Revisiting the People's Voice, Volume 1, Number 1, 17 April 1880, after the first poem we start off with what appears to be a short fictional story regarding a parrot. (Content warning for animal death.) This story appears - so far! - to have only appeared in this newspaper, not in any other books or papers easily searchable against our friend Google.
There are not a lot of clues to go on for this story. The author wrote under the nom de plume Mrs Em. B. Dubbleyu (so likely the real initials are M.B.W., though one can never be sure). The name has not popped up in other searches either, leading to the idea this is a local author with only one story to her (or his) credit. So, what is this story?
Although the newspaper is fragmentary, we can glean a young girl, Amy, is living with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Fielding. On a neighborhood walk in "a pretty Ohio village," Amy and her aunt are accosted by a green parrot named Poll, who calls the girl "Ada" and seeks her out whenever possible. The aunt and Amy, having recently moved to this place, have no idea what is going on with this parrot and its fascination with Amy, and try to avoid encountering it when possible.
Some story is missing at this point, but one day the parrot Poll follows the girl home.
Every day, for three days, the parrot visited the house where Amy dwelt, trying unsuccessfully to enter, ever fondly calling “o’er and o’er again,” the name so fondly cherished.
This situation was extremely distressing to Amy, and finally the bird makes its entrance to the home, first by the door, then through an open window. Amy, distraught, tried to hide, while the aunt, who was apparently attacked in the missing fragment, was also running from the bird and screaming. Enter the uncle, Mr. Fielding, attempting to save the day:
They were near the open window, and hoping to drive the bird out of it, Mr. Fielding hit it with his hand. Instead of the parrot alighting out of the window, it struck the window sill and fell upon the carpet, apparently lifeless. In a moment it opened its eyes, eyes so full of sadness, so full of tenderness, and, as Mr. Fielding gently raised it to see where it could be hurt, it mournfully said: "Poor Poll, poor Poll! Ada, Ada!” and died.
After a bit of admonishing his wife, the husband wrapped up poor Poll and took the parrot to the owner's house. There, the backstory is fully revealed - Ada, a child, had died, and Poll mistook Amy for its beloved friend. Mr. Fielding is somewhat absolved of killing the bird by the assumption Poll died of a broken heart after the final rejection.
Black Beauty (1877) is narrated from the perspective of the horse, which is likely not a point of view many other writers would be able to tackle. Perhaps some of the key elements of the parrot, mainly its ability to speak and ability to recognize and bond with humans, made it an ideal animal for this tale to elicit sympathy from the readers. Perhaps there is a little sly rebuking of the aunt and Amy for being terrified of a small bird, who was only seeking affection.
Another option could also hinge on the sentimentality of Victorian-era writing, using an animal's bond with a child gone too soon to pull on the heartstrings of the readers. A parrot, able to express with words the unwavering affection seen in tales of dogs guarding the graves of their owners, springs to mind; the death of the parrot adds another layer of loss for the already grieving family of Ada.
If you stumble across any further information, or perhaps a complete version of this story, drop me a note!
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