Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1901-12-04
The CoO FRANKS PLAYED BY THIS
ACCOMPLISHED BIRD.
4 Visitor FeS-ed by fsastation Love.
making IN frritafed ana BeuIa-
dered Tcnmsser An Elapersea.
spoiled by Another Parrot

Joe is an African gray parrot supposed
to be about thirty years oid. TaeSt
stories about him are told by his owner:
a friend called enc evening and. 6n,litls
that Mr. l.. tie parrot asstIer. WAS oat
but expected - return shortly. went intt4.
the parIor 10 wait for hlm- The visitor
was left alone. or supposed he was. bal
something must have happe ned. is t9.,.
slammlng of the screen door announced
his rather hasty departure.
After time the visitor returned and
upon being questioned regarding his un
eerenoDious departure. said thar be heard
the most violent lovemaking in the al
joining room.
The young people were so greatly oc
cupied that they seemed unaware of my
presence" he said. Il coughed. made a
noise with my ,sfaair and Dropped IL book
but all to no avail. | thought the best
thing for me was to take walk.
% Dear Joe. kiss me aga. n. Joe. some
one said, and then the kissing-and such
kissing, cooling and lovenakns--w more
than l could bear with composure.''
But replied the host. there are no
young people in the house. Our parrot
has been fooling you
"Impossible-' the visitor said IL was
told that was alone. but before the.
servant left | was invited TO walk right
in and sit down. and Are you warmT j
was asked. and | had scarcely replied
when l was laughed at. then there We're
two other distinct voices Besides. the
kissing and cooling were altogether too
real"
"You arc not the FIRST to be fooled by
the bird" Mr. T. replied. Only IA few
days ago a nearby plumber. whose name
happened 10 be Joe. called to do a small
job of repairing. and the work was begun
before | left in the morning. but the man
left suddenly. the work was unfinished.
and no explanations were given.
.The next morning | called at the shop
and took the workman TO task and was
told thsH unless | could make my serv-
ants behave another plumber would have
to finish the job. He said that when he
began work he was called to an adjoining
room only be laughed ut by the serv-
ant, who kept out of sight and called out:
You old rascal and You're beaut.
Joe; you are and when he answered she
cried Sick EN-. aud guyed him all the
time.
ell. you can understand | had hard
work to make the man believe that it was
only parrot. but he felt cheap enough at
being so badly fooled.
Sometimes Joe is very embarrassing.
a very dear old lady friend visits US who
is somewhat of an invalid and has rather
a distressing cough and other peculiarities
that can be plainly heard, all of which
Joe initiates in the precise tones, with
more than natural emphasis, sneezing and
blowing his nose and coughing distress
ingly.
'.IIe counts, repeats the alphabet. spells
many words. whistles, knocks on his
perch like at the door and then
enters into conversation.
''Why. come right in: sit down; nice
Won enfd1' no saws until hn has
had enough. aud then he says. .Goodby:
sors again Sometimes we have cnliers
that Joe seems to dislike, aud he will keep
on with his goodbys until people hurry
off. and in these cases he never invites
them to come again.
IF there is doubtful statement made |
Joe is sure to cry Rats with such vol
ume as sometimes to upset the composure
of the company. He drives a horse with |
all the spirit of the horse trainer and
seems to enjoy it, You can fairly see the /
race.
Last year when we moved to our sum
mer cottage Joe was sent on load of /
goods instead of being taken with us on
the cars, as usual. Joe's cage was care /
fully secured on the seat beside the driv- /
er.
hours beyond the customary time for the
arrival of the wagon and became anxious
about our goods. but particularly about T
Joe. Our fears were not relieved when +
the wagon drew in sight with the parrot 4
cage missing from the drivers seat and /
there was a chorus of Where's Joe:'
With face flushed with anger, the
driver replied: 'Drat the haste. or burd .
or whatever he is. not n thing cud / do
wid him. You know Yourself the load | /
had on. an it was all me horses cud pull.
an when everything would he gain well
the burd would scream: Whoa Back
up" | thought me>eif II was me own
voice, an so did me horses. an its a
wonder we're here Wit. That burl i pos
sesSed. He has a divil in him. thought
we'd not git here tonight So | buried
the burd wild boxes on the back OF the
load an covered him wild blanket. an.
with all respects to you. sor, | hope he IS
aslape, an may he niver wake
Joe tells when he is cold or wants
anything. and, above all. nothing annoys
him so much as call him Polly When
we put him the porch. the children. of
course. never fail to Polly him. so that +
now when Joe sees child he remarks in
various tones of children's voices: Pretty
Polly, Polly wants a cracker" And that
seems to be Joe's estimate of their intelli-
gence-
~ neishbor who had doubtingiy heard
" wonderful stories Of Joe took the bird to
keep after serious fire we had one night
When the family were seated for break
fast. Joe n very sad voice remarked:
. We are all burned out
1.-THE neighbor said to me later. 4 win
believe anything / am told about Joe
Row
1T Is a fact that not long ago a parrot
to a family living not many
miles from New York overheard plot in
which one misguided member of the fam
iy was 70 take part an elopcrnent- Whine
the whole family was seated about the
dinner table that evening the parrot re-
oeated enough of the conversation TO
mortify one person present who was
saved from disgrace by this sagacious
bird New York Sun.