It's time once more to call to mind that gifts of love should not be tainted by the aura of pain and death that surround products made out of the tissues of sensate beings. We need to remember that sheep don't give wool or the lanolin extracted from it. Wool is taken ... in violence or in death, and forms part of the profit made from the breeding and raising of sheep. If you would not eat a lamb chop, would you buy a warm jacket with a "lamb's wool" lining? If you would not eat a cow's flesh, would you make her slaughter more profitable by wearing her skin? Ask for some of the catalogues we have for alternatives to leather!

Sexy silk, so luxurious and rich-feeling, does not grow on leaf-bearing trees. It is made by the caterpillars of the silk-moth, who feed on leaves, and then wrap themselves in a cocoon to shelter their growth to maturity. Tens of millions of these little creatures are killed by steam or hot water so that the cocoons may be unwound to yield miles of unbroken gossamer thread. It makes such lovely ties and scarves, but at what cost?

Many thoughtful people will refuse to roast a goose for Holiday Dinner; not many are aware of the fact that the "natural" goose down that fills winter sportswear or comforters is either plucked from the breasts of live geese - as often as five times before they succumb to the yearly torture - or from the bodies of geese that have been slaughtered to grace a "Festive Table."

The same call of conscience that leads us to read labels and reject foods that reek of cruelty, can serve to sensitize us to shun other products that bear the same stigma.