Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-04-10

wise move, the birds legal rights
should be looked after. But have
not yet despaired of appealing sue
cessfully to women.
"It is the utter needlessness of this
great sacrifice of life that makes it so
grave matter. l am willing that life
should be sacrificed when the cause
justifies it. / would not evade the law
of evolution which sometimes requires
the sacrifice of the lower for the high.
er.
81 have been asked with sheer if
would kill a snake. Certainly, or any |
other animal on occasion when hum
an welfare demands it. | am willing
that leather shoes be worn, and fur
garments be used to protect man from
cold, but | am not willing that the
Persian eve be murdered that the
skin of her unborn lamb may decor
ate our garments. Nor do l believe
that thousands of ermine should yield |
up their lives to perpetuate tradi-
tional custom at the coming corona
ton of Edward VII. Whatever legiti-
mate reason there may be for some
purposes, of bird killing, for the bird
decked bonnet there is absolutely no
excuse. 1t is not as. if there were no
other materials with which to beau
tify our hats. During the last few
seasons various Audubon societies
have held millinery openings in prom
inent hotels of our large cities in
which leading milliners were invited
to furnish the display of hats or AUDI
bonnets,' as they have come to be call
ed. These milliners have cordially
responded, and have proved that nei-
ther beauty nor style is dependent at
any time upon the feather trimming.
State of Feather Trade.
while the feather trade for MILL
merry purposes has steadily increased,
crease the slaughter of birds for sci
of late the opera glass has largely
taken the place OF the gun in the
study of birds, the living bird in it's
natural haunts, proving a more inter
esting subject for scientific inves-
Destructvenes of Fashion.
But during all the years before sci
ence discovered how very few stuffed
birds and punctured eggs it really
needed and how vastly more it could
learn from live bird than from a
dead one, the destructiveness of sci
ence did not begin to compare with
that of fashion. Dr. Allen stated that
more birds are sometimes sold for
millinery purposes at single auction
! in London than are contained in all
| the museums of the world, both public
and private. Now let us consider
what significance this wholesale de-
struction of birds has to human well
fare. First what is the relation to our
aesthetic nature? The contribution of
birds to the beauty of the world is not
small. What is there of all the ami
NAL creation, that exhibit such bright
beautiful lives. What marvels of
grace they are! What music of mo-
ton in fight! What brilliancy of color
they give us! What splendor of song!
| What beauty is there in a. dead bird
that can compare with that of living
bird? True the form and color are
left almost intact, but where are the
glancing wing. the dainty posing of
the head, the thrilling note of the
voice, the tender MINISTRIES of the
home nest. All are gone; all are van
ished forever when the little life went
out.
An Utter Failure.
!. Does anyone imagine there is any
thing truly artistic in the bird trim
med hat? From the standpoint of gen
uine art, the bird on the bonnet is an
utter failure. 1t is unnatural, incon-
gruous. 1t speaks too plainly of suf-
fering and death 1t is too suggestive
of the coffin and the supulcher. Then
in wy "a
Hated, and the parts promiscuously
combined for hat decoration, is quite
in harmony with the ideals of savage
races, but should be an insult to the
taste and feeling of civilized people.
Such are the methods employed in OBJ.
tanning the plumes with which to
adorn the women's hats that in the
seacoast regions an entire heronry
may be practically destroyed in one
or two seasons. | believe that it is
womans sacred mission to be the con.
! servator of beauty and not its destroy.
|, err.
The Economic Phase.
another serious side of this great
question is the economic phase. Birds
! are an important factor in nature 5
! plan for preserving the balance of the
Q vital forces. Were it not for them
the insects which multiply with such
marvellous rapidity, would soon leave
this earth barren waste. One insect
in one year may become the progenit
/, or of six millions of descendants
Prof. Forbes, of the Illinois State Uni
versity, estimates from scientific OBJ
servations, that the birds destroy two
: hundred and fifty millions of insects
a day in that state. He also esti
mates the damage done by the remain
ing insects in the state at $10000,00(
: year. Since men STEPPED in and dis
turbed natures balance in the adjust
t ment of animal life, insect ravage:
t have enormously increased every
where. Birds also devour great guam
4 titles of seeds from obnoxious weed
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