The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-01-29
A HELPING BIRD.


l regret to say that tho irrepressibe
young man that brings the daily milk Is
the tutor of my parrot in the latest up tn
date slang of the day.
l am an old sea captain-at least not
old. Perhaps the word slipped out I'M
awares am the right side of so anyhow.
But being In receipt of pension and a
small private income to boot, l have cast
anchor in my present abode in the expec-
tation of weathering many a storm yet.
Being without u known relation in the
world, I willingly fell in with the sugges-
tion that l should pick up my moorings
alongside my old friend and messmate.
Captain Travers, late r. N, who having
left one of his legs on the west coast of
Africa while capturing 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 or
thereabout-in the adjoining house to
mine In the neighborhood of London. We
had always got on well together, our
tastes and dispositions were similar, md
we had often met during our naval ca
reers. His sister l 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
favorite parrot-his the common African
gray, with red tipped tail, and mine the
purer variety, without trace of color, but
otherwise similar.
had not long settled down in my new
quarters and got every thing shipshape, or
what seemed so TO me-a very important
difference, as know today-when, almost
unconsciously at first, began to feel what
a lonely old bachelor was and what u set
off to all 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 a gale of wind in
the bay of Biscay, "a tornado in the tropics
or 20 hours duty on deck, wet through to
the skin, and Captain Manley, late of the
P. and o. service, will thank you for it
and consider life we'll worth living But as
dispenser of delicate attentions to the fair
sex, intensely as no inwardly adnlires their
pretty ways, Captain Manley does not
no. he certainly does not-show up to ad-
vantage.
My complaint got worse and worse, and
many an hour did spend pacing up and
| down my quarter deck-I mean my front
parlor-saying, "Rachel, love you," in
various tones, practicing which would have
| tho best effect when l should have u 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
the effect 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 it's aspect or 9TH
| er qualifications to the feline constitution,
but know that until 1 was inhuman
enough to start an air gun cannonaGe on
my numerous nocturnal visitors 1 was
frequently unable to get a respectable
nights rest One Internal black and white
Tom defled my finest efforts. If 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 enemy quietly
walking up the low fence that divided my
back garden from Captain Travers'
The opportunity was too good to be lost,
and, quietly getting my air gun, took q
steady aim and fired. There was no iAis-
take this time, and without sound poor
puss dropped on to my flower bed as dead
as the proverbial doornail.
My exultation, however, was of short
! duration, for to my horror and dismay, on
proceeding to pick up his unfortunate car
cass and give 1t decent burial, saw that
my shot bad passed right through the I'M
lucky animal and killed my neighbours
parrot, which had been put out to sun It,
self in little summer house that stood mt
the bottom of the garden.
was staggered at my position. / knew
the parrot was supreme favorite with
Miss Travers, and how l could ever ex-
! plain my carelessness could not imagine
| Suddenly way out of my dilemma pre-
sented itself to my mind, and l FASTENED
to put 1t into execution. i knew that he
! Traverses were out and would not be bach;
for some little time; so, hurrying indoors
and taking my own parrot from its Gaze
carefully painted the end of it's tail with
red ink, in imitation of Its dece;s,t! com
rade, and, finding no one was atout,
stepped lightly over the fence ard substi
tuted the living for the dead bird which
buried, together with the cat, in my own
garden. knew that my parrot would
not readily talk before strangers, and
hoped that by the time it. had got used to
it's surroundings 1t would have forgotten
Its former accomplishments. At any rate
must risk 1t.
Alasl Uneasy lies the head that wear
a CROWN" sang some poet who, expect,
never wore anything harder than night
cap; but, true as it may be, compared to
the torture Of my mind, now launched on
course Of duplicity, 1t would be a bed OF
roses.
I had been in the habit of frequently
taking my evening meal with the Traverses
and accompanying my old friend in con
solatory pipe afterward. 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 happend to be out In the gar,
den and saw my old friend come stumping