"Who Stuffed The White Owl?"

"Who stuffed that white owl?" No one spoke in the shop; The barber was busy and he could not stop ; The customers, waiting their turns, were uil read ing The Daily the Ilt'rald, the Post, little heeding The young man who blurted out such a blunt questlon ; Xot one raised a head, or even made a suggestion ; And the barber kept on shaving. "Don't you see, Mister Hrown," Cricd the youth with a iVown, 'Huw long the whole thintc is, How prepsterous each wing is, How tUttened tlie head is, how jftmmed down the neck is - In short, the whole owl, what an ignorant wreek 'tis ! I make no apology; I h ive learned owl-eology. l've pusscd days and nihts in a hundred Colli ctions. And canroc be bllnded to any deflectlons Arising frmn unskilled fingers thal fail To stuff a brid right, froin liis heak to his Uil. Mister Brown! Mister Brown 1 Do take that bird down, Oryou'llsoon be the lauhing-stock all over town 1" And the barber kept on shaving. "l've studied owls. And otlu-r night fowls, And I teil you What I know to bc true: An owl can not roost With his limbs so unloosed; No owl in this world Kver had his claws curled. Ever had his legs slanted, Ever had his bill cpnted. Ever had his m ck screwed Into that attitude. He can't do it, because ' Til against all bird laws. Anatomy teaches, Ornithofogy preaches, An owl has a toe That can't turn out sol I've made the whit owl my study for yars( And to see such a job alinost moves me to tears ! Mister Brown I'm amazed You should be so gone crazed As to put p a bird In that posture absured I To look at that owl really brings on a dizziness ; The man who stufl'ed him don't half know his business? '' And the barber kept on shaving. '"Examine those eyes, I'ni tilled with surprise Taxiderinists should pass üfl on such poor glass; They'd make AiuVubon scream, And John Burroughs laugh To encounter such chafF. Do takc that bird down ; Have him stutted again, Brown I n And the barber kept on shaving, "With some sawdust and bark I could stuff in the dark An owl better than that. I could make au old hat Look more lïke an owl Than that horrid fowl Stuck up there so stift" like a side of coarse nather. In faut, about him there's not one natural feather." Jiist then with a wink and a sly normal lurch, The owl, very gravely, got down from his perch, Walked round, and regarded his fault-finding critic (Who thought hewas stufled) with aglance analytic, And then iairly hooted, as il' he should say; ' Your learning's at lault thls time, any-way; Don't waste it agaïn on a live bird, I pray. I'm au ovl ; you're another. Sir Critic, good-day IM And the barber kept on shaving.