[ Leslie / Minnie's Pet Parrot ]
"Madeline Leslie" was one of the pen names used by Harriet Woods Baker (1815 - 1893), a prolific American author primarily of moral and religious tales for young readers. This particular story was one of the volumes in her series entitled Minnie and Her Pets.
Minnie's Pet Parrot was first published in 1864 (Boston: Lee and Shepard) and has been reprinted a couple of times recently. The illustrator is uncredited, though the last name "Hyde" is readily evident in the illustrations, as is the name of the engravers, Kilburn & Mallory (that would be the American engraver Samuel Kilborn [1831 - 1903] and his sometimes partner Richard Mallory [1813 - 1890]).
While ostensibly about Minnie's parrot, a number of her other pets are mentioned, with multiple references to her father's Newfoundland, Leo, who is treated in another book in this series discussed here at The Cultured Newf, Minnie's Pet Dog.
In the opening paragraph of this book we learn of the acquisition of Minnie's pet spaniel, Tinney.
After a time, her father, seeing how much comfort she took with kitty, bought her a spaniel. He already had a large Newfoundland dog; but Mrs.[13] Lee was unwilling to have him come into the house, saying that in summer he drew the flies, and in winter he dirtied her hearth rugs. So Leo, as the great dog was called, was condemned to the barn, while Tiney could rove through the parlors and chambers whenever he pleased.
Leo's name comes up again a few lines later:
. . . though her parents had had six children, she was the only one remaining to them, and that in her infancy she was very sickly, you will not wonder so much. The doctor said that their only hope of[16] bringing her up was to keep her in the open air as much as possible.
“Let her have a run with Leo,” he used to say; or, “Get her a horse, and teach her to ride. That will do her more good than medicine.”
Minnie's parrot, rather unimaginatively named Poll, was not above teasing Leo the Newf:
Poll was exceedingly fond of music, and learned a tune by hearing it played a few times; but she had a queer habit of leaving off in the middle of a line, when she would whistle for[27] the dog, or call out, “Leo, come here! lie down, you rascal!”
Leo, it seems, was deceived by Poll more than once:
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[61] 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.
Poll seemed to enjoy teasing both the human and animal inhabitants of the household:
She often heard the cook calling Tom [a family servant], who was apt to run to the barn when she wanted him; and she began in a loud, impatient tone, “Tom!” her voice rising; then again, “Tom!” falling inflection; “Tom!” again; “I say, Tom; come here, you rascal!”
Finding this made Minnie laugh heartily, she began to call, “Leo, come here! Lie down, sir! Tiney, Tiney,” in a small, fine voice, like the child’s; “Tiney, Tiney, Tiney! O, you little rogue!”