16 BEAUTIFUL SIRDS 
here I should not wonder if angel-hats were to get 
to be quite the fashion. Only first, of course, angels 
would have to come down here. I do not think 
they are so very likely to. 
And the worst of it is that not only the prefty 
women wear the beautiful birds in their hats, but the 
plain ones do too, which makes so many more of 
them to be killed. If it was on/y the pretty women 
who wore them it would not be quite so bad, but 
the wicked little demon was much too clever to 
arrange it like that. He did not wish any of the 
birds to escape, and I cannot tell you how many 
millions of them would escape if only the pretty 
women were to wear their feathers. 
But now, how are the birds to be saved—for we 
want them a// to escape—and how are the women to 
be saved? That is another thing. You know it is 
not ¢heir fault. They were kind and pitiful till the 
wicked little demon blew his powder into their 
hearts. It is Aas fault. You may be angry with 
him as much as you like, but you must not think of 
being angry with the women. Indeed, you should 
be sorry for them, more even than for the birds, for 
it is much worse to be a woman with a frozen heart 
than to be a bird and be shot. Oh, poor, frozen- 
hearted women, who would be so kind and so pitiful 
if only they were allowed to be, if only the wicked 
