Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-10-17
THE PARROT AND HE OAT.


Whitley lived in q small top fat
away up i'm Harlem with his sister
Jane, a maiden, whose exact age was
known only to herself, and the fam
lily Bible. There was also in the fam
lily servant, Maggie Magoogin, and
Chauncey, the kitten. Jane, with gen
tie assertion, usually swayed the de-
cis1bns of her brother, in spite of a
certain lordly domestic superiority he
assumed Maggie clearly dominated
Jane in regard to the home affairs;
and the khten, which was recent ac-
qIEsb.icn, assumed the functions of
baby in that it ruled the whole house
hold by it's will and caprice.
But what on this particular day
ruffled the ordinary placid surface OF
Whiffleby's serenity was the fact that
the nedghbors In the fiat on the other
eide Of Ahe hall were NOV az. In ord :
nary cases this would be ii matter of
no consequence, but to Whiffleby, on
account of his sisters complilisance
and easy charita bleness of disposition,
q was a matter of great concern.
Early i'm the spring, when the peo-
pie OH the floor below had moved, his
sister kindly concented to store for
them, for day or two, three chairs,
q bed, two bureaus. and u III bic. These
had not been sent for until the 18th Of
August, and meanwhile the Whitfleby
apartments resen sled a storchouSe. y
month ago the family on the second
floor had gone away, borrowing for
the occasion from Jane, Whifleby's
new steamer trunk, VIII ch he had pur-
chased for his vacation tri p 10 Mon
theal, and the suit case his sister had
given him for Christmas. No trace
Of these articles had appeared since.
And only two weeks before~the Jenk-
inees across the shaft had suddenly
cleared out, and having exclaimed to
Jane that at the last moment they
had forgotten to provide facilities for
the transportation OF Their kitten,
asked her to take charge of it untu
they could call fOr it in the evening.
The kitten was handed to Jane across
the shaft, was never returned for, and
had now become an established men,
Der of the household.
The attitude of the rest of the In.
habbtants of the Whitley household
iowa the feline was varied with each
individual. Whiffleby, while express.
ing in sarcastic tones the greatest con-
tempt of the quadruped, secretly own
ed to himself "a slight feeling of fear
of 1t, which indeed he possessed for
all domestic asimals Miss Jane
Whiffleby. cooed over 1T and talked
baby talk as If the thing was really
a human infant, though ait the same
time she had ever a vague feeling of
dread uncertainty as to its next prank
The cook, expressing her loathing in
NO uncertain terms, openly detested
the "l1ttle baste," designated it as
the '-the DEVILS own" and probably
when Jane was out of sight and hear
ing, gave 1t sundry blows with tho
poker or kicks from the toe of her
stout shoe. And finally, the very
afternoon on which we have de
scribed Whiffleby coming up in ca,
tn climax of her relation with the
kitten had been reached when, half
pLayfully and half in anger, the kitten
had drawn a thorny claw across her
bouncing in upon Jane and announced;
"l'll be afther lawn in a week Will
thot tiger. do be willin' ter do cook
In and washin', but not to kape ne
menagedie. that, l aint." And Jane
had accepted this ultimatum meekly
and apologetically, after the manner
of mistress and maid.
But to return to Whiffleby. He
came slowly up the dark flight o.
stairs and with an abr OF proprietor
ship opened the door. Then suddely
from the dim recesses of the kitchen
Q voice, nasal and metallic, greeted
him with:
You'll get all that's coming t.
you'll"
SWELL" thought Wheiffleby. "Jan,
has probably invited the janitor',
childrtn up and is probabl ya1lowine
them TO stuff themselves with my Sat
urday and Sunday dessert" AnC
WbiffEeby. whose aversion to children
was deep-yrOunded and sincere, shrunl
silently inuo the sitting room. Blu
soon, tired of quietly reading or gaz
Ing at the straight rows OF windows O.
the fats opposite, Whiffleby seated
himself at the piano and started a noe
turns of Chopn's. But he had o.
played a few bars when the sam
strident voice from the kitchen SUM
out:
you've got to play ragtdme"
"Impudent little brutes!" calculate,
Whitfleby and he pressed the lou
pedal detiaptly. Then IN a minute h
heard:
The tune am crazy,
That amt no song!"
Whiffleby shut the piano with
bang. Jane! janet" he called pei
tishly.
"Coming!" replied Jane, and the
added. to some unseen, somethingth s
sounded like, Did him's muvver do
ah' leave him with auntie? Eli? Poo
tSsle singL Ye-e-esl"
When Jane appeared. Whffle by lool
ing very stern, confronted her. What
all this racket in the other room?" b
demanded. Whose baby have you e
there anyhow"
Jane stammered apologetically Sc
ISN'T a baby at all. You see, th
Smnhers next door moved this morl
ing andsasked me to keep their parrt
for THIN until tomorrow, and-an
said l would"
Parrot" shifted Whiffleby, dii
dsGnfully. $50 we're 10 start an av
~, are we? What does Maggie say
'She rather liked 1t at first becaui
L was green, but she now says she b
Moves il Is red at heart"
"And the kitten?" said WHITFIELD