p. 11 | THE BIRDS' APPEAL by Bird Lover

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 8, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 14.

THE BIRDS' APPEAL.

By Bird Lover

In the heart of a dense forest, amid the deep, green foliage, the first glimmering ray of dawn was peeping through the darkness, when the silence of nature was broken by the wailing cry of a vast concourse of birds, which were sitting in council. Mournful and sad beyond description was this convention. The meeting was called to order, and a chorus of song, and a prayer followed, to which all responded, “Amen.”

The first day of the council many pitiful stories, full of pathos, of cruelty, and injustice were told. Homes were broken through the killing of one or both of the parent birds, and the birdlings were left to perish, and the birds mourned in their sorrow.

The second day a feeling of expectancy prevailed. A noted traveler, who had hastily winged home from foreign parts, attended. The vast audience listened to his story in astonishment, wonder, and breathless surprise. As he revealed the cause of their persecution, their breasts were filled with dismay. “There are only two reasons,” he declared, “for all this sin and cruelty—the love of money and fashion. The hearts of men are hardened, and the eyes of women are blinded. Fashion holds despotic sway, and wherever her power is left, the plumage of our race, and even the little dead bodies of birds adorn the hats of women. My eyes have seen the devastation. One million five hundred thousand of our birds have this year been sacrificed for fashion. Often my heart has been almost broken as I winged my way by an open church window, and have seen the professed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ bedecked with the beauty of those we have loved and lost. I have wondered if God would hear and answer their prayers, when He looked at their headgear and remembered our sorrow.”

Silent prayer was broken by the words, “Not a sparrow falleth to the ground, but your heavenly Father knoweth it. In His love, power, and mercy may He enlighten the eyes of His own people.” And all the birds said, “Amen.”

BIRD LOVER.