y section four
of chapter two hundred and seventy-six of the acts of the
year eighteen hundred and eighty-six, or wears such feathers
for the purpose of dress or ornament, shall be punished as
provided in said section: _provided_ that his act shall not
be construed to prohibit persons having the certificate provided
for in said sections from taking or killing such birds; and
_provided, further,_ that this act shall not apply to Natural
History Associations, or to the proprietors of museums, or
other collections for scientific purposes.

_"Approved June 11, 1897."_

The Statute was copied in several other States. I think
the petition helped a good deal the healthy reaction which,
owing largely to the efforts of humane societies and Natural
History Associations and especially of some very accomplished
ladies, has arrested the destruction of these beautiful ornaments
of our woods and fields and gardens, "our fellow pilgrims
on the journey of life," who have so much of humanity in them
and who, like us, have their appointed tasks set to them by
the great Creator.

CHAPTER XXIX
THE A. P. A. CONTROVERSY

One very unreasonable, yet very natural excitement has stirred
deeply the American people on several occasions in our history.
It came to us by lawful inheritance from our English and Puritan
ancestors. That is the bitter and almost superstitious dread
of the Catholics, which has resulted more than once in riots
and crimes, and more than once in the attempt to exclude them
from political power in the country. This has sometimes taken
the form of a crusade against all foreigners. But religious
prejudice against the Catholics has been its chief inspiration.

I just said that this feeling, though absolutely unjustifiable,
was yet quite natural, and that it came to us by lawful inheritance.
I have always resisted it and denounced it to the utmost of
my power. My father was a Unitarian. I was bred in that
most liberal of all liberal faiths. But I have believed that
the way to encounter bigotry is by liberality. If any man
try to deprive you of your absolute right, begin to defend
yourself by giving him his own. Human nature, certainly American
human nature, will never, in my opinion, long hold out against
that method of dealing.

Our people, so far as they are of English descent, learned
from their fathers the stories of Catholic persecution and
of the fires of Smithfield. Fox's "Book of Martyrs," one
of