A NEW EXPERIENCE IN MILLINERY. 



GENE S. PORTER. 



All my life I have worn birds and parts 

 of birds as hat decorations and have given 

 the matter no thought. Had I thought on 

 the subject I should have reformed long 

 ago, for no one appreciates the beauty of 

 the birds, the joy of their songs or the 

 study of their habits more than I do, and 

 few have spent more time in the woods 

 and along the water studying and photo- 

 graphing them. The war Recreation 

 has waged against the slaughter of birds 

 for millinery purposes has so impressed 

 me that I have decided never again to buy 

 a bird or any portion of a bird for hat or 

 bonnet trimming. 



A few days ago, firm in this resolve, I 

 went out to buy a hat. I wanted a large 

 imported one, of style, becomingness, and 

 color to harmonize with my coat and furs; 

 and I did not want any of my little feath- 

 ered friends mounted on it as a monument 

 to much killed joy and hushed song in 

 birdland. I visited 3 shops and found sev- 

 eral hats that suited, except for the bird 

 trimming; but they were handsome pat- 

 tern hats, which the milliners knew they 

 could sell as they were, so they refused to 

 make any change. As I entered the fourth 

 place, tired and cross, I saw a hat that 

 suited as if it had been made to order, 

 except that it bore quite a little flight of 

 birds. I bought the hat and 3 handsome 

 plumes. I then borrowed the milliner's 

 scissors and cut the birds off and to 

 pieces. Then 1 handed her the hat and 

 plumes and told her to have her trimmer 

 place them and bring me the bill. It was 

 worth the price of admission to see her 

 face. She thought I was mad, and 

 glanced furtively out of the window to see 

 if there was a policeman near. When she 

 brought the hat back she said, 



"I think it is quite as handsome as be- 

 fore, only birds are more stylish this sea- 

 son." 



I told her I thought it just as hand- 

 some and more stylish, and no living crea- 

 ture was hurt, for if ostrich plumes were 

 not pulled when ripe they fell out, where- 

 as that hat originally represented the kill- 

 ting of 6 linnets. She said, 

 "Oh! it is a question of conscience, is 

 it?" and she was visibly relieved to feel 

 she was not dealing with a lunatic. I said 

 it was a question of conscience, and since 

 the iron had entered my soul it was burn- 

 ing deeper every minute. I asked her how 

 many slaughtered birds she thought her 

 stock represented? She swept the room 

 in a long glance. It was the usual thing, 



2 sides and an end, long tables down tht* 

 middle, and boxes, cases and drawers full 

 of hats. One show window was given 

 over to pattern hats. The other, 6 feet 

 wide and built back into the room 9 feet 

 deep, making 54 square feet, was literany 

 carpeted and piled high with a rainbow 

 mass of birds and plumage. Every hat in 

 the store was trimmed with parts of birds 

 or with one to 6 whole ones. She said, 



"I should not know how to form an 

 estimate," and as I studied the situation a 

 little I saw I should not either. In the 

 window display were traces of almost 

 every bird, from a parrot to a humming- 

 bird. The excuse that they were coarser 

 birds, such as robins, larks and blackbirds, 

 was refuted in three-fourths of the cases 

 by the natural plumage and the smaller 

 and more delicate quills of many of our 

 blithest singing and most gaily plumaged 

 birds. 



As I left the shop I saw standing in front 

 of the window a man I knew — a gray- 

 haired judge, of great learning, wisdom 

 and probity. Disapproval stern and strong 

 was writ on his face. At that instant 

 another man stopped beside him and to- 

 gether they looked at the display. I lin- 

 gered over a glove button and fussed with 

 my gown, for I was anxious to hear what 

 they would say. 



"Well, Judge," said the second comer, 

 "what do you think of it?" 



"It would make Coquina sick," said the 

 old judge, slowly. 



"You don't seem to like it yourself," 

 suggested the other. 



"I don't like it," said the judge, with 

 stern emphasis. "It is a shame! It is a 

 crime! It is worse this fall than I ever 

 saw it before. This window represents 

 probably 500 dead birds, not including the 

 other window and hundreds of trimmed 

 hats inside. I can pick out robins, larks, 

 orioles, linnets, finches, wrens, humming- 

 birds, redbirds, blackbirds and red-winged 

 blackbirds. This is only one store and not 

 the largest; and this is only one city out 

 of thousands. There is no estimating it. 

 Shields is right, sir; we must legislate. At 

 this rate our fields and forests will be 

 stripped as bare of birds as the desert of 

 Sahara before public sentiment can be 

 wakened. Our women don't realize what 

 thev are doing. It makes me sick, sir, 

 sick!" 



I could nOt with decency pretend to 

 work over my glove buttons any longer 

 and was compelled to go my way. 



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