TOPSY. 



Ethel Tyler has a tame crow for a pet. 

 It is so black and such a mischievous 

 creature that Ethel named her Topsy. 



Topsy was quite small when given to 

 Ethel, and she has learned to say a num- 

 ber of words. 



There is a large orchard back of the 

 house, and Topsy seems to think this her 

 special playground. Here she can play 

 about and "caw" to her heart's content. 



She loves to hide among the branches 

 of a tree, then call, "Ethel, Ethel," ex- 

 pecting Ethel to come and hunt for her. 



Topsy is very amusing, for there is no 

 end to her tricks and pranks, but she can 

 also be very troublesome if she is so dis- 

 posed. 



Her greatest fault is that of stealing. 

 Small articles, as keys, thimbles, spools 

 of thread and such things have to be kept 

 where she cannot get at them or they 

 will be missing. 



Her eyes are quick and she is so sly 

 that she generally gets away with the 

 things without being caught. 



When articles are missed, we know 

 whom to blame, but it is quite another 

 thing to find them, for she seldom uses 

 a hiding place after it has once been dis- 

 covered and her plunder removed. 



There is one member of the Tyler fam- 

 ily that has not a high opinion of Topsy, 

 and that is Tony, Ethel's cat. 



Topsy does her part towards making 

 the poor cat's life miserable, and I guess 

 Tony thinks she is quite successful. 



She tips over his saucer of milk, pecks 

 at his tail, swoops down upon him when 

 he is eating, seizes his meat and flies to 

 a place of safety before Tony realizes 

 that he has been robbed. Topsy then 

 proceeds to eat her booty, chattering to 

 herself as though she had done a brave 

 deed. 



Tony stands in fear of Topsy, and she 

 knows it, and is not slow in taking ad- 



vantage of the knowledge whenever an 

 opportunity presents itself. 



When Topsy calls, "Tony, Tony," the 

 cat lengthens the distance between him- 

 self and the artful crow, for he knows by 

 experience that she only wants the tuft 

 of fur at the tip of his tail or a piece of 

 the rim of his ear. 



There is no trouble about feeding Top- 

 sy. As long as she has plenty to eat it 

 does not matter what the food might be 

 and she never stops to inquire whether it 

 is fresh or not. 



She is very fond of fish, and it is amus- 

 ing to watch her when a fish cart comes 

 along. 



Mrs. Tyler patronizes a certain man 

 that sells fish, and he stops in front of the 

 house and blows his horn so that she 

 will know he is there. Topsy has learned 

 to associate the blast from the horn with 

 "fish," and the minute she hears a horn 

 blown she starts for the street. 



She always receives a piece of fish if it 

 is Mrs. Tyler's fish monger that is pass- 

 ing, but it often happens that it is a 

 stranger going by and then Topsy fol- 

 lows the cart down the street to see if he 

 will not throw her a piece of fish. If he 

 does not, she comes back chattering an- 

 grily at being cheated out of so enjoyable 

 a meal. 



Ethel will call, "Topsy, Topsy," and 

 the crow will come hopping to her. 

 "Shake hands," and Topsy will raise one 

 of her black feet and put it in Ethel's 

 hand for her to shake. 



When Topsy wishes to go into the 

 house she stands on the door step and 

 calls, "Mamma, Papa or Ethel" until 

 some one comes and lets her in. 



She has many opportunities to leave 

 the place and shift for herself, but she 

 never goes far from the house and seems 

 to prefer making her home with the Ty- 

 lor family. Martha R. Fitch. 



85 



