Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1893-07-20
Nat LASK AND PARROT

Is zs-s
Nat LASK AND HIS PARROT
Al Remarkable Story of a Re
markable Manandsa Bird.
sEyer hear of Nat Lask's par
rot p, asked Jim Gordon of Little
Rock. ssNever was such remark
able parrot, I don't think. But
then, Nat Lask was somewhat OF
I 8 remarkable man. He was an old
Arkansas and Mississippi river
! boatman. he used to run between
Little Rock and New Orleans in
the good old times before the war,
He owned tweaty niggers once, and
they all got their freedom just be-
cause Nat was such a remarkable
man. There was a good many mig
gers running away about that time,
and making their run for good.
Nat gave it out that he'd like to
see any of his get away. For every
one that got away, he said he'd set
another one free. Less than week
{ after that one Of Mats best mig
gers turned up missing, and he
couldn't be found. Over the bor-
der, sure. The runawsy,s wife be-
longed to Nat.
ssssnse," said Nat, dye know
whar Joe is?' !
essYes, massa.'
asWall then you jes' go long an
jine him!'
q $50 he kept his word and setione
slave free because another had sue-
-easdad in running away, and he.
showed what q remarkable man,he-
wis BY getting free the wife of the
fugitive. And Nat wouldn't take.
back his offer either, and his mig
gers kept running away, and. ne
kept setting others free to match
,o,o until he hadn't one left.
Don't make no dif'nce,' Nat
used to say. Nobody didn't
'bleege me to sot my niggers
free. Butts lime comm, mahk
my wuds, when all yore niggers III
be sot free, an yo' won't have
nothin' to say bout it, neither
ssThat was pretty stiff talk for
Arkansas, two years before the
war, and Jess remarkable. man
than Nat Lask would have been
hauled up short for it. Prophetic,
Nat was, wasn't he? Somewhat,
..Just about the time the war
broke out Nat was in New Orleans
taking on cargo. On the levee one
day he was passing an old woman
who was selling parrots, when one
of the birds yelled out:
aDamn fool!'
aThat fetched Nat up standing,
and he asked the woman which
parrot had addressed him in such
familiar tones.
"sHe knows me- said Nat, 'but
I swar never knowed him!'
ssNat didn't have to wait for the
old woman to tell him which par
rot it was, for the bird yelled out
It's compliments to him again on
Che spot, and Nat was so tick1ed
with the parrot that he bought it.
He was so taken up with his new
companion that he paid no atten-
tion to anything else all the way
back on The trip to Little Rock,
When he arrived there he gave up
his boat.
's.Goin' to quit boatin',' he said,
It'll take all my time now on to
tend to this parrot
aAnd lif he didn't quit, right
there and then, I hope to holler!
He tied himsef up to that parrot
, and had no time for anything or
anybody. Then the war began to
stir things up, and one day Nat
said:
asThar's goin' ter be hell ter pay
round hyah fore long, an / take
to the woodsl''
'4He was as good as his word.
He took his gun and his parrot,
went way back into the wilder
ness along Big Mammelee Creek,
and put up a snug log cabin. And
il was there that the parrot came
cut strong. The woods we're full
of game. Wild turkey, deer, bear,
panther. The creek held plenty Of
wild ducks and geese. NattraiEed
the parrot to hunt. The bird got
80 he could give all the calls and