Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-06
The Goldfish and the Canary

Canary Bird, I'VE know all the time. or
ought to know. that We are better off at
home than we possibly could be any
where else. or than We ever Were before
Now, the very first thing / remember Is
being in store where there were man,
other birds and animals. 1 certainly was
very miserable there. Half the time they
forgot to give me anything to eat or
drink, and several times ii WAS only when
they found me dropping at the bottom OF
my cage-it wasn't a pretty hoppe like
this, but a tiny. contracted cage-tha.
they brought me back to life with water
and food. And the place was a perfect
nightmare. Often | dream of il even now
when am sleeping with my head beneath
my wing. There were barking dogs and
mewing cats thrre. and horrible shrieking
parrots. and, worst of all, right below my
cage. in a glass case, there were lot OF
squirmng snakes-ugh, il gives me the
shivers even TO think about them. Ard
that place is all that / remember before
our pretty human Mistress came i'm one
day, and looked at me and talked to me
like humans talk to their human babies
and / was so glad to be noticed that J
threw my head back, and sang and sang
for all / was worth. and then she smiled
and said she would take me. and she
brought me here. and the Man talked to
me, too, and brought out his flute to see
IL ! would accompany him, and I did
and how happy I've been all the time
since! With nothing but the horrors OF
that awful place to look back TO or re-
member-eXcept. of course I'm my dreams
L often see a lot of my own clan flying
about In sunny forests-isn't 1t strang'
that / should have been so perverse, so
foolish. as to have yielded even to a mo-
mentary impulse to fly away
No more foolish than my impulse 10
do the same" said the Goldfish. Ger
tainly had nothing happy to look back
to before I came here. My earliest rec
objection is the fountain basin of which
spoke. 1t was large basin. and there
were hundreds of us in 1t. The grown
up Goldfish were terribly severe upon
us little ones and often I was afraid
that they would eat u.s.
They kept pursuing us relentlessly and
without conscience, and often for hours
used to have to hide underneath a uly
pad I was in such deadly fear of them:
Tor / was little bit of a tyke, and
1idn't belong to the clan of the bigger
'nes; they were only my cousins, and so
hey didn't have much use for me- Bur
'ne day I was scooped up i'm a net, and
hen our pretty human Mistress looked
It me and 1 heard her say she would
AXE me, just as you heard her say the
anne thing. and then was brought here
md put in my nice, comfortable globe
lome with my two little kinsmen that
was only then that life began To he
worth living for me. / have all the nice
lew water / want all the time, ani INV
title grottoes to swim about in, and the
me sunlight that you love so we'll
treams through and fills me with a
'arm glow. There's no use talkins.
m one happy Goldfish, and home fa
lways going to be good enough for me.
'ou. too. dare say. from now on?''
You know it, said the Canary Bird.
But there's one thing-it showed us how
,uch they loved us when they were so
nxious to have US back. didn't it22
The Goldfish nodded sleepily ana
awned and said he'd better be taking
,rty winks. and dived to the grottoes
eneath and burrowed I'm the pebbly sand
nd soon was asleep: and the Canary
opped back to his swing and folded his
cad under his wing and slept too and
he Goals cracked In the old latrobe and
lie gilt clock licked quietly, and peacs
,igned all around.
CLARENCE l.. CULLEN