'd lose his 'job.'"

Miss Katharine rose from the table and stuck a lump of sugar for me to
taste between the wires of my cage.

"I am surrounded by poor dead birds in the store all day," she
observed, "and spend so much of my time sewing their wings and heads
and tails on hats and sort boxfuls of them for customers to look at,
that even a living bird saddens me."

"Yes, it must be very depressing. What a shame to kill them; they are
so cute and pretty and such happy little creatures! See how cunning he
looks nibbling at that sugar," and the sister joined Miss Katharine in
watching me.

"But do you know, Kathy, I don't believe that women would continue
wearing bird trimmings if they stopped a minute to think about it. It
doesn't seem wrong to them because they never considered the question.
They simply haven't thought about it at all."

"Somebody set the fashion and they all followed like a flock of sheep,"
answered the other with a sneering laugh.

"Yes, that's just the way. They go along without thinking. They only
know it is the style, and they don't stop to inquire whether it can be
indulged in innocently or hurtfully. Now I believe that if their
attention was particularly called to it, the most of them would quit
it."

Miss Katharine brightened into a smile and half unclasped her little
satchel.

"If a bird could talk," pursued the lame girl, "what a revelation it
could make. What lovely things it could tell us of that upper kingdom
of the air where it floats and the distant land it sees! What sweet
secrets of nature it knows that man with all his wisdom can never find
out. And then its gift of song! Why, if thousands and thousands of
dollars were spent in training the finest voice in the world it could
never equal the notes of a bird. A woman who could perfectly imitate a
lark's carol would make her fortune in a month. The world would go
wild over her."

"But as she can't do that she has the lark killed to stick on her hat,
and then she goes wild over it," interrupted Miss Kathy.

Her sister smiled at this outburst and continued: "While I was working
at that morning-glory wreath to-day I couldn't help but watch this bird
of Polly's with its innocent little antics, and it made me see more
than ever how wrong it is to cage and kill them. I just felt as though
I ought to do something to help save the birds and, Kathy, I wonder if
we were to invite some of our friends here some evening and ca