A parrot there I saw, with gaudy pride Of painted plumes, that hopped from side to side.
"How did you happen to get away from the Morrises?" asked my brother.
The red-bird laughed heartily, as if the recollection were exceedingly amusing.
"Well," said he, "it all came about through Johnny"s having a tea party. For months he had been coaxing and begging his mother to invite his schoolfellows to the house and entertain them with games and plays and music, ending with a fine supper. Early in the spring when he began talking of it, it was too cold, his mother said. Then after a while it was too rainy, or too warm, or they were house-cleaning, or something, and so she kept putting him off from one time to another, hoping by deferring it to make him forget it. The Morrises always spent the month of August at their seaside cottage, and the night before they left home, Johnny tried to get Mrs. Morris to promise that he might have the party the very first thing on their return.
""I"ll think about it, my dear," she answered.
""Whenever you say you"ll think about it then I"m pretty sure not to get what I want," sighed Johnny."
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Summer Tanager.]
"His mother seemed to be much amused at this statement. "Oh, no, my son, it doesn"t always turn out that way; but you know it wouldn"t do for me to promise to have it just as soon as we get back," she objected. "I am always very busy just at our return. It might be very inconvenient for me to prepare for a children"s evening at that time; but when I am ready I shall take pleasure in getting up a nice party for you sometime in the autumn."
"This sounded well, but it was not definite enough to suit Johnny.
However he said no more at that time. While the family were gone Bessie and I had the back porch to ourselves, and no one being there except the housemaid to whom she could display her superiority over me, she grew to be quite agreeable. For some time before the Morrises had bought her, which was years and years before, long before Johnny was born, she had lived in a taxidermist"s shop. The owner of the shop was also a bird dealer in a small way. On account of her accomplishments he had held her at a price that few were willing or able to pay, and so she had been forced to stay with him a long time. She much preferred being owned by a refined family to living in a dingy store, for she was a bird of luxurious tastes, she said.
"I too had never ceased being glad that the grocer had sold me to the Morrises, for I was sure that life would not have been so comfortable for me in the back part of a country store, inhaling the odors from fish barrels and mola.s.ses kegs, and with the dreary outlook afforded by shelves full of canned vegetables and cracker boxes. The only point in favor of a life at the grocery was that I would have been nearer to the woods; but if I could not be in the woods, of what avail was that? The Morrises were people of elegance and refinement, and their home expressed their culture. I had made a pleasant exchange, and I felt it was wise to be as contented as possible.
"August slowly pa.s.sed, and Johnny came back. The big house that had been so quiet for four weeks was suddenly wakened as from a sleep. His noisy, joyous voice rang through the halls, and from cellar to garret.
""Bless the b"y! he"s that plazed to git back, it does one"s sowl good to hear him," said the housemaid.
"Mrs. Morris was so busy for the first day or two that she saw little of Johnny. He was sent on several errands, and took his own time in returning, but every one had too much to do to inquire what kept him so long.
""Can"t I shine up Bessie"s and the admiral"s cages?" he asked his mother after dinner the second day.
"Mrs. Morris was delighted with her son"s thoughtfulness. "Why, Johnny," she said, "I"ll be so glad to have you do it."
"So master Johnny wiped and dusted our cages till we felt very clean, although I own I did not enjoy having him work about me with his brush and dust cloth. Just as he had finished and put us back in our places the doorbell sounded, and presently we heard children"s voices in the hall asking the maid if Johnny Morris was at home.
""It is some one to see you," said Mrs. Morris. But Johnny did not reply. He was nowhere to be seen. At the first sound he had quietly slipped out of the room and I could now see him hiding behind the curtains in the library. Soon Sarah came ushering three or four little barefooted children into the parlor.
""They"ve come to Johnny"s party, ma"am," she explained to Mrs. Morris, who looked up from her work as the children entered.
""How do you do, my dears?" said Mrs. Morris sweetly, though I could see she was greatly surprised. "I believe I don"t know your names, so you will have to introduce yourselves."
"The children looked bashful, and made no reply.
""You are not Johnny Morris" schoolmates, are you?" she questioned.
""No, ma"am," answered the tallest girl, as she gazed about the handsome room with wide-open eyes, I could see that she was not accustomed to such beautiful things.
"Where did you get acquainted with him, then?" went on Mrs. Morris kindly.
""We hain"t acquainted at all, ma"am; but he seed us on the street this morning, and said for us to come to his party to-day. He thought as how maybe they"d be ice-cream to eat, and he told us where he lived, and so we are here."
""Well, we must try to make you have a pleasant time," she replied.
"Sarah, please call Johnny and tell him his guests have arrived."
"But Sarah had been answering a second peal of the bell, and now appeared with a very queer smile on her face at the head of a line of three girls and a small boy, whom she introduced by saying:
""A few more children, ma"am, who have come to take tea with master Johnny."
""Why, really," exclaimed Mrs. Morris, in a sort of flutter, as she helped Sarah to seat the new arrivals. "The house is hardly in order for company."
"The children appeared quite embarra.s.sed, and ranged themselves silently and sedately on the chairs to which they had been directed.
""Dear me, Sarah, what a predicament to be in! Where do you suppose Johnny sc.r.a.ped up all these youngsters? I don"t know what I ought to do to him for playing me this trick." Mrs. Morris said this to the maid as they came to my side of the room. "Think of all the work to be done, and which will have to be stopped for the day--the house all upside down--no chance for preparations for an extra supper for his company. And that big girl bespoke ice-cream as soon as she entered."
And then Mrs. Morris and Sarah turned into the recess of the bay window and laughed softly. Her vexation seemed to pa.s.s away in a few minutes, for she added, "We must make the best of it, since they are here, and let everything else go. But there"s the bell; I expect it"s another batch of Johnny"s friends."
"And so it proved, for these were old acquaintances, eight or ten of his schoolmates. Little misses dressed in fine style, in dainty ruffled frocks and necklaces and bright hair-ribbons, tripped gracefully in and advanced to meet Mrs. Morris, quite like grown ladies in their manners. Behind them came several boys, spick and span in fresh white linen waists and silk neckties and well-fitting shoes.
""Ah! here are Frances and Naomi and Justice and Karl and Mary Ethel and Philip and Jessica and all the rest," said Mrs. Morris, giving them each a hand of welcome as they gathered about her in a pretty group.
"Will you make yourselves quite at home and help me to entertain these other visitors till Johnny comes in? I don"t know what keeps him so long. If you"ll excuse me I"ll go and look for him. There are the pictures in the portfolio that you might like to show to these little girls. And there"s the admiral, our redbird, and Bessie, the parrot.
Maybe they would like to look at them."
"The two girls whom she had designated as Jessica and Frances looked at the strange children a minute but made no movement to carry out Mrs.
Morris" wishes. Instead they drew a little apart and began to talk to each other. Mary Ethel, a round-faced girl who giggled a great deal behind her fan, crossed over to where sat the large girl who had mentioned the ice-cream, and started a conversation by remarking that it was a warm day. The girl made no audible answer, only nodded.
""Do you like to go to school?" inquired Mary Ethel.
"The girl again nodded. There was a little pause. Mary Ethel, who was bent on carrying out Mrs. Morris" suggestion to help her entertain them, began again on the weather. I suppose she couldn"t think of anything new to say, so she observed:
""It"s a nice warm day for the first of September, don"t you think?"
"The girl"s head once more wagged up and down in a.s.sent, but not a word did she utter. At this a subdued t.i.tter came from Frances and Jessica.
Mary Ethel"s face grew red and she frowned at them.
"Just at this moment in ran Johnny. He had put on his best suit. His yellow hair was freshly brushed and his face was wreathed in smiles.
He reminded one of a dancing sunbeam. It was wonderful to see how quickly he set the social wheel moving in the parlor. In three minutes he had them all acquainted and talking to each other. At one side I noticed Naomi and Jessica who were trying to make the parrot talk for the big girl. Mary Ethel was turning the crank of a small music box, around which were cl.u.s.tered a group of the stranger children. On a sofa three or four others had the portfolio of pictures spread out.
Others came to my cage coaxing me to whistle for them, while Johnny capered hither and thither and joked and had more funny things to say than anybody in the room. When he let Bessie out of her cage and put her on the piano to sing the "Mocking Bird," the joy of the visitors knew no bounds.
""Have you a parrot, Jeannette?" he asked one of the little barefooted girls, whose dancing black eyes showed how much she enjoyed Bessie"s performance.
""No, but I have two lovely cats." She made the announcement as if very proud of their ownership.
""I have a cat too. He dresses in black and wears long white whiskers, and looks just like a respectable old colored man." This description amused the children very much.
""What"s your cat"s name?" they shouted.
""Jett. What do you call your cats, Jeannette?"
""The big one is _Boule de Neige_ and the little one is _Jaune Jaquette_."
""What queer names!" exclaimed Mary Ethel. "How did you happen to select such names for them?"