THE DEAD CANARY.
Reading edition
Characters: Elsie, George, and James. Stage Setting: Home interior. Scene: George and James are sitting at table reading books.
[Enter Elsie.]
Elsie. O dear! O dear! It’s gone—killed—eaten up! O dear! O dear! [Wringing hands.]
George [looking up from book]. What is the matter, Elsie? What is gone?
Elsie [sorrowfully]. My dear, dear bird—my canary that you gave me.
George [sympathetically]. You don’t say so! How sorry I am!
James [looking on and deeply interested]. What killed it, Elsie?
Elsie. The cat.
George [angrily]. How cruel! how wicked! I’ll shoot her!
James [surprised]. For what?
George. Why, for killing the bird.
James. For killing one bird? What should be done with you, who have killed so many birds—all as beautiful as the canary?
George [indignantly]. Why, I am not a cat!
James [earnestly, yet with determined voice]. No; but you are far more responsible than a cat, who is governed only by instinct, and kills a bird for food, not for sport, as you do.
George [sarcastically]. Well, this is being decidedly personal.
James. It is simply calling things by their right names. Elsie, what do you think George has spent his whole day for? Just to catch and shoot a poor little wren. Late this afternoon he succeeded in fetching her down, and that leaves four poor little baby wrens in the nest to starve and die.
Elsie [shaking finger sorrowfully at George]. Bad, wicked George! I’ll not speak to you again for a week. You and that kitty-cat are two murderers of birds, and should be shut up in the cellar together.
[Exit Elsie.]
George [shrugging shoulders, gets up, shoves hands into pockets, and moves about room restlessly]. What a great fuss about a bird!
James [indignant]. Fuss? Why should you not apply the same rule to yourself that you would apply to a cat? The equity of the case is against you, George. You claim the right to kill, yet deny that right even to a cat! The law of usage is your only excuse, and it is a very poor defence at best; it is one law for the powerful and another for the weak. You should be too just to use it. [Rises and stands leaning on table.]
George [leaning against a chair]. Your logic is very good, James; but I would like to shoot that cat, for—for——
James. For doing just what you have done so many times. [Crosses to brother.]
George [stammering and looking ashamed]. Well, I’ll—I’ll——
James [looking at him with pleading eyes]. What?
George [looking into James’s face with a more open face]. I think I shall have to own that I have been in the wrong, and I promise never to shoot again in mere sport. [They shake hands earnestly and gladly.]
James. That’s a noble resolve, George. As to Elsie, I’m sure she’ll forgive you when she learns of your resolve; but mind—no mental reservations about that cat, or——
George [smiling]. Or what?
James [patting George on shoulder as both move to leave room]. Why, a cat-astrophe will be sure to follow.