The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-11-23

Evidently it had nsyer occurred to any circle that very noble work might be attempted beginning with their own bonuets, for the display of dead birds and aigrcttes was just as conspicuous and as repulsive as at any gathering of l women whose aims are not as high and as praiseworthy.
 In justice to the leading officials, and most of the platform speakers, 1t is here joyfully recorded that their hats were innocent of "the garniture of death" The three magnificent women who are at the head of the order wore 1 never 0 heron's plume, or distorted, unhappy looking bird, or even de- tached wing, to pain the consciousness of those who are sensitive upon these matters.
 Was this by accident, or did they in- tend silently to set q beautiful eX- ample?
 Or does any one think that their appearance would have been improved, and their words rendered more effect ual, if their heads had been the fixed points from which projected all man. ner of wings and peaks, claws and tails?
 Continually the papers are calling at tenton to this form of later day savag- ery-the slaughter of the birds for the adornment CD of women'se hats. Lee lures are delivered to Large and intelli- gent audiences," leaflets are scattered broadcast, naturalist, philanthropist and philanthropic associations, even the poets, have taken up this theme and sought to press the sickening details, particularly of the slaughter of the herons, into the minds of women. But with how little effect!
 Many women will not read these ac- counts when set before their eyes, lest the knowledge of such barbarities should disturb their nerves. In effect many a woman has said: Cigarettes are pretty, and fashionable, therefore intend to vaear them, If read this hor- rid article I shall feel nervous every time I put my bonnet on. Therefore, I will not read it. What l know noth- ing about I cannot be held responsible for" To such a just and logical reason CT one would like to quote:
 Stupidity is the mother of suffering, and thoughtlessness is the father of woe"
 At lecture given at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, many ladies, after hearing of the cruelties of the heron hunters, declared that never again would they wear aigrettes. One young girl said that the aigrette upon her own hat, now that she knew how it had been procured, made her feel faint" And 1t makes the woman who has thought and read | upon this subject feel faint, when at church, at concert and at afternoon tea, fragments of the slaughtered in- nocents are Haunted before her eyes.
 If women will read the following paragraphs they will receive some dis agreeable enlightenment on the sub 1ect. Those who would excuse them selves by pleading ignorance will prob ably skip them.
 In the lecture referred to Prof. F. M. Chapman, the ornithologist, said, refer ring to the herons Of Florida:
 There is no desire for any other part of the body but what is called the scalp Instead of scalping the head,
  All the beautiful aigrettes grow from a spot on the back that lies between the two wings. The hunter with a sharp knife slips the blade under the skin that sustains the feathers, and with a circular motion cuts out piece something like the top of hat The coveted plums are torn from the bird S backs and the carcasses left to rot in the sun''
 Many of the birds were killed (and a hunter boasted to Prof. Chapman that his party had killed 400 herons in one afternoon another that in a single win , ter his party had killed 13000O birds) : when their offspring were dependent , upon them, and the helpless nestlngs by the death of the parents, were left , to starve. As a result of this wholesale , slaughter thereis not one heron in Flori- , da to-day, where twenty years ago , there were five hundred"
 MT. w. H. Hudson, author of "The Naturalist in La Plata" writes that those who procure these plumes know , that to obtain 8 good supply with little trouble the birds must be taken when the breeding season is well advanced. l; The best time to attack them Is when the young birds are fully fledged, but not yet able to fly; for at that time the l solicitude of the parent bird is greatest, . and, forgetful of their own danger, they } are most readily made victims. And } when the killing is finished and the few handfuls of coveted feathers have been plucked out, the slaughtered birds are left in white heap to fester in the sun and wind in the sight of their orphaned young that cry for food and are not fed. There is nothing in the whole earth SC pitiable as this-so pitiable and so shameful-that for such pur- pose human cunning should take ad- 5 vantage of that feeling and instinct which we regard az SO noble in our own species and as something sacred-tha tender passion of the parent for it's off : spring, which causes it to neglect its , own safety and to perish miserably a sacrifice to it's Iovei And those who, not ignorant of the facts, encour- age such things for fashions sake, and for the qualification of miserable van g ity, have a part in it, and are perhaps f more guilty than the wretches who are paid to do the rough work"
 Continuing to speak of the time when the birds wear these plumes, this writ