AD MISERICORDIAM 
5 
whose bonnets or hats I am obliged to see signs not only of 
grave cruelty, but of gross thoughtlessness. And one urges all 
who know that the single tuft of egret plume, in which they 
come to the solemn rite, means the horrible death of parent 
birds at nesting time, and the bitter agonies of thirst and starva- 
tion in tropical sun for the unfledged offspring, to put away for 
ever, as they hope to obtain mercy, these signs of their assent 
to such barbarity. 
It is not only the cruelty involved that torments one to think 
of, it is the unkindness to far generations, and the loss to 
posterity, that moves one. The Ardea gvacilis, the little white 
Florida heron that supplies the egret plume, is going the way of 
the Impeyan pheasant, and the glossy-winged African starling. 
This murderous millinery is destroying them as it has already 
destroyed several varieties of our brightest-plumaged birds from 
off the face of the earth. 
Now these birds are so many winged miracles of beauty to 
tell us of the glory of our God. They were sent into the world, 
each of them with a message from the Most High. Old Calvin 
knew this. Let me quote from his “ Institutes of Religion : ” — 
“ For as many species of created things as there are in the 
world, or rather as many as there are of things great, or things 
little, so many miracles are there of God’s power, so many proofs 
of His goodness, so many lessons of His wisdom.” 
What should we think of the lady who threw a stone at the 
central figure of the great cathedral east window because she 
thought the colour was so pretty and she wanted some of the 
bits of glass to wear in her hat or on her bosom. She has 
blasphemously destroyed something that in its beauty was set- 
ting forth a picture of God’s love to man — but the window could 
be mended. A great crowd would probably gather and hoot her 
through the town, but in that crowd it is quite possible that we 
should see, amongst the best dressed, some who had sinned more 
grievously — ladies wearing the ruby plumes of some humming- 
bird, now quite extinct. At any rate the feather market could 
procure no more. And yet that ruby-breasted humming-bird, 
while it lived and loved, and perpetuated its species, was a true 
revealer of the love of God to man, and that revelation is wiped 
now for ever from the book of the living illuminations of God’s 
good will, and none can restore it. This murderous millinery is 
then as unkind to posterity as it is cruel to the present. 
Next may I ask your attention to the urgent matter of 
mercy in our cattle markets. You know how difficult it is to 
drive the timid country cattle, either to the trucking or to the 
mart. I daresay you also know that the cattle driver's whip or 
goad rains merciless blows between the horns and on the flanks 
of these dumb-driven scared beasts. It is not an unknown 
matter that a beast’s eye is sometimes actually torn from its 
socket in the process. Now all this is bad both for the driver 
and the beast and the spectator and the buyer and the con- 
