AIGRETTES. 



An incident which occurred in a fash- 

 ionable millinery establishment a short 

 time ago prompts the reiteration of that 

 oft told story of the Aigrette. 



A young woman was ordering trim- 

 mings for her hat ; among other things 

 the milliner suggested a wing. "Oh, 

 no!" she exclaimed. "I could not con- 

 scientiously wear a bird's wing." But 

 when a long, beautiful Aigrette was 

 shown her, she did not hesitate a mo- 

 ment in taking it. It was simply a case 

 of ignorance on her part that permitted 

 the wearing of an Aigrette rather than a 

 bird's wing. 



For awhile, these delicate, airy plumes 

 were superseded in fashion's behest by 

 the compact, glossy breast of tern and 

 grebe. Then, instead of wearing the 

 bridal attractions of the white heron, 

 women poised on their hats that thick, 

 impenetrable coat of feathers which Na- 

 ture has given the grebe to fit it for its 

 life among the waves ; but again we see 

 the delicate filaments of the Aigrette 

 waving above the smiling face of the 

 philanthropist, or quivering over the 

 bowed head of the worshipper. Has not 

 the story been told often enough for all 

 to know that the egret or white heron 



wears these plumes only during the nest- 

 ing season, and therefore they can be pro- 

 cured at no other time? The herons 

 nest in great colonies in the marshes. 

 Each rude nest of sticks contains from 

 two to five eggs. It is only after these 

 are hatched and the parent birds are 

 bringing food to their young that the 

 plume hunter reaps his harvest. The birds 

 are shot as they come near the nest, and 

 the skin containing the plumes quickly 

 cut from them, sometimes before they 

 are dead. There is nothing left for the 

 nestlings but slow starvation, so that an 

 Aigrette represents more actual cruelty 

 and suffering than any other barbaric 

 adornment. 



The people of Florida, recognizing the 

 charm which the heron adds to their 

 landscape, have passed laws for its pro- 

 tection, but these laws cannot always be 

 enforced even in that state, and the home 

 of the heron is all along the Gulf Coast. 

 There is no law but the law of fashion 

 that will save this graceful creature from 

 extermination. When women refuse to 

 wear the Aigrette, then will the little 

 egret build its nest in the solitudes and 

 rear its young unmolested. 



Caroline H. Parker. 



the SOWER. 



Who is it goes sowing, 

 Up and down the roadside, 



Clovers, red and white, 

 Buttercups in yellow, 

 And the pale muskmallow, 



With the daisies bright? 



'Tis the wind a-blowing 



In the dark of night ; 

 Wind it is goes sowing, — 

 Teasels, too, and brambles 

 Sows he in his rambles, 



Blown to left and right ; 

 And, for dusk and darkness, 



Drops the primrose light. 



— Cora A. Matson Dolson. 



48 



