After a few days of sincere grief I reflected philosophically that if he
had not passed away I must have gone soon, and naturally felt it
preferable that I should be the survivor.
A skillful taxidermist has preserved as much of Kizzie as possible for
me, and he now adorns the parlor mantel, a weak, mute reminder of three
weeks of anxiety.
And his parents--
The peahen died suddenly and mysteriously. There was no apparent reason
for her demise, but the autopsy, which revealed a large and irregular
fragment of window glass lodged in her gizzard, proved that she was a
victim of Beauty's vanity. A friend who was present said, as he tenderly
held the glass between thumb and finger: "It is now easy to see through
the cause of her death; under the circumstances, it would be idle to
speak of it as pane-less!" Beauty had never seemed very devoted to her,
but he mourned her long and sincerely. Now that she had gone he
appreciated her meek adoration, her altruistic devotion.
Another touch like human nature.
And when, after a decent period of mourning, another spouse was secured
for him he refused to notice her and wandered solitary and sad to a
neighbor's fields. The new madam was not allowed to share the high roost
on the elm. She was obliged to seek a less elevated and airy dormitory.
His voice, always distressingly harsh, was now so awful that it was
fascinating. The notes seemed cracked by grief or illness. At last,
growing feebler, he succumbed to some wasting malady and no longer
strutted about in brilliant pre-eminence or came to the piazza calling
imperiously for dainties, but rested for hours in some quiet corner.
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