GAME LAWS. 



361 



setting his own seal upon the precious truth ; 

 and the proposition to accept the declaration 

 was adopted." A proposal made to add to the 

 minute words to the effect that the outward 

 form of baptism and the supper are not part 

 of the gospel, and should neither be taught 

 nor practiced by a member, was rejected. Or- 

 ganizations of meetings, composed chiefly of 

 colored members, have been made in Arkansas. 

 At the Friends' College, near Helena, 300 col- 

 ored persons have been trained as teachers. 



A committee of the London yearly meeting 

 has had under consideration the question wheth- 

 er regular correspondence should be main- 

 tained with several bodies of American Friends, 

 constituting yearly meetings which have with- 

 drawn from the larger bodies. The number of 

 Friends composing these bodies is variously 

 estimated. The committee resolved to recom- 

 mend the yearly meeting to continue its epis- 

 tolary correspondence with all yearly meetings 

 now recognized, and to send a letter expressing 

 Christian interest to the other bodies. The 

 separatist bodies concerned in the decision of 

 this question are other than the body that 

 originated with the Friends who participated 

 with Elias Hicks in separating from the main 

 body at about the beginning of the century. 



Friends in England. The London yearly meet- 

 ing met May 17. The statistical report showed 

 that for several years up to 1866, the numbers 

 of the society in Great Britain had rapidly 

 decreased till they had fallen below 14,000. 

 Since that time, to the present year, the num- 

 bers had gradually increased; but for this year 

 the report, while it still showed an increase of 

 one member in Ireland, disclosed a decrease 

 of one in England. The present number of 

 members was 15,380 in England, and about 

 T,500 in Ireland ; 317 regular meetings of the 



body were held in Great Britain. In addition 

 to regular members, there were 5,712 adher- 

 ents not yet in membership, or 83 more than 

 in the previous year. The increase in this 

 class had been most apparent in the southern 

 counties and in Scotland. 



It was suggested in reference to the reported 

 changes of views of Friends in America on the 

 subjects of baptism and the Lord's Supper, 

 that the great numbers of persons who had re- 

 cently joined the society had influenced the 

 body to lower some of its testimonies ; but Mr. 

 Robert W. Douglas, of Indiana, assured the 

 yearly meeting that this was not the case. The 

 changes had taken place among Quakers of the 

 old stock. None among those who had re- 

 cently joined the society had raised these ques- 

 tions. The thirteen yearly meetings of Ameri- 

 ca, having 65,000 members, were as sound as 

 the London yearly meeting, and had recently 

 reaffirmed their old doctrines on the points in 

 question. 



At a " morning meeting " of members of the 

 society, held in London in October, a proposi- 

 tion by Mr. Arthur Morris, to labor in religious 

 work in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and parts 

 of Germany, was considered and approved. 



Twenty-four members of the society from 

 England were reported as engaged in mission- 

 ary work in India and Madagascar. In Mada- 

 gascar, the Friends had 133 native teachers and 

 104 congregations; 386 children in schools at 

 the capital, and 14,000 in the country. Be- 

 tween 400,000 and 500,000 copies of publica- 

 tions, including both tracts and works of 300 

 pages, in the native language, had been printed 

 by Friends; 8,000 had been expended during 

 the year for missions. A new Friends' Mission 

 Institute was opened in connection with Rat- 

 liffe Meeting-House, London, in November. 



GAME LAWS. In the United States, wild creat- 

 ures, whether fish, flesh, or fowl, are " game " 

 for any one that can kill or capture them with- 

 out trespassing upon private property, and with- 

 out violating State or local laws for their pro- 

 tection. When society began to organize, after 

 the settlement of the country, there were some 

 attempts to transplant English restrictions, but 

 nearly every vestige of these vanished when 

 independence was secured, and until within a 

 comparatively short time little has been done 

 to preserve game from extermination. Any at- 

 tempt to protect private lands was looked upon 

 with disfavor, and was very apt to provoke pop- 

 ular hostility. The choicer kinds of game were 

 exterminated in the more thickly settled parts 

 of the country prior to the Revolution, and it 

 is only within a generation that systematic 

 efforts have been made to protect the many 

 against the few, and at least secure for choice 

 game immunity from slaughter during their 



breeding- season. The great extent of the coun- 

 try causes wide diversity in the habits of ani- 

 mals and birds, even among those of the same 

 species, and within the confines of a single 

 State it is often necessary to establish different 

 laws for the various countries. In the follow- 

 ing summary both State and county laws are 

 given where practicable, the latter being the 

 more important to observe. In nearly all the 

 States insectivorous and song birds are protect- 

 ed by law at all times, and everywhere un- 

 sportsmanlike devices for wholesale slaughter 

 are prohibited. It is assumed that, for the most 

 part, persons who refer to this paper will not 

 care to know when they may lawfully kill rob- 

 ins, mocking-birds, and the like, therefore the 

 laws specifying the open season for them and 

 their kindred are omitted. Game laws are 

 still practically ignored in many parts of the 

 country, especially where the population is 

 scattered ; but reasonableness is beginning to 



