THE SHIPWRECK—THE PARROT.
ONE evening there was a great storm, although it was not autumn yet,
which is the time for storms. The wind had been very high all the
morning, and had become louder and more stormy as the day went by; and
just before the children were going to bed, their grandmamma told them
that she was very anxious, for such a stormy night would be, without
doubt, dangerous to many ships now at sea.
The noise of the wind was very great, and the doors and windows rattled
and shook, and Alice asked—
‘Is that loud noise the sea that we hear, grandmamma?’ And her
grandmamma told her it was; and when they listened they heard the roar
of the waves as they broke upon the shore, and they thought that they
even heard the shingle rolling back with the heavy waves.
‘Do not forget to add to your prayers to-night, “God bless all those at
sea,” my dear children; for there will be many who may stand in great
need of God’s merciful help to-night,’ said grandmamma, as Alice and
Beatrice bade her ‘good-night.’
The two little girls went to bed, thinking much of their grandmamma’s
words, and did not forget to pray for ‘all those at sea.’ The noise of
the storm at first kept them awake, but sleep came soon, and they forgot
in sleep all their thoughts and fears.
Before breakfast the next morning the news was brought that a large ship
had been thrown on the shore at Sidmouth during the night, but not a
single life was lost.
The news was brought by the gardener, who had been in Sidmouth very
early in the morning, and therefore grandmamma sent for him afterwards
to come and tell her all he knew about the wreck.
‘It is not much of a wreck,’ the man said, ‘for the ship has not had
much damage. It was a special mercy of God that the moon had risen soon
after midnight, so it was light; and the master of the ship knew the
coast well, and knew, too, that unless he kept the schooner straight
upon the town, it would go to bits on either side of it against our
rocks. And so, in spite of the fury of the storm, he managed to steer
her hard on to the shore, which is deep enough, you know, ma’am, at high
water. The south-west wind helped to drive her on; but the men got
frightened at last, and took to the boat as soon as they could see the
Sidmouth lights, for they could not help fearing that the ship would go
aground and break up.
‘The crew, who rowed for their lives, had not reached the shore when
they saw their ship come on past them with mighty force; and with the
high tide she ran high and dry on to the parade, not far from the
coastguard’s station, where she is still.
‘It is quite a wonder; and what a mercy that not a soul has perished!
for the crew were soon thrown on the shore by the breakers; and though,
of course, they were wet to the skin and worn out, yet they were all,
thank God, safe.
‘A number of the fishermen, who had been watching the ship some hours,
and had waited for them, ran down and caught the boat just when a huge
breaker had lifted it up, and would have torn both men and boat away
back into the raging sea.’
The children asked how the fishermen were not afraid that those dreadful
waves would carry them away too.
‘The breakers would have done so, miss,’ said John; ‘but the men all
held on to a stout rope fixed to the shore, and were able to keep their
feet, holding by the boat at the same time, when the big breaker went
clean over them, and thus it could not sweep them away.’
When grandmamma heard this, she told Alice and Beatrice that she should
drive with them to Sidmouth and see the ship, and learn more about this
wonderful coming on shore and merciful escape.
The two little girls were so glad, and talked of nothing but the ship
and what they should see, as they drove over the hill to the town.
The carriage stopped at the hotel on the parade, and from there
grandmamma and Alice and Beatrice walked till they came near the
stranded ship, which looked such a huge monster out of the water.
A great crowd had collected round the ship, but they were allowed to
pass and come much nearer. The sailors were running backwards and
forwards, talking loud and telling everybody what a night they had had,
how terrible the storm had been, and what they had done to save their
lives.
A gentleman, a friend of grandmamma’s, told her a great deal about the
ship, and said that it had come from the eastern coast of Africa, round
by the Cape of Good Hope, and that the sailors had brought with them
numberless animals and curious articles, and they wished to sell them
here; for they must now go by land to London, and could take but very
little with them. The gentleman pointed at the same time to several
small monkeys that were climbing up the ropes and rigging of the ship,
and jumping about, and shrieking and chattering to the people below.
They seemed very happy at being loose, instead of shut up in cages, and
to enjoy being safe and quiet instead of being tossed and thrown about
upon those terrible rough waves.
Alice and Beatrice were lost in wonder, and were quite silent; they had
never before seen so much that was new and strange to them, and here was
so much to see.
Suddenly Alice called out, ‘Grandmamma, do you see that beautiful bird?
Pray look; what bird is it?’
And at the same time a sailor came up to them with a very fine parrot in
a small cage. The parrot was grey and red, but its feathers were ruffled
and wet, and the cage was so small that the poor parrot could hardly
turn round.
‘Will you buy a beautiful talking parrot?’ said the sailor; ‘he can say
anything you like. Please, will you have it, ma’am? I will let you have
it very cheap,’ addressing the lady, as he saw that the two little girls
had turned to her and were asking her to buy his bird.
Grandmamma agreed, and bought the bird for a small price, for the man
told her that he should be so glad to get rid of it, as well as of a
pair of green paroquets which he would fetch from the ship.
[Illustration:
Grandmamma buys a parrot saved from the wreck.—_Page 125._
]
The sailor then, putting the parrot in its cage into Alice’s hand,
disappeared among the crowd; and before many minutes had passed, the
children saw the same sailor on the deck of the ship, and saw him let
himself down to the ground by a rope, and soon come again towards them
holding a small cage or box. In this were two much smaller birds, of
slender shape, with long tails, and of the most beautiful green colour.
Alice and Beatrice could scarcely express their joy when grandmamma
bought them as well, saying, at the same time—
‘These are love-birds, from Australia.’
The sailor looked, and said, ‘Yes, that is their name, and they came
from Sydney; but the parrot I got off the west coast of Africa.’
‘Will you have a monkey too, ma’am? One of our men has several.’
‘No, thank you,’ said the lady; ‘I have enough now, and am not fond of
monkeys. But now we must go, dear children, first to Brown’s shop, where
I will get two proper cages for our new birds, for the poor creatures
cannot move in these. Can you carry the parrot, Alice? is it not too
heavy for you?’
‘No, not at all,’ said Alice, a little proudly; ‘I like to carry our
parrot. May I hold the cage the whole way home?’
‘Yes, if you like, my dear;’ and they walked on to the shop, where
grandmamma soon found a nice large cage for the parrot. It was of brass
wire all round, and from the top hung inside a large wooden ring, in
which grandmamma told the children parrots like always to sit and swing.
‘What! like the squirrels on the trees, grandmamma?’ said Alice.
‘Yes; I suppose it reminds them of the swinging branches of the trees in
the country where they lived and flew about.’
‘But where is their country?’ asked Alice.
‘In some part of Africa; in that hot country there are plenty of those
gay-coloured birds. You know where Africa is on the map, and that it is
one of the great divisions of the world?’
‘Yes, I know that: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia.’
‘Quite right, my child. But though it is cruel and wrong to shut birds
up in cages, now that parrots have been brought away from their far
distant home, and because it is much too cold for them to live and fly
about in the woods in England, we must try and make our parrot and those
pretty little love-birds as comfortable and as happy as we can.’
Another cage, a square one, was chosen for the love-birds, and seed was
bought as well, at another shop, and then they drove home with their new
live toys.
Grandmamma showed Alice how to strew sand on the board at the bottom of
each cage, and where to put the seed and water for the birds’ food; and
when the cages were made ready, grandmamma opened the doors of the
parrot’s new and old cages, and putting the two cages quite close
together, the children went a little way off and watched the parrot.
First he looked at his new cage a short while with outstretched neck,
till he saw the seed and water, when he suddenly hopped on to the open
door, and then into the large cage, and began feeding and drinking
eagerly at the seed and water, as if he had been very long without food,
as most likely, during the storm, no one had had time to attend to him,
and the birds had been forgotten.
‘If the ship had gone down our birds would have been drowned, would they
not, grandmamma?’ said Alice.
‘Yes, dear Alice, they would; and, what would have been sadder, the poor
men too, if God had not taken such care of them.’
‘I am so glad,’ said Alice, turning to the bird, ‘that you were not
drowned, you pretty parrot!’
The other cage was then placed next to the little box where the pair of
love-birds were, and though they were more shy than the parrot, they
made a rush into their house, and they seemed quite as hungry, for they
began to eat immediately.
‘We will leave the poor birds now alone a little, and get ready for
dinner; and I dare say that my little girls will be nearly as glad of
their dinners as the poor shipwrecked birds are.’
The children laughed, and said that they were very hungry, and they
hoped that their new birds would soon feel happy in their nice large
cages.
After dinner Alice and Beatrice went to see their birds. The parrot was
swinging in its ring; but though they spoke to it, and called it ‘pretty
Poll,’ it neither spoke, nor moved, nor took notice of the children.
They remained standing next the cage, and watched the bird long, and
were very disappointed that this wonderful talking parrot could not, or
would not, speak a word.
The little green love-birds seemed frightened when the little girls went
near their cage, and flew about and fluttered, till Alice and Beatrice
left them at their grandmamma’s wish.
The next morning their first visit on going downstairs was to the birds.
The parrot was swinging again on his ring, and the love-birds fluttered
about; but Alice observed that they had eaten nearly all the seed, and
that their feathers were dry and smooth and clean, and bright green, and
the children said that they had never seen such beautiful birds before.
Grandmamma said to Alice, ‘This morning you are late, and you must come
to breakfast first; but another morning try and be ready a little
earlier, and then you may give the birds fresh seed and water and clean
sand before breakfast. To-day Mary will show you how to do so.’
Alice ate her breakfast quicker than usual this morning, for she was apt
to be slow, and to talk and to waste her time whilst dressing and whilst
eating.
When both the little girls had finished their breakfast grandmamma told
them to call Mary to feed the birds.
‘May I take two bits of sugar, grandmamma?’ said Beatrice.
‘You may, dear; but be careful, for parrots bite sometimes; and you are
a stranger to our parrot, and he may not like you.’
The parrot would not take any notice of the children, but swung
backwards and forwards in his ring. Grandmamma told the children to ask
Mary to place the two cages in the verandah where the sun was shining,
for it was a fine sunny day, and grandmamma said that all birds except
owls liked the sun.
Soon after the cages had been put in the verandah, and both the children
were picking up and arranging their playthings, with their backs turned
to the birds, they were suddenly startled by hearing a loud ‘Good
morning!’ called out close behind them. Alice and Beatrice looked round
to see who spoke so loud, when ‘Good morning!’ was repeated by the same
voice. Beatrice was a little frightened, till Alice said, ‘It is the
parrot!’
They were so pleased. Beatrice ran to call grandmamma to come and listen
to their talking parrot, and Alice went closer to the cage, but not too
close, for fear that she should frighten the parrot. She answered the
parrot, and said, ‘Good morning, pretty Poll!’ and the parrot spoke
again and again, and said, ‘Good morning, pretty Bob!’ When grandmamma
came, Alice ran to her and told her, ‘Our parrot talks so nicely. I am
so glad. But his name is not Poll, it is Bob; for when I said, “Pretty
Poll,” he answered, “Pretty Bob.”’ And the parrot went on saying ‘Pretty
Bob’ and ‘Good morning’ several times; and afterwards he began whistling
and coughing, and seemed to wish to show the children all he could do
and speak.
Beatrice jumped with joy, she was so happy that the parrot could talk,
and it was a long time before they liked to leave the verandah.
After dinner they took some bits of biscuit to their parrot, which he
ate willingly from their fingers; but grandmamma reminded them to be
careful still, ‘for it may bite you when it snaps at its food.’ Beatrice
drew back her little hand, and was content to let Alice feed the parrot
alone.
Alice tried every morning to be quicker in dressing herself, for she
could now do everything for herself, except fastening her little dress
behind; and when she was ready early, grandmamma let her feed and attend
to the birds; but when she was late, Mary did it.
Alice liked to do it best herself; for the birds began to know her, and
she was seldom late in the morning now. And every morning she gave the
birds fresh seed in the little boxes, and clean water in the glasses,
and put some sand or fine gravel on the board; and little Beatrice tried
to help her as far as she could.
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