AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 



intent on spawning and oblivious of the fatal seine, push up the 

 Potomac and seek the safe shores of the District of Columbia, 

 where they may breed under the parental protection of a special 

 act of Congress. Last and greater than all these come the 

 members of the American Fisheries Society, pregnant with 

 great ideas and anxious to deposit them in Washington for the 

 benefit of an ichthyophagous nation. 



Gentlemen, I bid you welcome. You are surrounded here by 

 great traditions and mighty influences. From the capstone of 

 yonder monument ten entire weeks look down upon you. In 

 the grand pile of the War, State and Navy Departments, you 

 will have a valuable lesson of what is to be avoided in architec- 

 ture. The hurrying crowds of office-seekers will prove to you 

 how the busiest bee may, under adverse circumstances, collect 

 no honey, and how the earliest bird may fail to catch the truly 

 astute and resolute worm. The numerous "hansom" and "herdic" 

 cabs will point the moral, that however long or agreeable or 

 smooth be the road, we must all pay a price at the end. The 

 suave manners of our negro population will bring to your mind 

 the fact that some of the most agreeable lights in life, like those 

 in a cathedral, come through a colored medium. In a single 

 word, then, I bid you welcome to a sojourn which cannot fail to 

 be profitable alike to humanity and to fish. 



The President: Gentlemen of the Society, we first have to 

 consider the routine business of the meeting, which will come 

 up in its regular order. Has the Secretary any suggestions 

 to offer? 



The Recording Secretary: The first thing in the regular 

 order of business is the appointment of Committees, etc. We 

 have thought that our Constitution needs revision, and I would 

 move that a Committee be appointed to revise it, and to prepare 

 By-laws. 



The President: Gentlemen, you hear the motion of your 

 Secretary, that a Committee be appointed to revise the Consti- 

 tution of this Society, and prepare By-laws. What is your 

 pleasure? 



No opposition being offered, it was made a vote. 



