In summer, Poll lived mostly out of doors, hung in a cage at the top of the piazza. Here she seemed very much amused at the various operations she witnessed.

In the morning, she was placed in front of the house on account of the shade; but after dinner, the cage was carried round to a porch, where the shed and barn were in full view.

From the front porch, she could salute all the early visitors, and watch the butcher’s cart as it passed, often startling him with the inquiry,—

“What have you to-day?” Then, if no one answered, she would quickly reply, “Veal,” or, “Only veal to-day.”

But her greatest amusement was to watch a family of children, who lived nearly opposite. There was one child just commencing to go to school—a duty which he disliked exceedingly.

As soon as Poll saw him she would begin, “You must go, or you’ll grow up a dunce.”

Then she would whine, and cry, “I won’t go, I say I won’t.”

“Go right along, you naughty boy, or I shall tell your father.”

Poll now begins to sob and sniffle in earnest, when she suddenly stops and begins the whole conversation over again, greatly to the merriment of her hearers.

There is, however, one trick that Poll has learned, which is quite inconvenient.

Near Mr. Lee’s house, the ground rises, his residence being on a hill. Teams loaded with coal, and other heavy articles, continually pass by, it being of course quite an object with the drivers to get the horses to the top of the hill without stopping on the way.

But this would spoil Miss Poll’s fun. When they are about half way up, and just in the steepest part, she calls out, “Whoa,” in a loud, authoritative voice, so exactly in imitation of the driver that they obey at once. This she repeats as often as he attempts to start them forward, until, greatly vexed, I am sorry to say, he sometimes swears at both the horses and the bird.

Nor is this all. When the teams have reached the top of the hill, and the driver wishes to let them stop and breathe, Poll begins to cluck for them to go on, and will not let them rest until they are out of her sight, when she begins a hearty laugh over her own joke. In the mean time, the driver frets and fumes, and wishes that bird had the driving of those horses for once.

Poll has formed quite an acquaintance with most of the children of the neighborhood. At one time, there was a great excitement among the boys in regard to a company of soldiers they were forming. On Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, they marched up and down the street, past Mr. Lee’s, beating a drum, and singing, “Rub-a-dub, dub! rub-a-dub, dub! Hurrah, hurrah!” As soon as they were out of hearing, Poll began the story, and went through the drill with great glee.

From the back porch, Poll witnessed the grooming of the horses, when, as was often the case, they were taken out for Mrs. Lee and Minnie to ride. Indeed, she did her best, as far as words could go, to assist in the operation. While the harness was being put on, she continually called out, “Back, sir! Stand still! What are you about there?” This was often done, greatly to the discomfiture of the hostler, who was obliged generally to countermand these orders.

I have told you that Poll was very fond of her friends, and jealous of their affection. She was also very strong in her dislikes. There was one member of the family whom she could not endure, and she took every occasion to vent her spite against him. This was the colored boy who blacked the boots, scoured the knives, and ran errands.

Early one morning, when Poll was hanging up at a back window, she saw Tom polishing the boots, and whistling a merry tune, never once thinking of his enemy near him. Squeezing herself, as she often did, through the wires of her cage, she crept silently along through an inner room into the shed, when she flew directly at him, caught him by the legs, and held him fast.

Poor Tom was frightened nearly out of his senses, and yelled for some one to take the parrot away. The servants enjoyed the fun too well, however, to release him. They laughed heartily, telling him to shake her off; but he was paralyzed with fright, and stood the picture of horror until the cook coaxed Poll away.

At another time, she took a great dislike to the groom, who was an Irishman. Watching a favorable opportunity, she flew at him, caught hold of his shirt bosom, and held it so tightly with her strong beak, that it was some time before Mrs. Lee, who was attracted to the kitchen by the noise, could make her let go her hold of the astonished object of her hatred.

After this, whenever the women servants were displeased with the man, they would slyly let Poll out of her cage, when she darted directly toward him, and was thus the means of his losing many a dinner.

When his grievances became too heavy, he complained to his mistress, who soon put a stop to such unjust proceedings.One evening, when Mr. Lee drove into the yard, he heard Minnie laughing heartily. Approaching nearer, he saw her sitting on the piazza; Leo, looking rather ashamed, crouching at her feet; and Poll talking, in great excitement, in exact imitation of his own tones—

“Leo, come here! good fellow! Down, sir! Leo, Leo! Hurrah, boys; what fun!”

As it was near the time for his master’s return, the dog had been more readily deceived by the parrot’s call, and had run rapidly toward the house, when he perceived that he had been made a fool of, as he often had been before.

A few hours later, they were talking it over in the library, when Mr. Lee said he thought he had read an incident very similar.

Minnie joyfully clapped her hands, while her father took down the book, and read,—

“A parrot belonging to a gentleman in Boston was once sunning himself in his cage, at the door of a shop. Seeing a dog in the distance, he began to whistle, when the animal, imagining it to be the call of his master, ran swiftly toward the house.

“At this moment, the bird exclaimed, ‘Get out, you brute!’ when the astonished dog hastily retreated, leaving the parrot laughing and enjoying the joke.”

“That reminds me,” added Mrs. Lee, “of a story a lady once told me of a parrot she owned, and which was really a wonderfully intelligent bird. A new family moved into the neighborhood, consisting, among others, of two young ladies, who always dressed very gayly.

“Polly had a bad habit of making remarks upon the passers by, as she hung in her cage overlooking the main street. If, as was sometimes the case, persons engaged in conversation stopped near the house, they would often be startled by the cry,—

“‘Go home, now! Want to quarrel?’

“But when she saw ladies dressed fashionably, she gave utterance to a most contemptuous laugh, which would have been insult enough by itself; but she often accompanied it by the words,—

“‘La, how smart I do feel!’

“My friend called at once on her new neighbors, but unfortunately found they were out; she waited a long time for the call to be returned, and at last began to wonder that no notice was taken of her politeness, when the cause of the neglect was explained by a mutual friend.“It appeared that on several occasions the young ladies had passed the house, and had heard the insulting laugh and words, which they attributed to my friend; so that when asked whether they had become acquainted with Mrs. G., they answered, coolly, ‘We have no wish to make her acquaintance.’

“Being pressed for a reason, they at last confessed that they had been repeatedly insulted, and narrated in what manner it had happened.

“This answer caused such a burst of merriment that they were surprised, until, being told that it was the chattering of a tame parrot, they soon joined in the laugh, and went at once to make her acquaintance, and also that of her mistress.”