, 1891-02-19
BETRAYED BY 4 BIRD

The Staging of "a Canary Arousss the
SuSpIeIons OF a Customs Onieer.
Everybody has heard the old saying,
Given away fer an Old song" but came
very nearly being given away bya song a
few years ago.
AT tina time I was living in n little Ca
madam city within a hundred miles OF De
troit. and as l was about to visit the City
OF the Straits, / accepted a number Of com
missions from acquaintance to bring them
back various articles they needed. l and
a few Of my friends desired to get some
German canaries, and their price being
high, We dubbed together to buy "A dozen
at wholesale rates and planned TO escape
paying any more duty than was absolutely
necnsSIry.
Accordingly one fine morning | crossed
the river on the ferry boat carrying my
~cnnaries and armed with a receipted bill
from the accommodating proprietor Of the
bird store for one dozen female c~auRries at
twenty-five cents each instead Of a dozen
males at $40 each. Marching into the
little ofice on the Windsor dock | laid
down my bill, when the official informed
me that under a new regulation issued by
the department on the LIST Of January every
bill had to be certified correct" by the
dealer before 1t would Ice accepted by them,
and that | would have 10 go back to the
store and get that lone.
/ was dismAyed. for | only had about
fifteen minutes 70 catch my train, but after
losing about Ave Of them in f~ruitless en-
denvor to persuade the custom house officer
to nccept the bill AS il was / started back
20 Detroit. leaving Ty stock in his charge,
not without some nIlSgtvings as to the wis
dom Of my doing so, but fearing TO Rrous
suspicion If + took tHelbirds agay with me
In about bali an hour | was back again,
with my bill duly curJiied TO. only To find
that the oliCious custom hous officer had
tern part OF the wrapper from the cages,
osteu-ibly for the purpose Of giving the
birds mort air, and that ~ soon as he had
doue 80 one OF them had commenced to
sing, which he considered a very suspicious
proceeding for a female canary TO indulge
Ia, and wanted to investigate thoroughly,
Then | had a bad quarter Of an hour. In
deed.
However, / cited numerous clscs Of f-
male birds I had known TO sing, and after
he had subjected me TO the ordeal Of sew.
erl penalty laden oIths, he hud about con
cluded 10 accept my money and allow me
to go ia TeIce. when the feathered misCre.
ant struck mp again in tones loud and
shrill enough for the whole dozen, and my
oflcious Official sid he guessed | had bet
ter go TO the big cdston house at the top
OF the hill aud see his chief.
By this time | was wishing that the
caulries and the onicIous official were all
at the bottom Of the rivrr. but having gone
50 far I had to brtlen il out to the end, so
accompanied him TO the sanctum OF her
British maicsty's collector OF customs, and
after undergoing IL severe c-ross-examina
ton ia ornitholOsy H1I n new series Of
blood chilling oAths was allowed TO leave.
with the intimatiou that they would re-
meub,r me. "A friendly sentiment which /
conciIjcl hat | thoroughly reciprocIted.
ns il would certainly be a long time before
| forgot them. | then returned with the
oniciOus official TO his little house on the
dock, paid my much offered money, and
departed for the depot, there TO wait two
hours for the next trIu, the misguided
though well meaning canary trilling a
last pean Of defiance ~ ! closed the door
behind me.-Detroit Free Press.