. Come Boss
come, Boss, all these she would speak
with great distinctness, in voice that
was many times mistaken for man She
could initiate to perfection the barking Of
dog, the mewing of a cat, the cackling
of a hen, The growing of rooster the
grunting of hog the squealing Of a pig
and the whinnying of a horse, and she was
an expert whistler. Her owner could
teach her any word, or even sentence Of
four or FIVE words in few days, by keen.
ing her in darkness and often repeating
the lesson to her She ate everything that
the family did, not excepting salt fat pork.
which some authorities declare will Kill a
parrot
She had one wing clipped and enjoyed
the freedom of the house in the day time,
but at night she always went to her cage
to sleep.
There was a pet monkey in the same
house with Poll and one day lie put his
hand slyly between the wires Of her cage
to get something she had dropped on the
floor of it. But Poll was on the watch and
she seized the intruding fingers, and in a
moment Jocko, Poll and the cage were in
a pile in the middle of the floor Jock0
chattering and threatening vengeance and
Poll screaming Mulla what do you want
what do you want,
why the Eight Hour Day is Demanded
Too many advocates of the eight-hour
day are in ignorance of the vital principle
which uuderlles the agitation They argue
in this fashion: If the hours Of labor are
cut down to eight. the idle men who have
tlocked to this country will be employed
and we shall be correspondingy happy
Following that course of reasoning to its
logical conclusion. we should have to cut
down the yours of labor still further IN
few years to accommodate the idle thou
sands imported to this country by steam
and railway companies and after the num-
Der Of the unemployed increased again we
should have to reduce the hours of labor
again and again until the unemployed Of
Europe and of Asia had landed, when we
should have nothing ito do On higher
ground does the sincere advocate of the
short-hour work day base his agitation. The
final solution of the work-day problem will
come when the workman becomes d Sharer
in what he creates. To-day the laborer Is
10y his employer as to be no more
a factor in the field Of production than the
spade which he handles. lhe Iaborer has
no other interest in the work he performs
than 10 draw pay for the work done at the
end of the week or month. Workman and
employer find their interests to be i0entl-
cal in but one particular to get the most
out # each other Take an empIorer VINO
gives work to one hundred men. Inc
value Of their labor we will rate at X
day He pays them an average Of 81
day each His profits viii equal the total
wages paid. and in twenty years he may
retire a wealthy man. How fares 1t with
has workmen2 They remain poor and re-
tire only to the poor-house or the
cemetery. What do the riches ct
the one represent? Unpaid labor, 10
labor then belong the vast sums that rlca
men leave after them to erect poor-h2uses
and charitable institutions, which Wo1'ai
not be necessary if the workmen were pala
what they arned.-Master Workman
Powderly in North American Review t9f
pril