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object in life ? Ho\V dare you lift your hands in 
prayer for mercy to the God Who made and loves 
all things, great and small ? Does He, can He, think 
you, approve )our action? Listen to the words of 
Ouida : “ I wonder, if ever God should ask how men 
have dealt with animals, what answer will be given ? 
If all the slaughtered millions should reply ; if all 
the countless and unpitied dead, all the goaded, 
maddened beasts should answer, what then? If it 
be done to men as they have done to these, they will 
seek for mercy and find none ; they will moan, and 
none shall release ; they will pray, and none shall 
hear ! ” This is surely as true of wome.n and the 
poor slaughtered birds, slaughtered without mercy, 
for no better reason than the following of a heartless 
fashion. Will you not dare to be true women? Will 
you not listen to the wail of the mothers and the cry 
of the young? Will you not at least rid your fashions 
of that one dark blot ? Remove them now—every 
wing, every feather, every dead and mutilated body 
of a bird from its place on your dress. In all things 
be ye kind, “ that ye may be the children of your 
Father Which is in heaven.” 
II. We turn now to the accusation of Folly. 
Can it be true that you are not only cruel, but thought¬ 
less and foolish ? Facts are stubborn things. Let us 
face them. You know that every creature has its 
own purpose, its own sphere in creation. There is 
no chance; all things are linked together, bound so 
closely that it is perilous to destoy rapidly and largely 
any single species of created beings. If you could 
manage to destroy the microscopic monad which 
floats in such numbers unseen in the water you drink, 
the world would immediately suffer thereby. Fortun¬ 
ately it escapes your powers. You know that there is 
what is called a balance in Nature, and no law of 
God can be broken without disaster following Sir 
H. Davy says, “The swallow is one of my favourite 
birds. He is the joyous prophet of the year. He 
