White Heron

I recently came across a short story by Sarah Orne Jewett titled "A White Heron". This piece was about a little girl who lives on a farm and has to find one of the missing cows. She finds the cow and while bringing the cow back to the farm she comes across this man who is a hunter. The hunter asks for shelter at Sylvia's grandmothers' house. While he's there he explains that he is a hunter and has a collection of many birds that he has hunted over the years but there are a few that have eluded him for so long. One of which being a white heron. While the hunter explains that he has been following the heron's path and that's how we ended up here. Sylvia hears this and thinks to herself about how she's seen that white heron. However, she elects not to tell the hunter where she saw the heron in order to save it's life. I found this interesting that a little girl, only 9 years old, would protect this heron for whatever reason. The hunter had told the family that he could make them rich with money, he promised it. This doesn't stop her from protecting the heron. It could have something to do with the fact that she's been around animals her whole life, so her loyalty lies with the animals, but even being promised riches, she still keeps the heron's location a secret. No one can really tell where a younger persons' loyalty lies, when it comes to animals, or people, or whatever. She cared more for life than money, that's something to think about.