My cage was
transferred from its usual hook to the parlor, and about eight o'clock
the guests thronged in and soon every seat was filled. They were
principally girls who were clerks in stores, or worked in shops and
offices, and many of them were very smartly dressed. A few, like Miss
Katharine and her sister, were more plainly attired; but all were
lively and full of girlish fun and seemed to enjoy being together. My
cage hung in view of every one, and I was proud to be selected as an
object-lesson by the lame hostess in her introductory appeal to her
guests to help save the birds. She so presented the facts that before
the evening was over she had roused an enthusiasm in some of them
almost equal to her own, and several pledges were given not to wear
birds again.
"There is something new in the way of womanly cruelty which isn't so
well known as the destruction of the birds," remarked one of the
company. "The humane society ought to get after the women who wear
baby lamb trimming."
"The way sealskins are procured is also very cruel," said another girl.
"I have never read much about it," answered Eliza, "but it surely
cannot be so wicked as killing song birds, because the sealskin is an
article of clothing which serves to keep the body warm, while a dead
bird sewed on your hat is merely for show and doesn't keep you warm or
cool or anything else.
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