Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-10-12
ly with us, he developed many human


closed, and he was particularly fond
OF lighting on my shoulder or that OF
my sister. and liked to feed from our
lips. Once even he tried to feed me
as the parent bird feeds its young. AT
breakfast time he often hoped about |
on the table and helped himself to
anything that ne liked the looks OF II |
not prevented.
Once placed a small, shallow paper
box near his cage and opening It,
showed its contents to him-hemp-
seed, of which he was very fond-and
then replaced the cover. then
opened the cage door and invited MIN
to help himself. In second. he was
out of the cage, and, going to the box,
he lifted up the cover which. however,
Immediately fell back in its place.
Fairy seemed to consider what would
be the best thing to do. turned mis-
head about on one side and then the
other, and lifting the cover once more,
gave 1t little twist on one side which
left the seeds uncovered and proceed
ed to help himself.
At another time tied piece OF
apple to string, showed 1t to MIN.
fastened one end of the string to the
wires Of his cage, and then dropped
the piece Of apple down SO that he
could not see It, He Immediately be-
gan to pull up the string with his bill,
holding 1t fast with his claw until ne
brought the apple within reach.
II q piece of sponge cake, left In
Fairys cage, became hard and stale,
he used to dip it into his drinking
glass or his bathtub until it was soft
enough to suit him. Our father used
to bring him home plantain or grass
seed or chickweed, and, as soon as he
entered the room and Fairy caught
sight of him, he would fly about his
cage in the most excited manner and
seemed SO Impatient to get 1t that ne
would open his wings and scold and
pretend to be very angry, flying at and
picking at my fathers fingers appar-
emily fiercely, but really gently, II he
thought too much time was taken in
arranging it between the bars.
One day, when was practicing at
the piano, he flew up to the parlor and
stood on the top Of the music leaves,
refusing to let them be turned over,
and at another time he took posses
sion of the upper keys of the instru-
ment and tried to keep us from max
| ing use of them. In like spirit he
lighted one day on piece of work l
had In my hand and, selling hold Of
the thread in my needle, inteTefered
with my sewing.
| On one occasion he was not feeling
quite we'll, and, as ne was standing on
my hand, he quietly put HIS dear little
head under his wing and went to
sleep, while held, my hand pressed
firmly against my breast until he woke
up. Equally touching. too, it was to
have him fly on my shoulder or that OF
my sister, and, looking up at us. pour
forth an ecstatic love song, Tapping
his wings at the same time.
There was SO much music going on
in the house, both Instrumental and
vocal, that we thought his singing
became somewhat modified and chang
ed, as IL he were trying to initiate the
\ sounds that he heard. When prac
ticed my vocal exercises and trilled
he tried to see II he cn,lt' M. onts1hg
:! zs.s,- ano, his breath was often longer
than mine
After a while mate was given to
Fairy. but there was never much at
lection between them. She turned
out to be rather ill-tsmpered, and he
cared more for his human associates
than he did for her. At last there
came three little baby birds in the
nest, and then later four more. Tileir
named were Antonio, Angelo, Bellini,
Verdi, and Otto. and the two little
sisters were called Jessie and Bessie.
All were given away from time to
time to different friends except Otto,
the youngest, who looked more like
Fairy than the others did; but the
mother bird had got tired of her chill
dren, and one day we found that she
had pecked little Otto and hurt him,
so she was taken out OF the cage and
soon sent away. We thought we would
see IFS Fairy would take care Of his
baby and placed Otto IN another cage
close by, SO that Fairy could feed him
If he would. To our delight he began
at once to take care Of him and was
SO tender that we put them into the
same cage.
One summer we took the birds out
into the country with us, where we
had a lovely place on the slope OF Blue
Hill; but in the fall Fairy grew i'll.
Whether he had been too much ex-
posed to the air during the time OF
moulting, or whether, as he was as
much as ten years old, he had lived
out his appointed, time, he became
worse and worse and finally died. Dur
ing his illness he used to sit on his
perch with his head beneath his wing,
and, II my sister or I came into the
room, he would look up and give a
little chirp OF welcome. Then, as he
grew-too weak to take out his head,
we heard faint little chirp. This ne
only did when we came in; he took
no notice Of any other step. His
death was real grief to US, and we
buried him under the beautiful pine
trees. On the following day bird
flew to tree close by and poured
forth an enchanting song. thought,
is this Fairy's greeting to us from
the spirit land ELLEN NJ. Ward, in
Christian Register.
Hog 80 Days In a Well.
Howard G. Garrison. a prominent
farmer of this county, was in town
recently and had a remarkable Incl
dent to relate. On the night of the
18th Of June he lost fine 300 pound
hog. He searched high and low, but
could not find trace of the animal.
He finally gave up the hunt, coup
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