The owner of the shop was also a bird dealer in a small way.

On account of her accomplishments he had held her at a price that few were willing or able to pay, and so she had been forced to stay with him a long time.

She much preferred being owned by a refined family to living in a dingy store, for she was a bird of luxurious tastes, she said.
"I too had never ceased being glad that the grocer had sold me to the Morrises, for I was sure that life would not have been so comfortable for me in the back part of a country store, inhaling the odors from fish barrels and molasses kegs, and with the dreary outlook afforded by shelves full of canned vegetables and cracker boxes.

The only point in favor of a life at the grocery was that I would have been nearer to the woods; but if I could not be in the woods, of what avail was that?
The Morrises were people of elegance and refinement, and their home expressed their culture.

I had made a pleasant exchange, and I felt it was wise to be as contented as possible.
"August slowly passed, and Johnny came back.