FEATHERS AND HATS 79 
and leave the ribbon, but the feather’s the whole top- 
knot of ma’s.” 
Softly as Eliza had spoken, her words could be heard in 
the silence that came when the reader closed her scrap- 
book. 
“Bravo! bravo! little girl,’ said Gray Lady, smiling 
so brightly that Eliza forgot to be embarrassed. ‘“ You 
see that your mother was right when she said, ‘When 
people get to hearing about birds they stop caring to wear 
them in their hats, even though she did not mean it quite 
in this way.’ Very few people would wear the cruel 
kind of feathers if they only understood. I will give you 
a pretty little Ostrich tuft to take to your mother in 
exchange for the egret, when you explain to her about it, 
and I’m sure Anne can find something among Goldilocks’ 
boxes to replace your Swallow’s wings.” 
Eliza’s eyes sparkled, and all signs of resentment left 
her face. 
“But,” asked Gray Lady, “what will you do with the 
poor little wings and the egret? You surely will not give 
them to any one else.” 
“No, ma’am, I’ll have a funeral, and bury them down 
in the meadow, where my kitten is that fell in the water 
barrel and sister’s canary !”’ 
Then all the children laughed, including Eliza herself, 
and Gray Lady joined. 
“School is over for this afternoon,” said Gray Lady, 
“but before you go we must arrange for our next meeting. 
I, myself, belong to the Humane Society. How would 
you like to organize a little school society of your own to 
help one another remember to be kind to everything that 
