"'What new-comer? Oh, the Umbrella!'
"'Yah, ze Umbrella,' echoed the meerschaum, speaking very broken English.
"So they all welcomed me cordially, to my great relief; for I was beginning to feel dreadfully shy and awkward, not being accustomed to society. I endeavored to make myself agreeable, by describing to them the incident of the shower, at which they all laughed heartily.
"My thoughts frequently revert to the life I led in that delightful home, where I was surrounded by so many refinements. Alas! it was too soon brought to a close. My master made a journey; and, although I had not the least idea of it, I accompanied him. I was scarcely allowed time to look farewell at the various inmates of the room; the clock and canary chirping good-by in duet, and I was gone.
"I next found myself upon a large steamboat. Any thing more wretched than the night we passed there, I cannot imagine. I rolled about in the most uncomfortable fashion, the lights bobbing up and down, the cabin floor rocking giddily, and my careless master took no heed to my safety.
"A tattered, rusty-looking man came prowling along, then, stooping over me, adroitly managed to drop a clumsy, cotton umbrella, and carry me off instead. What must have been my master's disgust, when he discovered that horrid, faded thing, instead of my slim, genteel self!
"There was no help for it, because an umbrella cannot raise any outcry; so the thief took possession of me without struggle.
"We arrived in a large city; and I was carried ashore by the rusty man, who made his way along many narrow, dirty streets, to a small dingy shop, which he entered. It was a musty, dark place, crowded with many strange articles of sale, from mended furniture, silver watches, odd crockery, and picture frames, to china vases, and silk pocket-handkerchiefs.
"Here, I was sold to the owner of the shop, a wrinkled, old man, with a white beard, who placed me in company with others of my class in a rack. At first I was too unhappy in my altered circumstances to attempt any conversation with those about me. The sun came peeping in the dust-stained window; and each stray, gilded beam seemed a blessing in that sad, gloomy place. How every thing brightened under the heavenly, glorifying touch! The wreaths of artificial flowers took the bright hues of life; and a gray parrot, in a battered cage, shook himself to peer about more cheerfully.
"'How pleasant the sun is!' remarked the parrot. 'If it only would shine here all day, as it does in my native India, instead of creeping away over the roofs so soon, leaving us chill and dark again!'