MOTHER MUST PROMISE 19 
child. Perhaps you will remind her of a little child 
that was hers once. 
Now I am going to tell you about some of the 
most beautiful birds that there are in the world, but 
you must remember that they are being killed so 
fast every day that, unless you get that promise from 
your mother very quickly, there will soon be no more 
of them left; as soon as she promises it will be all 
right, for of course it will not be only your mother 
who will have promised, but the mother of every 
other little girl all over the country, and as the birds 
were only being killed to put into their hats, they will 
be let alone now, for now no more hats like that will 
be wanted. No one will wear hats that have birds’ 
lives sewn into them, any more. 
So the beautiful birds will go on living and flying 
about in the world and making 7¢ beautiful, too. 
You will have saved them—you the children will have 
saved them—and no grown-up person will have done 
anything to be more proud about. I daresay a grown- 
up person would be more proud about what he had 
done, even if it was nothing very particular; but that 
is another matter. 
Now we will begin, and as we come to one bird 
after another, you shall make your mother promise 
not to wear it in her hat. 
