The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1909-08-18

one day-at least, l thought MIN q
friend of mine, though l guess he's
about my dearest foe now. invited
him to put up at the ranch, and hav'
ing some business in Tegucigalpa, and
as my friend didn't seem to be in a
hurry, asked him If he couldn't stay
for few weeks and look after things.
He said he could and would, so
| packed some things on a mule and
rode away.
Il stayed in the capital city longer
than expected, and it was good
three months before 1 got back to the
ranch. My friend had gone, leaving
word that business had called him
away, but everything seemed all right
about the place. however, for had a
good native overseer who kept every.
thing going. The only change noted
was in the parrot. Just as soon as he
clapped his little beady eyes upon me
he astonished me by bursting out
with:
Robert the Devil! Robert the
Devil! You're a devil of a fellow.
Carambo!'
HE seemed very proud and pleased
with this performance, and encored
himself again and again. 1 laughed,
for saw that my friend had put up
a joke on me; but after a time that
cry got dead tiresome. The blamed
parrot was so proud of his accom-.
plishment that he hardly took sny
rest. Finally, after listening to that
yell for days, l got mad and weary,
and l concluded that the poll ard
had better part company. He was
young yet, and doubtless had lots of
friends in the woods where he had
come from. So l took him out Of his
cage and manumitted him. He flew
up on tree near the house ana be-
gan to articulate again, so I threw
stones at him, until finally he sat sail
for keeps and disappeared from view
well, l enjoyed quiet life after
that for some weeks, and was Aegin-
ming to forget all about the parrot,
when one morning l was awakened
by a deuce of racket; there was a
regular chorus outside:
Robert the Devil! Robert the
Devil! You're a devil of a fellow
Carambo!'
II stuck my head out of the win
dow, and saw big, bare tree nearby
was simply green with parrots, al!
yelling that Internal cry in chorus. !
OWNED the matter at once-that par
rot of mine had returned to it's
haunts, and, instead of warbling it's
native wood-notes wild, it had repeat
ed that cry until it was picked up by
all its friends. 1t sounded like q sort
of college yell now when produced in
chorus.
Good Lord, it was awful! At
tracted by the novelty of the thing,
more and more parrots came around,
and, as the days passed by, they too
learned the cry, and, moreover, taught
it to others. I'll be hanged if it didn't
come to be like university extern
sion movement, with my ranch as the
center of intellectual culture.
"Now and then I would go out and
shoot some of the birds, and had the
satisfaction of seeing some of them
bite the dust in the very midst of per.
forming their stunt But what could
one man do against such multitudes?
Why, new disciples focked from
everywhere, and the screeching that
arose was something maddening, to
say nothing of the wearisomeness of
having to listen to the constant prac-
ticing going on before the blamed
birds got letter perfect in their parts
well, l couldn't stand it. l had
to quit. l tell you, the woods were
filled with that strident cry, and it's
spreading around over a wider area
every day. I shouldn't wonder if that
ridiculous yell is now echoing from
one end of Central America to the
other. Go back again to hear IT.?
guess not! You see, the parrots will
never forget it, and there's nobody to
teach the wild ones anything new.
All the young parrots will catch on,
and so in future will the unborn thou
sands. No, there's no silencing that
cry now; it's bound to ring down the
grooves of time forever.
do hear the south a-callin'? Yes,
l do; but l hear them blamed parrots
a-callin' still louder. and that's the
reason why stay away"
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