The Mourning Dove 241 



melancholy, innocence, love, holiness and hope is symbolized 

 by the dove, and hence in the shape of a dove the Grace of God 

 lighted on the head of the Messiah in the holy stream of Jor- 

 dan. Yet in some States it is called sport to kill these birds, 

 and by law they are placed on the list of game birds and a 

 season fixed in which sportsmen, as they are called, may go 

 abroad throughout the land and exterminate them. Shame on 

 such laws and the men who enact them ! 



