And do you not think that any one who took a gun and shot either that mother or that child would be both cowardly and cruel?
But they might eat them.
These sea-birds are not good to eat.

They taste too strong of fish-oil.
They are of no use at all, except that the gulls' and terns' feathers are put into girls' hats.
Well they might find plenty of other things to put in their hats.
So I think.

Yes: it would be very cruel, very cruel indeed, to do what some do, shoot at these poor things, and leave them floating about wounded till they die.

But I suppose, if one gave them one's mind about such doings, and threatened to put the new Sea Fowl Act in force against them, and fine them, and show them up in the newspapers, they would say they meant no harm, and had never thought about its being cruel.
Then they ought to think.
They ought; and so ought you.

Half the cruelty in the world, like half the misery, comes simply from people's not thinking; and boys are often very cruel from mere thoughtlessness.