“Yes, indeed. I suppose it would be a good plan to hang a parrot in every store.”
CHAPTER VI.
PARROT SAVING THE SILVER.
Minnie was quite distressed one morning, when, on going to Poll’s cage to say “Good morning” to her pet, she found her unable to answer, only returning a feeble moan. She ran in haste to tell her mother, who thought it one of the parrot’s tricks. When she came down, however, she found Poll was really ill.
“Dear Poll! darling birdie!” she said, tenderly, stroking the beautiful head. “I’ll make you some tea, which I hope will soon cure you.”
She went at once to a side closet, and taking a little pinch of saffron from a paper, sent it to the cook, with directions to steep it at once.
Breakfast that morning was a dull affair, without Poll’s lively talk; and as, after the saffron tea, she did not at once revive, Minnie began to mourn so much lest her dear parrot would die, that her father, to occupy her attention, took her to the library, and read her some anecdotes, a few of which I will repeat.
“A tradesman in London kept two parrots, which usually hung in a cage over the porch projecting from the front door, so that when a person stood on the side of the street nearest the house, the birds could not be seen.