e
thieves, and it made me very angry to hear them called such a bad name.
I screamed and struck my wings together so violently that I slipped from
the branch, and was again swinging in the air by my chain.

"Mamma, Rito will break his legs, and then we shall have to kill him,"
screamed Louis, in alarm.

"Take off his chain, oh, mamma, do," said kind-hearted Carrie; while
little Hope pleaded in her sweet voice: "Poor Rito will be good, mamma.
He won't bite things any more."

You can not imagine how eagerly I listened to the discussion, for to be
free from my chain was now my sole ambition. My heart was touched by the
affection of the children, and when, to my intense delight, their mother
yielded to their entreaties, I made a firm resolve that I would never
bite and tear things again, unless by good luck I could find an old
newspaper or a worthless stick, because I knew if I could not use my
beak occasionally, it would ache as bad as Carrie's tooth does some
nights when she goes crying to bed.

Since that time my life has been very peaceful. I am free as air, my
wings have recovered their strength, and I go wherever I please.
Whenever my little master Louis whistles for me I answer him at once,
for I have learned to whistle as well as he, and I always go as fast as
I can to perch upon his hand.

[Illustration: "I GO INTO MY CAGE."]

When night comes, and it grows dark, I go into my cage myself, and my
good friend Fritz always sleeps near me.

I have not forgotten my dear papa and mamma, nor my brother and sister,
and I often wonder if they are still living in the beautiful hollow tree
by the Congo; but I have learned to love new things, and to remember my
childhood as a sweet dream instead of a lost and longed-for reality.

The gray parrot gave a little soft laugh, and was silent.

"I declare," said the canary, who had listened very attentively, "you
have seen a lot of trouble. But why such a quiet, gentlemanly bird as
you should have such a passion to bite and tear things, I can't imagine.
Now my family--" But what the canary had to tell will always be a
mystery, for at that moment the door opened and in came papa and mamma
from the party.

"Oh, Fritz, you naughty dog!" said mamma, when she saw her pretty afghan
lying in a heap on the floor. But when she lifted it to put it back on
the lounge, she found Louis, still hugging his bow and arrow, Carrie,
Hope, the white kitty, and Fritz, all curled up in a littl