The story
“Daisy’s mother has told her stories about the great Audubon, and taught her to love the birds. Dicky, Daisy’s playmate next door, has never heard of Audubon. Like almost any boy, he thinks that throwing sticks at the birds and robbing their nests is ‘fun.’ But one day Daisy and Dicky have their first quarrel. It is all over his stealing eggs from a robin, and, while he is up in the tree, Daisy runs to call her mother to help her champion the birds against Dicky. The little vandal goes off in a temper. ‘After all,’ he philosophizes, ‘girls are nothing but tattletales.’ That night Dicky has a dream. Audubon appears to him. The big, kind man is greatly pleased with Daisy, but with Dicky he is very stern indeed. He takes the two children with him all over the world, and shows them birds everywhere. Dicky sees how they build their nests, how they make love, how they feed their young, and how they migrate from land to land. He suddenly realizes that birds, like people, wish to live and be happy. Next day Dicky goes over to Daisy’s to tell her how sorry he is that he tried to steal the eggs. But the little girl has gone with her mother to the Audubon celebration. He follows. The two children meet in front of the new monument to the famous bid lover. Dicky asks to become a member of the bird protection league to which Daisy belongs. The little girl is too happy for speech. As they stand, hand in hand, before the monument, the spirit of Audubon rises before them, smiling benignly.”
Summary from Reel Life · 16 October 1915
