The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-02-09
A HELPING BIRD.

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"Hi, hi All right, all right Now We
sha'n't be longn said the gray parrot
regrst to say that the irrepresslble
young man that brings tho daily milk is
Che tutor Of my parrot in the latest up to
date slang Of the day.
am an old sea captain--at least not
old. Perhaps the word clipped out un-
awares. am the right side Of 80 anyhow.
But being In receipt of pension and a
small private income to boot, have cast
anchor in my present abode in the expec-
tation Of weathoring many storm yet.
Being without a known relation In the
world, willingly fell in with the sugges-
tion that / should pick up my mornings
alongside my old friend and messmate,
Captain Travers, late r. NJ, who, having
left one of his legs on the west coast Of
Africa while capturing a SLAYER, was pen.
stoned off at an even earlier age than my
self and now lived with his sister-a most
comfortable party fat fair and 40 OF
thereabeut--in the adjoining house to
mine in the nelghborhood of London. We
had always got on we'll together, our
tastes and dispositions were similar, and
we had often met during our naval ca
reers. His sister had not previously been
acquainted with; but being In many re-
spects like her brother, we were soon firm
friends.
Captain Travers and myself had each a
fayorite parrot--his the common African
gray, with red tipped tail, and mine the
pursr variety, without trace of color, but
otherwise similar.
had not long settled down In my new
quarters and got everything shlpshape, or
what seemel so to me-a very Important
difference, as know today-when, almost
unoonseiously at first, began to feel what
q lonely old bachelor was and what set
of to oil my other belongings the figure of
Miss Rachel Travers would be by my fire.
side. But just here the curse Of my life
began to make itself felt Inherent shy
ness IN the presence of the opposite sex
has logged my footsteps from my earliest
recollections. Give me gale of wind in
the bay of Biscay, a tornado in the tropics
or 30 hours duty on deck, wet through to
the skin, and Captain Manloy, late Of the
p. and o. service, will thank you for IL
and consider life we'll worth living. But as
dispenser Of delicate attentions to the fair
sex, intensely as he inwardly adniires their
pretty ways, Captain Manley does not
no. he certainly docs not-ahow up to ad-
vantage.
My complaint got worse and worse, and
many an hour did spend pacing up and
down my quarter deok-I mean my front
parlor-saying, Rachel, love you," in
various tones praoticing which would buve
tho best effect when l should have suit
able opportunity.
At last heard my parrot saying, ERA
ra-ra," in preliminary effort to acquire
my sentence, and with the idea Of hearing
tho object from other lips-or should say
beak-I taught the bird to repeat the
words
Although fond Of pets generally, have
an antipathy to cats, especially at night.
am not aware that our neighborhood was
particularly beneficial In Its aspect OF 9TH
er qualifications to the feline constitution,
but I know that until l was inhuinan
enough to start an air gun cannonade On
my numerous nocturnal visitors | was
frequently unable to get respectable
nights rest. One Internal black and white
Tom defled my finest efforts. II average
cats have nine lives, am sure this one
must have had 10, and began to wonder
what sort Of uncanny being this was that
had no objection to letting my bullets pass
apparently through its body without suf
fering any Inconvenience. But, after all,
1t must have been my bad craftsmanship,
for one afternoon / saw my onemy quietly
walking up the low fence TINT divided my
back garden from Captain Travers'.
Tho opportunity was too good to he lost,
and, quietly getting my air gun, took q
steady aim and fred. There was no mis-.
take this time, and without sound poor
puss dropped on to my fewer bed as dead
as the proverhal doornail
My exultation, however, was of short
duration, for to my horror and dismay, on
proceeding to pick up his unfortunate car
oass and give 1t decent burial, l saw that
my shot had passed right through the I'M
lucky animal and killed my neighbours
parrot, which had been put out to sun it,
self Ia little summer house that stood at
the bottom Of the garden.
! was staggered at my position. knew
tho parrot was supreme favorite with
Miss Travera, and how / could ever ex-
plain my carelessnsss I could not imagine.
Suddenly way out of my dilemma pre-
scented itself to my mind, and FASTENED
to put ID into execution. I knew that tho
Traverses were out and would not be back
for some little time; SO, hurrying indoors
and taking my own parrot from its onge,
carefully painted the end of Its tail with
red ink, In initiation of Its deceased COM
rade, and, finding no ono was about,
stepped lightly over the fence and substi-
tutsd tho living for tho dead bird, which
l buried, together with tho cat, in my own
garden. knew that my parrot would
not readily talk before strangers, and l
hoped that by the time 1t had got used to
Its surroundings 1t would have forgotten
Its former accomplishments. At any ratio
must risk Ii.
Alasl Uneasy lies the head that wears
crown" sang some poet, who, expect,
never wore anything harder than night
cap; but true as 1t may be, compared to
the torture of my mind, now launched on
course Of duplicity, 1t would be bed of
roses.
I had been In the habit Of frequently
taking my evening meal with the Trayerses
and accompanying my old friend in n con-
eo]atory pipe afterward. l avoided them,
however, during the next few days in or
der to give things time to settle down a
bit.
1t was toward the end of the following
week that happsnd to be out in the gar
den and saw Ny old friend come stumpins