212 BEAUTIFUL BIRDS 
And you must not think that their feathers would 
really not be worth anything, then. When we talk 
of a thing not being worth anything, what we really 
mean is that we cannot sell it for money. Now what 
are things that you cannot sell for money? I will 
tell you three. There is the sky, and the air, and 
the sunlight. You cannot buy or sell them, but do 
you think they are not worth anything! J think 
they are worth a good deal. Then there is a good 
temper; nobody can buy that, but yet what a lot 
it is worth! Now if the beautiful feathers of the 
White Egret could not be sold, because the world 
was better and there were no frozen-hearted women 
to buy them, yet they would be worth something, 
although it would not be money. They would be 
worth love and pity and sympathy and _ interest 
and real admiration (which never wants to kill), 
for all those things would be given to the beauti- 
ful bird with its beautiful feathers, and it would 
be just because of those things that no one would 
think of killing him. His feathers, then, would 
be like the smiles on a face. You cannot take 
those out of the face, and put them in a hat. If 
you could, then some one would soon say to you: 
“Will you part with a few of your smiles? They 
are fashionable in hats just now; | will give you, 
for a nice, bright one—let me see—half-a-crown.” 
