Morning journal and courier., 1893-10-21

| discovered that the circumstances under
which these feathers are procured are sim-
| ply atrocious. This being the case, they
might be oonsidsrate enough to keep the
| unpleasant facts to themselves, but they
| are, on the contrary, endeavoring to circu-
| late them as widely as possible.
They have the bad taste to tell as that
| the sgret, or sea-eagle, should be allowed
| the use of its own feathers as personal
adornments. They are beautiful birds, of
| which there are six or seven different spe-
cies, all true herons, very graceful in form,
| and of great beauty of plumsgs, which is
| usually of q pure white. In pairing
and nesting time long loose -webbed
neck of the female bird, that sweeps grace
fully over her back and wings. Madame
Egret is q devoted mother, and will not
leave her little ones, SO In nesting time,
when all living creatures should be given
grace and quarter. she is ruthlessly seized
and her pretty plumss are torn away, or
she is shot upon the nest and stripped of
her adornments, 30 that for every tuft of
the airy things, the loving mother is muir
dersd, and her babies perish slowly and
miserably by starvation.
It seems mean to tell of this. 1t is
enough to make Q sensitive person shud-
der every time they see an aigrette floating
| In its thistle -downy lightness. Who would
not rather be ignorant of this story of cru
city, of terror and sufferingf For aigrettes
are 80 pretty
The English Society fss the Protection
of Birds is busying itself about this matter.
It is a very Aourishing organization, by
the way. 1t has more than 5000 mem
bers and over 40 local secretaries. Its
president is the young Duchess of Port
land, who, in spite of broken health and
devotion to home cares, has become q def
mite force in many fields of action, giving
her personal attention to every good work
and exerting an influence as effective as 1t
| is unostentatious.
The rules of this society are easy to re-
member and to keep. They are as fol-
lows:
l.. That members shall discourage the
wanton destruction of birds and interest
3. That lady members shall refrain
from wearing the feathers of any birds not
killed for purposes of food, the ostrich
alone excepted.
The third rule relates to the payment of
fees, which are very light. By means of
official reports and booklets 1t circulstes
information and awakens interest In its
work. It has already made stuffed hum
ming birds questionable, and now 1t is
trying to turn the tide, of English opinion
| at least, In favor of letting the mother
egrets rear and tend their baby birds in
peace. To this design, one would think,
all other mothers would give encourage
ment and approval. To cooperate, one
has only to refuse to buy, which is not,
after all, much of q sacrifice, since We
have always that animated feather bed, the
ostrich, and the edible birds, whose
feathers may be made up in all
kinds of surprising forms, and colored in
all the tints that the ingenious dyers are
able to invent. Perhaps 1t will be posi-
ble for Us to exist without sigrettes.
SMART WOMAN.
Mustard in its present form we owe, as
We owe so many good things, to a woman.
Before 1720 mustard was prepared for the
| table by roughly crushing the seeds in a
mortar, and mixing the cesrse powder
with vinegar.
An English woman, Mrs. Clements of
Durham, was visited with the bright idea
of grinding the seeds in a mill, and care
fully sitting the meal from the outer husk.
So che experimental and was successful,
and Durham mustard came into fame and
| into fashion, receiving the special approx
al of no less parsonage than his majesty,
George I.
Mrs. Clements was evidently sharp,
practical business woman, for Durham
mustard remained q monopoly for some
time. She was shrewd enough not to part
with the secret of its preparation, and kept
the sale of 1t in her own hands, visiting
London and other large cities twice yearly,
and duly Transforming her yellow powder
| into yellow coin of the realm.
Thus did she win tidy little fortune,
| and make her fellow-mortals smart, at one
| and the same time.
STORY FOR BOYS AND MEN.
A touching story is told of Professor
John Stuart Blackie. He was once lee;
| turing to new class. A student rose to
read paragraph, his book in his left
hand. Sir" thundered Blackie, "hold
| your book in your right hsndl" and, as
| the student would have spoken, "No
words, sirl Your right hand, ssy" The
student held up his right arm,. ending
piteously at the stump of its wrist. ''sir,
I have no right handl" he said-and his
voice was unsteady. Before Blackie could
open his lips there rose storm of hisss g,
| and by 1t his voioeswas overborne as by a
/ wiz 6cd- w Ach ~ hhALy SCnfoOt VIC L ~
fessor quietly left his place and went
down to the student he had unwittingly
hurt, and put his arms around the lads
shoulders and drew him close. "My boy
said Blaokie-he spoke very softly, yet moi
! 80 softly but that every word was audible
In the hush that had fallen in the olass
room-"my boy, you'll forgive me that
was over rougha I did not know-I die
not knowl" He turned to the students
and with a look and tone that came straigh
from his great heart, he said, "And le
me say to you all, am rejoiced to b.
shown that 1 am teaching a class of gentle
men,"
FRIGHTFUL PRoFANITY-ANDA MORAL.
With what gentle grsciousness tn
pretty eyllables "thou' and "thee" fal
from the lips of some mild hammered Qua
, ker, or "Friend, to use the name that sec
prefer. They seem to make personal In
. tercourse moro near and tender; one is nc
thrust aside into distant plural as If onl
| to be considered collectively.
Come to think of it, each in diviausl ha
certain inalisnsble right to be sddresse
g as "thee, when spoken to directly and nc
:. as one of q crowd. 1t is a right, howevel
that We English-speaking people seel
to think ia not worth maintain
T ing, and we leave the sfsotiona
= singular pronoun to foreigners" an
q Friends and accept the colder "you." Th
idea might be elaborated, and . powerfr
: argument made In favor of using the se
= ond person singular when addressing q all
.s gle person, but that would lead too far avs
10 from tbs story, which Isn't much of
= story after all. 1t is only the speech of {
u angry little child, but 1t shows what si
l. nificancs usage may give to ths commones
10 most harmless of words. 1t is probab
@. that he had never heard the pronor
"yoo" spoken without a certain angry er
phasis that gave 1t dreadful meaning
g. | his unaccustomed ears.
re The little Friends were at play, al
- after the habit Of children generally, ev
- of that gentle sect, they fell out and d
D. pute ensued. Then one became violent
It. angry and said, passionately, eff th
ne doesent take care. I'll swear at thee!"
"Oh, moi" exclaimed the other child, I
much horrifsd to say anything more.
"But will sweari" said the enraged OF
IT will Oh, the little You, thee!"
What befel the youngster after this OF
burst of daring impiety We know NJ
Possibly, punishment such as "worldl
parents would bestow, but there is q sm
bs moral to be drawn from this true tale, q