GRAY LADY AT SCHOOL 23 
now they will never have wings and swell their throats 
to sing to us and use their beaks to eat up insects 
that make the apples wormy and curl up the leaves of the 
great shade trees.” 
“Robins don’t do any good; they just spoil our berries 
and grapes; dad says so, and he shoots ’em whenever he 
can, and he likes me to take the eggs,”’ said Dave, stub- 
bornly, while Sarah Barnes exclaimed, ‘‘ Yes, an’ my 
father says he ought to be ashamed of himself!’’ almost 
out loud. 
“T know that Robins sometimes eat fruit,’”’ said Gray 
Lady, firmly, ‘but they do so much more good by destroy- 
ing bugs that the Wise Men say that neither they nor their 
eggs shall be taken or destroyed, and what they say is 
now alaw. So that it is not for any one to do as he pleases 
in the matter. To kill song-birds or destroy their eggs 
is as much breaking the law as if you stole a man’s horse 
or cow, for these birds are not yours; they belong to the 
state in which you live.” 
Bobby and Dave looked surprised, but Tommy and 
Sarah nodded to one another, as much as to say, “‘ We knew 
that, didn’t we?” 
“Some day, if you are clever with your lessons so that 
Miss Wilde can spare the time for it, I will tell you all 
about the reasons for these laws, and what the wild birds 
do for us, and what we should do forthem. But first you 
must learn to know the names of some of the birds that 
live and visit hereabout, as I am now learning yours, and 
make friends of some of them as I hope to make friends 
of you.” 
“Yes, yes, oh, yes!” 
