440 With Rod and Gun in New England 



& 



of fishes of Massachusetts and those frequenting our waters, by Col. 

 Theodore Lyman and Alexander Agassiz of this association. 



An admirable description of the meetings of those early days is con- 

 tained in " Col. Daniel Needham's Remarks " at the annual dinner of the 

 association at Young's hotel, Dec. !>, 1892, and published in our annual 

 report of that year. They will be of interest to members and friends of 

 the association. 



" Mr. President and Gentlemen : 



" My mind, in this presence, is carried back to the early days of this 

 institution; the days when the number was small, the interest limited, and 

 the great public looked with doubt and distrust upon the purposes of our 

 organization ; the days when we had a club-room, attended with considera- 

 ble cost, in a central location, where, evening after evening, a few interested 

 and devoted men gathered to discuss, in a social way, the relation of the 

 work of the Fish and Game Association to the public, and the necessity of 

 securing legislation in aid of that work ; the days when we undertook to 

 lay the foundation of a library with the especial view of securing a history 

 of the past to aid us in the future development of what we believed to be 

 a great and important public interest. At that time every member gath- 

 ered from his own personal library, as well as from every other available 

 source, pamphlets and bound editions, directly and indirectly bearing upon 

 the great subject embraced in our constitution and by-laws. 



" I well recall the fact that one evening in the week a more formal 

 gathering was held, and with the genial Dr. Ordway, then president of the 

 association, occupying the chair, we discussed, in a ceremonious manner, 

 questions vital to the growth and development of this society. It was not 

 talk for talk-sake, but earnest, deep-studied thought, often expressed in 

 terse and eloquent language, which found utterance on these occasions. 



" Once in a month, ladies and gentlemen outside of our own number 

 were invited to share our interest, listen to a lecture, and enjoy the modest 

 hospitality which our limited treasury justified us in extending. 



" Those were days of infancy and early growth ; but they have vitalized 

 large communities of men and written upon the statute books in every State 

 of the nation, results, which appear in wise and discreet laws, arresting the 

 extermination of fish from brook, river, lake and ocean, and game from 

 hill, mountain, valley and plain. 



" Ours has not been a work to preserve to royalty the exclusive oppor- 

 tunity of recreation by hunting game, but to secure to the people a common 

 privilege in the enjoyment of a right which has been held as a type of 

 higher manhood development in the highest walk of civilization. 



" The game laws of England were enacted to secure to the king and 

 the aristocracy an exclusive right to the enjoyment of an absolute monopoly. 



