The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-06-17
Ladies' B0nnetS.

A bonnet is q wonderful structure in
these days of evolution. Time was in
the City of Brotherly Love, among the
Quakers, when there seemed to be less
need of thought upon the subject. The
shapes of ali were uniform and regu-
lar graduation from plain drab to alb
solute black, marked the degree OF re-
verence due the wearer. Even the
worlds people then eschewed many OF
the yainties which afterwards became
common, but now with all the bonnet
is the extreme of fashion its mys-
teries cap the climax.
often gaze around at concert or
lecture admiring the ingenuity thus
manifested and wonder what connec-
ton there is between the bonnet and
the brain. Sometimes I 60 further
and ask myself, can the heart be invol-
we'd in the complication At such
times am very apt to wander OF In
my thoughts. A mistiness come be-
fore my eyes and other pictures press
upon my attention.
1T happened 30 the other day as
T walked down the avenue. Two la
dies were directly in front of me, we'll
dressed, with sweet countenances and
loveliness in every gesture. AS my
eyes turned upward towards their bon
nets the whole scene was changed. l
was in 8 small boat off the coast of
Scotland. The high rocky shore to
leeward was covered with birds, while
around me, on every side, now high
on eager pinion, now almost sweeping
the curling waves in their fight, the
kittiwakes rejoiced in the happiness
their God by will of mind had given
them. A moment and two wretches
in human form were blazing away
! with their shotguns and the water WAS
strewed with the dead and dying.
There was no sport in it. Any fool
could shoot with such mass of sour
rying plumage and kill and wound
by hundreds. It was sheer murder.
Laying aside their guns they picked
up the spoil. Some dead, shattered by
the shot, were thrown away. Some
were gathered into the boat. Some
badly wounded, but yet alive, had
their wings rudely torn off and even
then thrown back into the water to
squirm in agony and die in torment.
The vision faded away but [ saw the
wing thus cruelty snatched from the
wounded living bird resting amid the
lace of the bonnet before me. turned
q moment and another scene was
pesent. 1t was now Brazilian for
est, the evening sun shone brightly
upon the jungle of lianas, insects of
varied hues fitted with ceasless hum
amid the verdure and in the branches
above the many tinted birds had their
nests and poured forth their songs of
happiness. A sudden report of a gun
and at my very feet one of the brightest
of them all. Dead, yes, dead instantly
His mate with broken leg and wound
ed body fell helpless in the jungle. The
dead bird was picked up and deposited
in bag which contained number
of humming birds, shot with a blow
gun, and vireos of varied hues. The
wounded bird was left to die by slow
exhaustion, and the three young one
in the nest overhead, old enough to
suffer but too young to fly, peeped and
peeped and strayed and died one by
one.
The family were all dead, but on the
bonnet of a lady as she walked the
streets of this city far away was the
stuffed form Of one Of them, sad
memento of the cruel deed.
Coming home picked up the pros
pectus of the Audubon society, an Or
ganization whose office is at No. 40
Park Row, New York, and the object
of which is the protection of our feath-
cred songsters, 1t is said that hundreds
of thousands of our native birds are
being killed to satisfy this inhuman
demand of a Barbarous fashion.
Young men and boys are being de-
moralized by the cruelties inflicted
upon these innocent victims, and the
ladies in their sweetness and loyeli-
ness are made by it to aid and abet
them in scenes of tortue and anguish.
Cannot the ladies of this city organ
ize an Audubon society. A. T.