Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-01-25
THE wOMAN'S PROTEST.,
How She Expressed Her Indignnt ton
Over the Slaughter of Birds.

How She Expressed Her Indignation
Over the Slaughter of Birds.
Ed. Mott in the New York Journal.
why, SIR exclaimed the thin woman
with a stony eye as she waylaid the head
floor-walker in the big stores millinery de-
partment. even cats couldn't be equal to
It! Not all the cats there are wild and
tame, could be equal to it! How can you.
can you do 1t. sir? How can you?"
The flocr-walker bowed and said:
IF you are referring to fioor-walking,
madam, /"
"Flccr-walking, fiddlesticksw said the
Stonyeyed woman. "Wiping feathered
warblers from the face Of the earth is what
1 am referring to. sir! The song birds Of
the air, the song birds Of the bush. the song
birds Of the field, the song birds of the
forest, that you are wiping from the face
of the earth! How can you, can you do it,
sir? How can your"
Il give you my word, madam" said the
fioor-walker. Il never in my life wiped a
single
Look about you, sir" persisted the wo-
man with the stony eye, land see 'em in
your hats and in your bonnets! Hundreds
from the face of the earth! See this one,
cold, cold in death; its sweet voice forever
hushed, perched in radiant beauty on that
new spring hat! How much did you say
that hat was?"
1.-The price Of that hat" said the floor
walker, .'is SIS, madame, and
Hair exclaimed the stony-eyed woman.
Fifteen dollars! Poor bird! Poor bird!
Once free as the roaming zephyr, and fill
ing your native copse with tunefulness;
now tied to your roost, so to speak, on
yellow straw hat, with a price upon your
head! Sir! How can you, can you do it?
Would you not rather hear that beauteous
thing burst forth once more in all the
melody and the gladness of it's -wondrous
song than have ten-fold the price you set
GpoI; it?''
Pardon me, madame" replied the floor
walker, but not on your life! That beau
teous thing Is jaybird. You may some
time have wandered by the woodside and
paused to wonder who it was that came
that way to file his saw. Since there is
no saw-filer present to hear me and feel
hurt, doli't mind telling you that it was
the melody and gladness Of the jaybird's
wondrous song that you heard. This very
one, perhaps, and If 1 thought there was
dal-ger now Of it bursting forth I'd tell you
to grab the hat with 1t on and hurry homer
reply from the beauteous thing. but it
did not burst forth. and she resumed.
ALAS. sweet bird!' said she. Wiped
from the face of the earth: twill never
would hardly take that hat, you think? ~
Fifteen dollars, madame" said the floor
walker, shaking his head, sis the upset
price"
ing her stony eye around on the stock, ARE
song birds of the air and of the bush, and
Of the field, and of the forest, with nothing
left but spreading tails and staring heads
and flashing wings. All wiped"
"Shrikes, madame" said the f1oor-walker
Eat bees by the million. Voice, worse
than a song d-dance woman. Catbirds.
Step on your dogs tail and hear one sing
F'lickers, sap-suckers woodpeckers. Marble
like a drum corps.'
IAN wiped from the face of the earthr'
declared the woman with the stony eye
"Beauteous things, with tuneful throats:
that you have wiped from the face of the
earth, sir, at the beck of fashion and be-
cause my sex is vain! Gone is their swell
ing gush Of song because my sex is slave
to fashion! That SIS hat-how much OF
did you say for cash?"
NET, madame" said the foor-waIker.
Fifteen dollars metz
The stony-eyed woman paused long
enough to say:
Even cats couldn't be equal to it! Not
all the cats there are wild and tame, could
be equal to It,"
Then she went out, and the floor-waIker
mopped his face and said:
'Ain't she a cuckoo? Wouldn't she be
bird to trim hat within