52 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
that all I had to do was to try to tell you interesting stories 
that would help you to remember the names and habits of 
the various birds. But Eliza’s hat, and a little note that 
I received from one of the boys which showed that he and 
his family considered all birds that are not good to eat 
as worse than useless, show me that some of you look at 
birds from another side. Those that do certainly have 
a right to, as a lawyer would say, have the case argued 
before them so that they may see for themselves why 
they are on the wrong side of the tree. 
“The birds were on the earth before man came, and in 
those far-back times they were able to look after and 
protect themselves, because the warfare they waged was 
only with animals often less intelligent than themselves. 
Do you remember the beautiful allegory of the creation 
of this earth written in Genesis which is also written 
and proven in the records the geologists find buried in the 
earth, and quarry from the rocks themselves ? 
““When man came, in order that he might live comfort- 
ably and safely, many of his improvements brought death 
to his feathered friends. Take, for example, two objects 
that you all know,—the lighthouse at the end of the bar 
by the harbour head, and the telegraph and telephone 
wires that follow the highway near your schoolhouse. 
Men have need of both these things, and yet, in their travels 
on dark nights, thousands of birds, by flying toward the 
bright tower light that seems to promise them safety, 
or coming against the innumerable wires, are dashed to 
death. 
“Of all the mounted birds that you see in the cases there, 
not one was deliberately killed by my husband, but they 
