The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-04-30
AIGRETTES.

deHned. AS we all know, some men are exceedingly ladylike, and some
 women so mannish in manner and
 dress as to be difficult of Identification.
 Tn the same way. 1t is occasionally
 quite easy to mistake one of the
 women who wear aigrettes" for a
 woman. but the types" are now un-
 mistakeable, always
 To change the subject for moment
 let me tell you a tragic little story
 which was told to me by a friend who some years ago spent a large part of his time in Florida He was wander
 ing in quiet swamp, when he came
 upon colony of snowy herons, which
 had built their rude nests of sticks in
 the low bushes which grew from the
 water of title pond.
 Many of the beautiful birds were
 walking along the shore of the pond, and many others were sitting on their
 nests. At his approach, the sitting
 birds arose, white and silent as great snowf1akes lifted by the wind and
 alighting in the trees which surround ed the pond they stood, anxiously
 watching the intruder. Their dazzling beauty was enhanced by tlseir bridal robes. fored of long, airy plumes which stretched in graceful curves from be-
 tween the shoulders, down over the back and beyond the tail, the tips rounding upward and backward with
 suitable turn. It was a wondrous
 dainty grace was heightened by con-
 trast with the rude platforms which held their pale blue or awkward nest lings; sight not to be seen in Florida
 to-day.
 About a week later, my friend was passing within a mile of this heronry,
 when he heard the report of gun. It
 came from the direction of the little
 pond, and as it was quickly followed
 by several other reports, he hurried to the spot, to find out what the matter
 was. As he went along, many more
 guns were discharged, and when he reached the herony, he saw as sad a sight as ever met the eyes of a lover of
 birds. The shores of the little pond were strewn with the white bodies of herons, some already dead, and others
 struggling with the pain of wounds from which trickled the blood which dyed their snowy plmage. Others
 still had evidently been dead for day in clouds. On the back of each, of
 these was large space, clear of feath- CTS and covered with dried blood.
 showing whence had been torn the graceful plumes, donned for bridal.
 A few wounded herons lay Tapping in the water, which, here and there was streaked with red At different points along the sore and among the trees were stationed the four men who had committed this crime. Now and then, one of the few remaining herons, faith l full to her young, would come flying over the ruined city, and alight upon some look out perch before going to the nest with food This was the moment the men were waiting for, and the bang of the gun was nearly always followed by the thump of the birds body as it struck the ground. There was noth- | ing to be done. These men were plume "hunter," acting under the protection of the laws of Florida hire ling slaughter-house butchers directly | in the employ of large millinery es- establishments, and indirectly in the em- ploy of soft-voiced women who would shudder if they accidentally stepped F upon worm.
 Sick at heart at the horror of the sight, and at the hopelessness of pro- 1 test, my friend turned away. But next day he returned to the scene, that he might know all the facts. The men
 were gone; their bloody task was done but the pitiful carcasses of their vie- tims still lay rotting in the sun. All
 but one, for a faint rustic called att tention to bird, mangled and bleeding
 but still alive, gasping out it's last hour in agony. All the previous night that bird had lain, doubtless suffering the tortures of the damned, that a women might declare herself fin the fashion" by Haunting it's dead plumes upon her head. Quickly putting the suffering
 creature out of its misery, my friend turned his attention to the other sounds which came from the di- rectfon of the rookery itself. In some of the nests lay the pale blue eggs, now cold and lifeless, and in others tiny young which had quickly psrished after their parents had ceased to pro- vide for them. But from several came
 the clamor of more advanced nestlings which were literally starving to death, simply because the men who slaughter
 ed their parents were not paid to save these wretched little beings from a lingering death.
 As I go along the streets, or in the trains, or into public buildings, it is my pleasure to study the faces and the habits of the people I see and any one
 who will do this carefully for little
 while will become impressed very strongly with the fact that certain
 habits of dress are nearly always limit
 ed to people of certain class, and that
 they nearly always go with certain other characteristics of that class. So
 it is with the wearing of aigrettes.
 There was time when this fashion
 owing to ignorance and transformation
 was wellnigh universal. We saw
 aierettes worn bv women of all yradee