Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-04-19

People who are always shut up no
only get i'll. but also get bad.temper
ed. It was the same with Polly. Hel
temper was so bad that II you pu
your finger near her cage, she woult
dart her head through the bars anc
bite that finger till it bled.
When she was just over her six
, tieth birthday, she found friend;
and who should 1t be but a great
strong, noisy schoolboy! Polly's mis-
! tress came to pay long visit to this
schoolboy's mother, and she brought
7 Polly with her. That day, when the
schoolboy raced into the house with
his two brothers, he was astonished
to hear ugly screams coming from
the kitchen. His mother told him a
parrot was making the noise, and
she had screamed so much they had
to carry her down to the kitchen and
cover her cage with a duster
Polly hated her cage and she hated
the buster, and she was SO angry
that she was biting the buster into
dozens of holes. think, perhaps, the
big schoolboy was so fond of free,
dom himself that he pitied the lonely
parrot At any rate he whipped of
the buster and he said, What jol-
ly bird"
Polly stood quite still, and turned
! a wicked eye on the boy.
Don't go too near" said the
mother. ''She bites"
"But, mother" said the schoolboy,
"the book we read at school says
parrots like you to scratch their
heads, and you have to say Scratch
poll, Polly and then you scratch,
and I'm going to do It," Before his
mother could stop him, the school
boys hand was inside the cage door
and before the astonished Polly could
bite, her gray head was being gently
scratched!
Never in all her sixty years had
Polly met anything like It, People
never came near to, her, they used to
get away from her. Here was some
one not afraid of her-some one who
had actually come inside Of her lone
ly prison Polly was delighted. She
did not think Of biting; she simply
waited with her head held down and,
when the boy began to draw away
his hand, instead Of darting vicious
" at him with her beak, she opened
and shut her wings, and made queer,
soft little noises in her throat, as
though she was talking to him. Fe
did not seem a bit surprised, and
said
"she is jolly bird. and 1t is all
bosh about her temper"
Polly's mistress said, II never dare
give her bath, because should
have to put my hand through her
cage door to lift it in, and she would
bite my hand; but can give her seed
and drinking water from the out
SIDE"
The schoolboy very much enjoyed
his bath each morning, and he
thought it was hard upon Polly she
could not have one. too.
"In give her BATH" he said, and
he borrowed an old pie dish and filled
it with water, and opened the door,
and put it In Polly was delighted!
The dish was white like her seed-dish,
SO she was not frightened; and. with
this wonderful friend standing by her,
and whistling a tune to her to encour-
age her, she came down from her
perch and had a great bath. cannot
tell you when she had one before; at
any rate she did the thing we'll this
time. for she sent the water in showers
outside her cage; and she splashed
the boy. and the plates on the dresser,
and some people say she splashed the
ceiling, too.
The boy only laughed, and said:
Gust look at that! Isn't she happy?"
Then, when Polly looked the strang-
est. wettest, thinnest object you ever
set your eyes on, the boy took the bath
away. and carried the cage out of the
kitchen into the glorious sun. This
was an event! Never had she been out
of house before, except when she
went on journey, and then her cage
was thickly covered with a green
baize cover, so that she could not see
anything.
Now the dripping Polly could dry
herself in the sun, and see the trees,
and feel the soft wind. Polly was de-
lighted!
She took little short runs up and
down her perch She clambered up and
down the sides of her cage. She
whistled. She called. She preened her
wet feathers. And presently she dried
into clean, sleek, handsome bird.
Next day, before the boy went TO
school. he said: Parrots love to
sharpen their beaks by tearing wood
to pieces on the trees as they fly about.
shall give Polly stick of firewood
to play with" at
So he brought a thick stick and
opened the cage door, and scratched
her poll, and stroked her soft back,
and then gently handed her the stick.
Polly had once been terrified OF
sticks, as one of her owners used
cruelty to poke her with one, but al
ready she loved this boy and trusted
him. She gently nibbled his finger and
kept making those soft: little notes In
her throat as If she were talking to
babies, and presently she took the
stick from him. Once more Polly was
delighted She stood on one leg and
held the stick in the other claw, and
she tore 1t all into shreds and spent a
very busy, happy morning over it.
Now began a new life for poor Polly.
The schoolboy taught her to whistle
tunes and to repeat whole sentences:
he gave her fruits and seeds she had