Page:Sparrow, the tramp (IA sparrowtramp00wess).pdf/63

 "Now look here, Mrs. Parrot, I haven't asked anything of you, and I ain't going to. I acknowledge I'm a tramp, if having no home makes a bird one. I get my food where I can, but I don't do anybody any harm. If I prefer to live that way, whose business is it but my own?"

"You've been fighting, I see," said Mrs. Polly gravely; "'tisn't respectable."

"Now look here, ma'am! You're kept in a cage, and have your food given you regular, and don't have to trouble yourself about where your next meal is to come from. I live where I can, pick up my own meals where I can find 'em; if I can't find 'em I go without. I sleep out in all kinds of weather, and that makes my feathers rough and my voice hoarse; but I want you to understand that I'm just as good a fellow as if I had a red tail and a hooked nose."

"That's very true," said the good-na