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Page 14
"'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."
[Illustration: 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 molasses 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 passed, 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.
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