The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-12-14

Q smooth her ruf1ed feathers and DISPOSE

to smooth her ruf1ed feathers and DISPOSE
ton.
She loved to worry the kittens, and.
when she found them asleep, would steal
up and bite their tails until they fairly
howled. When some one came to their
| rescue, Polly would initiate the kittens
"meows' and shake with laughter.
She was a great coward. and never
molested the kittens while the old cat was
in sight.
On one occasion her jealousy took a
form which was not amusing to witness.
A lady who was calling at the house and
to whom Polly's mistress had been very
attentive, on rising to leave took the bird
on her arm, saying: kiss me. Polly,
and she bent her head down to a level
with Pol1y's, who quickly seized the OPP
portunity for revenge on her fancied
wrongs by biting completely through the
lady's under lip, making an exceedingly
painful wound, which took some time to
Our nearest neighbor had a large dog,
and Polly would perch herself in the vines
of the back p~orch-high out of harms
way, YOU may be ure-WhiStling and call
ing. Here, Bob! here. Bob" and when
the dog put in his appearance, expecting
some scraps from the table, she would
assume the most impudent expression.
and. with a deep chuckle, order. Go
home. fooli' and poor Bob came and went
at her bidding, always n sadder. but SEEM
lngly never the wiser dog by experience.
One of her greatest amusements was to
walk out on the clottesline, which ex-
tended from the porch to the woodslled,
and have somebody swing her. She would
place her claws far apart, and when the
person swinging her would suddenly draw
the rope taut down would go her head.
and, with the help of her beak, she would
turn completely over In true acrobatic
style, coming TO an upright position every
time with a more delighted chuckle.
] have swung her for nearly an hour at
a time, and have never known her to tire
OF 1t, always coaxing for the fun to con-
tinue.
With the members of the family she was
very affectlonate. but If a stranger tried
to touch her she would scold, scratch and
bite. When she was angry she always
laughed, and such diabolical laughter one
seldom hears, for it made the chills run
Whenever Polly made up her mind to
like any of the dodgers, she would walk
up to them, hold ont a CLAW and invite
her declaration of friendship.
Whatever she said was spoken very dis
tinctly; SO one did not have to use his i'm
to get at. OF course, most of Polly's
sayings she repeated over and over again.
but they always seemed to fit the case in
hand, and were not like the usual run of
parrot jargon.
The most clever thing I ever knew her
to do was to initiate a eonsumptive who
had a room in the house. The poor man
had fearful coughing spells, and Miss Polly
soon learned it.
One warm afternoon in early springtime
/ was sitting at my window writing, when
/ heard what l supposed to be the raclSing
cough of the invalid, sounding as IL he
was out among the orange trees. Think
ing perhaps | could be of some assistance
to him, / started out, and at the door
found the lady Of the house bent on the
same errand.
Going in the direction Of the sound we
were surprised not to see the gentleman
among the trees, but. as the coughing stin
continued at intervals, we traced 1t to the
back part of the orchard, and there, on a
low branch, sat Polly, coughing and occa-
sionally signing and saying, Poor man!
Poor mani"
AS soon as she saw us she began to laugh
and call herself pretty Polly Gallagher"
She was evidently in good huIno with her,
self for being so excellent a mimic, for she
her back perched on my wrist, she went
over her whole vocabulary.
Polly greatly liked to scare the chickens,
which would run from her even quicker
than the kittens. She would wait under
the back porch until they were well flocked
together at feeding time. when she would
pounce out at them, uttering unearthly
squawks.
The commotion she created was always
intensely gratifying to her.
1t was this desire to tyrannize over the
weak that finally brought about Polly's
death. She had evidently tried to steal
a march on the kittens dinner, for she
was found dead at their feed-pan, with a
course, we were all very sorry and missed
her greatly.
She was buried under a beautiful rose
tree, everybody in the house, and even
the ~neighbors, attending the funeral. A
pretty little head-board was placed on
her grave. bearing the Inscription:
"In Memory of Polly Gallagher"
"A. G. Kay, in Golden Days.