The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-07-28
HOW POLLY PROPOSED.

eli! Hi! All right! Now we shan't
be longl' said the gray parrot.
I regret to say that the irrepressible
young man that brings the daily milk
is the tutor of my parrot in the latest
uD-to-date slang of the day.
l am an old sea captaiu--at least, not
old-perhaps the word slipped out un-
uwares. l am on the right side of 30,
anyhew; but being in receipt of PEN
sion and small private income to
boot, l have cast anchor in my present
abode in the expectation Of weathering
mahya winters storm yet.
Being without a known relation In
the world, / willingly fell in with the
suggestion that ] should pick up my
moorings alongside my old friend and
messmate, Captain Travers, late X. N,
who. having left one of his legs on the
west coast of Africa while capturing
SLAYER, was pensioned off at an even
earlier age than myself, and now lived
with his sister-a most comfortable
party, fat fair, and 4O or thereabouts
in the adjoining house to mine in the
neighborhood of London. We had al
ways got on well together, our tastes
and dispositions were similar, and we
had often met during our naval careers.
His sister l had not previously been
acquainted with, but, being in many
respects like her brother, we were soon
firm friends.
Captain Travers and myself had each
e. favorte parrot-his the common Af-
rican gray, with a red-tipped tail, and
mine the purer variety, without a trace
of color, but otherwise similar.
/ had not lorg settled down in my
new quarters, and got everything ship
shape, or what seemed so to mc-a very
important difference, as | know to-
Gay-when, almost unconsciously, at
first, l began to feel what a lonely old
bachelor l was and what a set-off to
all my ether belongings the figure of
Miss Rachel Travers would be by my
fireside. But Just here the course of
my life began to make itself felt. In
herent shyness in the presence of the
opposite sex had dogged my footsteps
from my earliest recollectons. Give
me a gale of wind in the Bay of Biscay,
tornado in the tropics. or 20 hours
duty on deck wet through to the skin,
and Captain Manley, late of the Z. &
o. service. will thank you for it, and
consider life well worth living; but as
dispenser Of delicate attentions to the
fair sex, intensely as he inwardly ad-
lnires their pretty ways, Captain Man.
ley does ot-no, he certainly does not
-tshow up to advantage.
Although fond of pets generally
have an antipathy to cats, especially
at night 1 am not aware that our
neighhorhood was particularly bene-
fetal in it's aspect or other qualifica-
tions to feline constitution, but l know
that until l was inhuman enough to
start an airgun cannonade on my nu-
merous nocturnal visitors, / was fire.
quently unable to get a respectable
nights rest. One Internal black and
white tom defied my finest efforts. If
average cats have nine lives, l am sure
this one must have had nineteen, and
i began to wonder what sort of un-
canny being this was that had no OBJ
lection to letting my bullets pass APP
parently through it's body without suf-
fering any inconvenience. But after
all it must have, been my bad marks
inanship,> for one afternoon 1 saw my
enemy quietly walking up the low
fence. that divided my back garden
from Capt. Travers'.
The opportunity was too good to be
lost, and quietly getting my airgun ]
took a steady aim and fired There
was no mistake this time, and without
sound poor puss dropped on to my
flower bed as dead as the proverbia
door nail.
My eXultation, however was of shOrt
duration, for to my horror and dismay
on proceeding to pick up his unfortu
nate carcass and give it a decent burial
] saw that my shot had passed righ
through the unlucky animal and killed
my neighbor's parrot, which had beer
put out to sun itself in little summer
house that stood at the bottom of the
garden.
l was staggered at my position;
knew the parrot was a supreme favor
lite with Miss Travis, and how coulC
ever explain my carelcssness l coulC
not imagine. Suddenly a way out o
my dilemma presented itself to my
mind, and l FASTENED to put it int
execution. / knew the Traverses wer,
out, and would not be back for som,
little time, so hurrying indoors anC
taking my own parrot from it's cage
carefully painted the end Of it's tai
with red ink in imitation of its de
ceased comrade, and finding no on
was about I stepped lightly over tn
fence and substituted the living for tn
dead bird, which l buried. togethe
with the cat, in my own garden
knew that my parrot would not read
lily talk before strangers, and | hope,
that by the time it had got used to it
new surroundings it would have for
gotten its former accomplishments; a
any rate, l must risk it.
Alas, Uneasy lies the head tha
wears a crown" sang some poet, who
] expect, never wore anything harde
than nightcap, but, true as it ma
be, compared to the torture of m
mind. now launched on a course q
duplicity, ii would be a bed of roses.
1t was toward the end of the follow
ing week that l happened to be on
In the garden and saw my OLD frien
come stumping down the path of hi
own garden in his dot-and-carry- on
style, and, seeing me on the fence
cried
"Holloa! Captain, you're quite
stranger! What's been up? Rachel ha
been talking about coming in to IN
ouire about your health as she wa
afraid something must be wrong"
"Yes, / have been a bit poorly" sal
l. o, how easily the words slipped OF
although / had been as right as nine
pence-why that particular sum shoul