"Then I inquired, 'You have not lived here always?'
"'I should rather think not,' retorted the parrot, sharply. 'Do you take me for a common bird, sir? I belonged to one of the best families at home; only it was my misfortune to be caught by a sailor, who brought me over the seas to this great city, when he was taken ill, poor fellow, and died. I heard him say I was to be a present for his sweetheart up in the country; but I never saw her, because the lodging-house woman sold me, with the rest of the sailor's effects, to the old Jew here.'
"'As to that,' said a rosewood arm-chair, with a faded cover, 'I once adorned a magnificent drawing-room myself.'
"' And we,' sighed a wreath of artificial roses, 'once nestled among the curls of beauty.'
"'I was stolen,' said an alabaster vase, standing in graceful purity among the surrounding common objects.
"'I was, also,' echoed a velvet portmonnaie, an ivory fan, and a crystal perfume-bottle, with silver top.
"Then with the parrot for conductor, holding a bit of straw in his left claw, as the leader of an orchestra wields his bâton, they all commenced a song, the words of which were composed by the ivory fan, and set to music by the parrot.
'Our varnish is cracked,
Our colors are worn,
In this den we are packed,
All our glory is gone.
Chorus. We have seen better days,
Tra, la, la, tra, la, la.'
"The parrot was so much affected by this sad yet beautiful composition, that he shed tears.