274 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS 



tiny mouth partly open as if its song had been cut 

 short by the assassin's bullet, does she realize that 

 that dead form was once a precious creature, happy 

 in its forest home, with a warm heart and a living 

 soul ? And yet this is true if the Bible is true. 



The remedy is obvious. Do not wear such orna- 

 ments, and by so doing, stop the demand. 



We should blush with shame and tremble with 

 remorse to be the cause of the death of the sweet 

 birds which enliven our homes by their happy lives. 

 Their sweet songs awake us at the dawn, accom- 

 pany us through the day, and at soft twilight their 

 plaintive lullabies of praise and thankfulness to 

 God who created them for our happiness, soften 

 and harmonize our best natures. 



The beneficent Creator seems to spare no pains in 

 providing such means to cheer the hearts of man- 

 kind, and to lessen his sorrows. How sweetly at 

 the return of spring, do the notes of the brown 

 thrush, the robin and the meadow-lark burst upon 

 our ears, as a reminder of our childhood days. No 

 inducement should cause us to cut short the precious 

 life of one of these little creatures. 



"While with many of us the haunts of the green 

 meadows and the maple forests, like a dream, have 



