484 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Pec. 18, 1890. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS BANQUET. 



THE annual banquet of the Massachusetts Fish and 

 G*me Protective Association was held in the large 

 dining hall of the Parker House, Boston, last Thursday 

 evening. The change from Young's, where the dinner 

 was to have been held, was made necessary by the unex- 

 pected and unprecedented number of those in attendance, 

 there being 21S members and guests present. This was 

 the largest meeting of the kind in the history of the 

 society, and taking it all in all the assemblage at Parker's 

 was a magnificent representation of the sportsmen of 

 New England— the "outdoor men," as Mr. Murray put it 

 so felicitously. The propitious weather, the season and 

 other causes no doubt contributed to bring out the attend- 

 ance, but we are perhaps not far from the truth in think- 

 ing that the great gathering is to be accepted as a hearty 

 indorsement of the enterprise of the Massachusetts men 

 in their important effort to stock the covers with native 

 species and introduced game. Because of this public- 

 spirited work the society holds a stronger place than ever 

 in public esteem. Not only was the meeting of last week 

 the largest, but it was in every respect one of the most 

 enjoyable in the Association's record, and one of the most 

 happily conducted. 



MENU. 



OYSTKES ON D-ETSP SHBLTj. 



' — - • • SOUP. 



Purea of Game a, l'Anglaise. Bisque of Lobster. 



PISH. 



Bniled Bas?, Hollandaise Sauce. Fried Smelts, Tartar Sauce. 



REMOVES. 



Canada Goose. Boiled Leg of Southdown Mutton, Caper Sauce, 

 Saddle of Venison, Jelly Sauce. Sirloin Beef aux Champignons. 



ENTREES. 



Vol au Vent of Black Bear. Croquettes of Game, Sauce Reform. 

 Fried Bmanas, Benedict ine. 



Fricassee of English Hare with Dumplings. 

 Apple Flitters, Glace au Cognac. Macaroni au Gratin. 

 Roman Punch. 



GAME. 



Black Duck. Bluebill Widgeon. Sharp-tail Grouse. 



Larded Partridge. Dressed Lettuce. 



SWEETS. 



Omelette Souffle. Grap's Meritigeus. Charlotte Busse. 



Frozen Pudding. Wine Jelly. 



DESSERT. 



Bananas. Oranges. Apples. Grapes. Assorted In (its. 

 Raisins. Ice Cream. Sherbet. Offee. 



Among the guests were ex-G>v. Long, State Treasurer 

 Cisorge A. Marclen,W. H H. Murray, Fish Commissioners 

 Bracket!, of Massachusetts ; Hodge and Piddle, of New 

 Hampshire, and Brain erd, of Vermont, ex-Commis- 

 sioner Putnam, (Jen. N. A. M. Dudley, Fred Mather, 

 superintendent of the Cold Spring Harbor hatchery; Sen- 

 ator Dwinell, of Winchester:' Gen, J. H. Reed, of Cotuit; 

 E. S. Tobey, Jr., F. G. Peabody, Hon. H. H. Sprague, 

 president of the Senate; Judge Asa French, J. Russell 

 Reed, Q, W. Adams, Chas. B. Reynolds, of the Forest 

 and Stream, L O. Woodruff, president of the Megantic 

 Fish and Game Association. 



Letters of regret were received by Secretary Richard 

 O. Harding from ex-President Cleveland, Gov. J. Q. A. 

 Brackett, Senators Aldrich and Hawley, Congressman 

 Greenbalge, U. S. Commissioner Marshall McDonald. 

 Hon. Wm. E. Barrett, Hon. Wm. S. McNary, Hon. A. E. 

 Pillsbury, Ron. Harvey H. Pratt. Hon. H. M. Knowlton, 

 Hon. Nathan Matthews, Jr., Mayor-elect of Boston; 

 Messrs. A, N. Cheney and John W. Titcomb. Commis- 

 sioners H. O. Stanley! E. M. Stilwell and B. W. Counce, 

 of Maine, and Commissioners Wm, M. Hudson and Jas. 

 G. Bill, cf Connecticut. Senator Frye sent the following: 



LewiSton. Me., Nov. 2G, 1890.— Mr. J. W. Adams, Boston, Mass.: 

 My Deai Sir— Yours of theSStu instant, extending to me an invita- 

 tion to attend the annual dinner of the Massachusetts Fish and 

 Game Protective Association, is received, with thanks for the. 

 courtesy. If there is any one thing 1 am proud of, it is my expert- 

 ness as a fisherman, and if there is any one accomplishment I ha ve 

 acquired, it is that of fishing. I n the presence of forty pounds of 

 leaping, glistening salmon, shaking from his silvery sides water- 

 diamonds into a magnificent river, running at the rate of ten 

 miles an hour, all honors, all emoluments, all hopes and expecta- 

 tions, even presidential bees in the bonnet, sink into utter iusignifl- 

 cance. Next to kifpng a fish, is a good chance with au apprecia- 

 tive audience to tell fish lies; but I am compelled to flee the 

 temptation, and in doing so to take as much credit to myself as 

 Joseph did when escaping from the wife of Potiphar. In view of 

 the desperate contest which is to take place in the Senate im- 

 mediately on its opening, it ought to be impossible for any Repub- 

 lican Senator to absent himself for an hour, and if Senator Aid- 

 rich does enjoy your hospitalities I shall hold him as a recreant 

 Senator. Again t banking you and your committee, I am, yours 

 truly, Wm, P. Frye. 



The Association numbers among its members Myron 

 W. Whitney, and it has come to be recognized as the 

 correct thing at the annual dinner for the president to 

 call on Mr. Whitney for a song; the response was an 

 ingenious and taking parody oit the "Three Fishers." 

 Then President Edward A. Samuels reviewed the work of 

 the Association and explained its purposes as follows: 



Old Father Time, by a strict attention to business and a 

 series of persistent turnings of his hour glass, has moved 

 along the great procession of clays and weeks and months, 

 and we are again assembled to do honor to our Association 

 by partaking of onr annual dinuer. We have paid our 

 aewiM's to it corporeally, and alter I have inflicted upon you 

 a few minutes' torture in the shape of a brief introductory 

 address, you shall partake of a feast of mental pabulum 

 that will send you home not only good and wise and, 1 trust 

 sober, but fully imbued with the determination to make not 

 only our annual dinners but every effort that we'make as a 

 society a success. 



Iu the first place it is my duty and pleasure to. as your 

 representative, extend a cordial welcome to our friends who 

 are with us as guests this evening, and I propose to you now 

 that we drink to their best health. 



It now lacks but about three months of being seventeen 

 years since that little coterie of anglers met in this city and 

 formed the Anglers' Association, the parent of the Massa 

 chusetts hish and Game Protective Association, and during 

 the. period that has elapsed much goodjhas resulted from our 

 work much that will be of lasting benefit to this Common- 

 wealth; and we may well be proud of it, for it has been a 

 philanthropic, work, a disinterested and unselfish work- a 

 work involving much labor and many sacrifices, and a work 

 tnat should receive a greater consideration, a better appre- 

 ciation a kinder recognition, than it sometimes receives 

 from those who have been most benefited by it. 



As you know, we have, made every possible effort;to pro- 

 cure suitable laws for the protection and preservation of 

 tood-fashes, bivalves, lobsters, game and sons aud;insectivor- 

 ous birds, and I think I may say that, although we have not 

 always succeeded in obtaining all we desire, we have been 

 instrumental m securing moat of the beneficent legislation 

 in the direction I have named that has gone upon our 

 statutes; and all the unwise and detrimental Jaws that have 

 haen enacted in relation to our birds and fish and game have 



been made in spite of our most earnest protests, our most 

 strenuous efforts. 



If we have done much to secure good laws we have also 

 done much to enforce them; many, many hundreds of dollars 

 have we expended in this direction, and we do not propose to 

 discontinue this work. 



Unquestionably our laws for the protection of our game 

 and fish are not properly enforced by the appointed authori- 

 ties; undoubtedly there* might be a better enforcement of 

 them. 



We have machinery enough; for, in addition to the Board 

 of Fish and Game Commissioners, it is the duty of all officers 

 qualified to serve criminal processes, to arrest without 

 warrant any person whom they shall find taking or killing, 

 or who has in possession the game birds and animals that 

 are protected by law. And any officer who neglects or re- 

 fuses to do so shall be pnnished by fine not exceeding twenty 

 dollars; t he officers must do their duty, the law is mandatory, 

 and it is for us to see to it that transgressors shall no longer 

 go unmolested, that the authorities no longer continue 

 apathetic. 



It has been sometimes said of us by the ignorant and pre- 

 judiced and designing that our efforts in the direction I 

 have named are selfish and for our own aggrandizement 

 and pleasure, that we endeavor to procure a monopoly of 

 our game and fish. 



Such astonishing assertions have been made, and it is one 

 of the common stock charges against us at the State House, 

 made by some of our most unscrupulous opponents, that we 

 are a body of wealthy, aristocratic city sportsmen with 

 nothing to do but clip off our coupons, go shooting and fish- 

 ing and eat quail on toast which we have deprived others 

 from obtaining. Now, that such statements should be 

 made concerning us is less astonishing than that they 

 should be listened to and credited by legislative committees 7 . 

 For what are the facts? 



It is true we have in our ranks a few wealthy gentlemen, 

 a very few compared with the number that I wish we had; 

 but we are not a society of what can be fairly called wealthy 

 men, men of leisure. No, we are Avorkers; almost all of us 

 busy men in the various walks of life, with rarely ever 

 more time to spare for recreation than have our neighbors, 

 and most of us do not clip many coupons or eat quail on 

 toast. Now let me for a moment review a little of the work 

 that our association has done for the benefit of the people of 

 this State. 



Iu the first place we have enforced the laws for the pro- 

 tection of the lobster. Until We took the matter in hand 

 the law was practically a dead letter,- and short lobsters 

 were caught and sold openly, and there was a good prospect 

 of the speedy extermination of an article of food which had 

 been hitherto in common use with us to rich and poor alike, 

 but which in other countries had already been classed among 

 the expensive luxuries. 



What was the result? After the expenditure of a great 

 deal of hard labor by your efficient chairman of the com- 

 mittee ou the enforcement of the laws relating to fish, Mr. 

 Shattuck, and the sacrifice of a large share of our funds, the 

 laws were enforced and are to-day respected, and the extir- 

 pation of the lobster is now among the very remote possi- 

 bilities. Of course the entire credit is not due our associa- 

 tion, for in later years the Commissioners have done good 

 work in this direction; but if we had not adopted the meas- 

 ures we did the lobster would now be much less plentiful 

 than it is. 



Now, in doing this work were we striving for our own 

 aggrandizement or were we laboring for the good of the 

 community? 



Since no one has gone.so far as to accuse us of struggling 

 for a monopoly ]of the lobster trade, even the most prejudiced 

 must admit that our action was entirely disinterested. 



Again we have made earnest effort for the better protec- 

 tion of our soug and insectivorous birds. We knew that 

 unless those birds were protected from the awful slaughter 

 to which they were subjected, slaughter by the tens of thous- 

 ands for millinery and other senseless purposes, extermina- 

 tion was sure to come. Members of our association took 

 the initiative in the great agitation that ensued. I, alone, 

 wrote scores of essays and articles which were printed in 

 various agricultural reports and journals, and others among 

 us have done individual efficient work. The agitation thus 

 begun resulted finally in the formation of hundreds of 

 societies for the better protection of birds throughout the 

 country; and what has been the outcome, who have reaped 

 the advantage? 



The birds are saved and the farmers have received the 

 benefit. Myriads of their best friends, the insect-eating 

 birds, are left to destroy the pests of the farm and gladden 

 us in the fields and forests with their sweet songs and 

 lovely plumage. 



In this work, also, we strove for the benefit of the com- 

 munity and not for our own selfish purposes. 



In addition to all this we have made the effort to restock 

 our woods and coverts with game birds which had become 

 almost or quite extinct. In the present year for this pur- 

 pose there has been contributed to be expended by our com- 

 mittee, which has proved most efficient, and which has done 

 an immense amount of very hard work, the large sum of 

 $1,500. Of this money our Association contributed outright 

 from the treasury $350, and the balance was subscribed 

 chiefly by individual members. The fruits of this liberal 

 appropriation are already apparent, and quail which were in 

 many sections almost extinct are now becoming plentiful 

 Who reaps the benefit? Assuredly not our Association, for 

 it any of those quail have been shot bv individual mem- 

 bers— I say if any of them have been, which, who can say ? 

 and undoubtedly for every bird that has been thus killed I 

 am safe m saying that scores and scores have been taken by 

 others who were not members. 



The farmers have also again been benefited by the addition 

 of hundreds and hundred of insect-eating birds, for the quail 

 is by naturalists well known to possess the insectivorous 

 habit. And so the work goes on. We are building up 

 where others have pulled down. Time was, and many of us 

 can well remember it, when the farmers with huge traps 

 baited with gram, captured whole coveys of quail at a time 

 and exhausted the entire stock in their localities. They took 

 nothought of the morrow; just as the early settlers extirpated 

 the salmon so did they destroy the quail and other game, 

 and it was left tor our andkindred associations to replace that 

 which had been removed and give it for the benefit, without 

 cost and without favor, of the entire community 



ihave said that our association originated in the Anglers' 

 Association, which was incorporated in 1874 Since that 



paying mernbers. This large number soon began to grad- 

 ually fall off, however, and in 1879 there were but 193 who 

 paid assessments, and in 1883 there were bat 108 pavin^ 

 members. Since that year there has been a gradual annual 

 increase, more marked perhaps within the pass two or three 

 years, and we have to-day the large membership of 425 



Now, I would like to see our association ten times as 

 strong as it is, and I believe it can with proper effort be 

 made so for there is no reason why all who are interested 

 in our objects, and there are thousands all over the State 

 should not enrol themselves under onr banner. With such 

 a membersnip what could we not accomplish ? We could 

 make our power felt and when we asked for wise and salu- 

 tary laws they would be given us. 



We asked of the last Legislature that an appropriation be 

 given the Commissioners— the Commissioners on Fish and 

 Game, not, our society— to be used in restocking our living 



brooks and streams with trout. We believe this to be some- 

 thing absolutely practicable, and if it is done and generously 

 maintained, it will place within the reach of the'people an 

 abundant supply of delicious food to be had for the taking; 

 but the appropriation was not made. 



Let us ask for it again; and if the Commissioners cannot 

 devote time to the work, let our Association have the appro- 

 priation and we will see it done, and done faithfully, too. 



We asked also for a wise change iu the close season ott 

 game birds, and we got a change with a vengeance, but not 

 what yve aimed for. Now the pot-hunter mav kill the half- 

 grown, half-fledged quail, poor little things" hardly strong 

 enough to fly, on the 15th of September, 



Now, if our Association, comprising as it does 425 as re- 

 spectable gentlemen as there are in this Common wealth, 

 men prominent in literature, commerce and all the profes- 

 sions, is not powerful enough to accomplish its object, let 

 us increase it until it is of such a magnitude and strength 

 that its demands, which are and always have been in the 

 best interests of the people, shall be satisfied and its mission 

 be crowned with success. 



There is no other word painter like W. H. H. Murray, 

 and on no other theme does he speak more eloquently than 

 of the woods and the trout streams. His speech was a 

 feeling plea for freedom in the woods, a protest against 

 the control of the wilderness by clubs and individuals. 

 "In the Adirondacks, where I used to roam,"' said he, 

 "one family owns 100,000 acres. Those acres don't belong 

 to that family. They are Cod's acres, I regret that to 

 prevent the extermination of the fish and game we are 

 driven to buy and own what ought to be free to all. I 

 would be the last man to vote that this association, or the 

 Megantic, or any other should acquire or grant a title to 

 the woods and the mountains. It is like buying the sky, 

 the stars and the winds. It is fencing in God's birthright. 

 But we fall on evil times, and it seoms as if only this 

 recourse is left us if we would preserve the forest growing 

 and the streams with full banks. I confess I am in a 

 quandary. If the land is left alone the careless building 

 of fires, the shooting of game that no one can eat, 

 and the catching of fish that no one wants will 

 destroy the pleasures of out-door life in a few years. 

 If we buy, surely we are establishing class owner-: 

 ship and aristocratic privileges. We cannot but be| 

 saddened by the thought that the time is soon com- 

 ing when all we have now will be in private 

 hands. Little by little they have driven me back from 

 my wanderings. I hate to be warned off from a pond jji-i 

 stream. It makes me sassy and ugly. I will not vote for 

 or agree to that manner of settling the question. But 8 

 am in hearty accord with your efforts to protect the food 

 fishes, the game and insect-eating birds, to preserve them ; 

 not for the rich man's pleasure, but for the poor man's: 

 daily fare, and to preserve the songs over the fields, 

 among which the farmer boys are being raised. It is ! 

 sweet to think that there is nothing sour in our remem- 

 brance of nature. We deal with men, and they cheat us. : 

 And we cheat them. That is human nature, hard, grind- 

 ing, bigoted human nature. It may have come down! 

 from the fall, as they say. I hope so. I hope it was not^ 

 bred in us. But we never cheat a man in the woods. Wei 

 point out the pool where fish will nibble and the thickets 

 where the big buck will run by. The out-door life culti-" 

 vates the manliness that is at the core of us all, the one,; 

 imperishable thing that death can not destroy and the; 

 grave cannot smother." 



H. H. Sprague, president of the Massachusetts Senate,: 

 responded to the president's introduction with brief and 

 commendatory reference to the Association's work at thei 

 State House and its semi-official connection with the; 

 Government. Hon. John D. Long protested, "I am: 

 hardly prepared to talk to an audience of fishermen, as, 

 by nature and the profession which I follow I am limited 

 to the plain truth;" and then recounted his last summer's 

 experience in Maine in a way that provoked the warmest: 

 applause. 



Prof. Putnam, late of the Massachusetts Pish Cona-i 

 mission, read from the stenographic report of a conver- 

 sation with a veteran fisherman in his office. The old 

 fellow's answers showed that veteran fishermen were in 

 the habit of reporting far more fish than they actually! 

 had caught, in order to prevent the Fish Commission fromi 

 knowing the scarcity of fish and ordering a close season.: 

 The pounds and weirs, as this report showed, were annu-, 

 ally catching and destroying great nuoibers of voungfish.l 

 Prof. Putnam proposed that the Association should urge 

 the restriction of pound and weir fishing; and also, ini 

 order that a reliable basis might be had for estimating the 

 changes in the fish supply, that the Pish Commission 

 should own, at some good location on the coast, a pound 

 of their own, which should be put in operation as early 

 as possible in the spring, and kept open till the ice in the 

 autumn. Other speakers were Hon. Geo. A. Warden, 

 Commissioner Brainerd, Pres. J. O. Woodruff, and Com- 

 missioner Atherton and Mr. Fred Mather. 



Sure Enough Goats.— We take the following from 

 the Great Falls (Montana) Leader, and wonder if it is! 

 founded on fact. If it is we should like to know what 

 the goats were taken for: "Wm. Uim, of Ulm, was the 

 fortunate owner of several Angora goats, which he 

 prized very highly. In order that they might become 

 fully acquainted ^ ith the country he allowed them tc 

 go where they pleased over the mountain ranges adja- 

 cent to Ulm. A few days ago a party of hunters, under 

 the guidance of Lieut. Ahern, of Fort Sbaw, came across 

 these goats feeding on the mountain side, and taking: 

 them for mountain sheep opened fire upon them with 

 their Winchester rifles, and the result was that four of 

 the Angoras fell victims to the deadly shots of the 

 soldiers. The goats were taken to the fort and properly 1 

 dressed and divided up among the boys, who soon made 

 way with the supposed mountain sheep meat. Mr. Ulm 

 missed the goats, and after a vigilant search for two dayf 

 found the spot where they had been slaughtered, and 

 from there the trail was followed to the fort. When the' 

 Lieutenant receives Mr. Uim's bill for four Angora goate 

 he will discover that there is a difference between moun-. 

 tain sheep and Angora goats, not only in appearance.; 

 but in price." 



A Seal's Collar.— Conwell Bros, took from their fish- 

 trap one day last week a seal which had an iron lobster- 

 pot ring firmly fixed around its neck. The ring was em- 

 embedded in the flesh, making it quite diffisult to remove : 

 after removal the seal appeared to experience great relief 

 — Cape Cod Item. 



