The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1891-06-20

Prof. Edward E. Fish, of Buffalo, in
speaking of the great use of birds to
man, says: at is estimated that they
save to agricultural purposes alone,
annually over one hundred million dol
lars in the United States. In many
sections insect life is still SO abundant
as to make human life almost unendur
able. In other sections 1t is only kept
in check 10y birds, and there is no
place in which, were this check re-
moved, it would not greatly hold the
balance OF power. The number of
flies, mosquitoes, gnats and other
small ms cts destroyed IN or -: IN
small area by warblers, swall~"s aid
hy-catchers alone, is beyond compute
ton. From daylight until dark, all
through the summer months, these
birds wage incessant war on the enc
mics of man.
A great French authority, Michelet,
has stated that there could be no vege
tation, and therefore no life, if the
birds were all destroyed. Is this to be
put to practical test for fashions sakeP
| ask if those who aid and abet the
folly of destroying insectivorous birds
and encourage the attendant cruelty,
are not giving evidence of both lack of
feeling and good senseP The woman
who decorateS herself with the body of
bird whose little heart was wrung
with anguish when it was torn from its
helpless nestlings, and they were left
to die in the slow torture of Starvation,
is hardly logical when she claims 10
possess rights, or objects to having her
mother love outraged. "But these are
only birds" OAly birds. Only crea
lures beautiful with the touch of the
Creators hand whose conjugal love
and maternal devotion might afford
many salutary lessons to the superior
human race. Oaly Gods birds. Made
by him 10 fill with sweet sounds the
summer air, to gladden. the eyes and
cheer the heart of rational man to be
to him the type and emblem of glad
and free existence, now, and in the
illlmitable future.
No, the fashionable woman wills
otherwise. They are not Gods birds
they are hers. Hers to be captured in
millions by shot or snare, or trap; to
have their eyes put out; to have their
happy dwelling places turned into
scenes of miserable suffering and their
gentle songs into piteous cries ); to be
wiped out of existence altogether, if
need be, in order that, while the whim
lasts, she may resemble in her personal
adornment the untutored savage, and
obey the dictates of cruel and sense
less custom.
began by speaking of the Chris
tian woman, and to her | say finally, is
not consistency # conduct one of the
best evidences of our falth7 Can a
Christian woman dare to defend her
self in this misuse of the works of her
Creator with a filmsy excuse that the
birds she wears were killed before she
bought them, and that her refusal to
OuJ lnCih "ouiu bol Save lhSii III"
If you buy those birds, they were
killed for you, and you have helped to
create demand for more. If, by this
wiTo;.ss-S--- Slaughter you help to exter
inmate some OF the bind races alto
gether, will God recreate them to YOUR
order. Should any bird or wings be in
your possession, let me beg you to
cease wearing them, but by no means
to give them away.
If justice, mercy and common sense
are to be henceforth more than names,
let me once more urge consistency i;
let US have neither part nor lot in
fashion so cruel and so utterly without
excuse. MARY F. LOWELL.