Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1885-02-14
FASHIONABLE CRUELTY.


FASHIONABLE CRUELTY.
Slaughter of Birds for Ladies' Hats---yhat
MIR. Bergh Thinks of It.
Walking up Broadway one fine after
noon lately, a Tribune reporter noticed
an unusually large display of plumage
on ladies hats. He saw the wings,
plumes, heads, and bills of red BIRDS,
yellow birds, robins and humming- birds,
and almost every variety of the feath-
cred songster known, doing duty in
adorning the headwear and trimmings
of the enthusiastic devotees of fashion.
In many instances the birds that looked
SO pretty on these jaunty hats were
complete, and the stuffed songster
looked as gay as in life. In the windows
of millinery store. frequented mainly
by wealthy ladies of fashion, the repor-
ter saw many hats thus decorated. With
hesitating step he went in. and was
met by stout dame, who wore an
elaborate dress dotted with dead fire.
flies. In life these fire-fies had under
gone squeezing process, which caused
the phosphorus in them to exude, and
has the effect Of making brilliant cos
tune.
The store-keeper informed the repor-
ter that the fire-f1ies are imported from
warm countries, mainly the Indies,
where they are prepared for market
She had them for sale. One of the
large counters was almost entirely COW
cred with stuffed birds and various parts
of birds, ready to be placed on hats and
trimmings, as the fancy or taste of the
wearer might suggest.
'.Are you not afraid of being arrested
for cruelty?' asked the reporter,
No, indeed! We import them,' re-
piled the woman, looking the reporter
out of eountenance. They would not
arrest woman?n she asked. or rather
stated, in the most assuring manner.
The reporter called on President
Bergh, who said: II have noticed lately
that this cruel onslaught is increasing.
There is greater display of these little
tortured creatures than ever before. I
notice it in the fashionable stores in up
per Broadway, in cheap Sixth Avenue,
and down in Eighth Avenue. This wan
ton slaughter, faying birds alive and
tearing feathers from their quiyering
bodies is the most barbarous cruelty
that can be practiced. It is an insult
to the civilization which we boast The
savages can do no more than that. If he
does take few feathers from fowl it is
the pride of a warrior that prompts him,
not merciless vanity, and he is there
fore more excusable than our more cul-
tivated and refined people. The feath-
ers are plucked from these living birds,
and their limbs are torn from them
while in the agonies of death. under the
impression that if the feathers are cured
while the blood is warm they have a
fresher and more lasting tint.
..They may import a few continued
Mr.. Bergh, ..but the demand for birds
has become so great of late that the
Jersey farmers are now trapping pig
cons and raising squads for this market,
to be sacrificed to cruel fashion g
whims. The squads are killed when
only few weeks old and their plumage
is fresh and bright. A stuffed squad
sometimes looks more cunning on a
hat than full-fedged pigeon. Stuffed
squirrels are also largely used. $What
| is more ridiculous and yet suggestive of
Unsuitable vanity than to see couple Of
SQUIRRELS on woman's hat? These
! squirrels are brought over from Jersey
and the Long Island bogs by boys who
sell them at fifteen or twenty cents
each. The young squirrels are gen.
orally selected for this bloody sacrifice
because of their more desirable size.
f,>,.,,, a,.lx, ,,caI l,,t fI o.., vx a
SO much trouble in cutting their skins
down to the proper size that kittens
have been substituted.
| ut seems that nothing not even the
most defenseless and prettiest of Gods
creatures birds of the air, car
escape the mercless hands of fashion:
slaves Fashion has such an unlimited
power that our women are not only
deaf to mercy, but ruin their own health
and sacrifice their lives in following iti
/ arbitrary DEGREES. A few years agt
England. and even India, took steps tt
prevent the slaughter of birds. Blu
America has done practically nothing
IF the wealthy ladies of fashion oi
this city should set the fashion by dis
countenancing this cruel practice, /
great zeal cOuiQ DC dccOtnpIIsneu- 4
| the leaders of society would cease using
ornaments that were obtained only
through cruelty, there would soon b
no demand for them. The prevention
of this slaughter rests with the leaders
of fashion more than with this society
for the work is done so secretly that we
can not trace the doors to their butcher
shops or get even the slightest evidence
i We only see the results of their cruelty
So popular has this cruelty of pluckins
live animals become that live geese arr
picked under the impression that th.
feathers make better bed than if they
were plucked after the goose was killed.
IN X Tribune.
Farmer Jones borrowed Smith
] wheel-harrow. He loaned the wheel