124 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



TID BITS FROM THE HARRISON BANQUET. 



President Gilbert. 



" Yes, we are the boys and girls, 

 And I sometimes have thought, 

 Shall we ever be men? 

 Shall we always be happy and laughing 



and gay. 

 Till the last dear companion 

 drops smiling away? " 



Who has a better right than the fruit-growers of Maine, who 

 have brought their quota in honor of Pomona, to rejoice to 

 meet in banquet and accept the hospitahties of Lakeside Grange? 



Our society was criticised severely for coming way into this 

 distant, unciviHzed corner. Yet we are here, and I feel free to 

 say that other localities will have something to do to get away 

 from Lakeside Grange. I wish that I could find words to express 

 the appreciation I feel in response to the courtesies that we are 

 receiving at your hands here and at this time. 



As I have looked across this hall and noted the individuals 

 seated at these tables and have gone back to the forty years of 

 public work through this State of Maine, from one corner to the 

 other, mingling with and participating in public occasions con- 

 nected with agricultural and pomological affairs, I have felt the 

 contrast of the occasion at the present time with what I have 

 experienced in the years long gone past. The work that has 

 been going on through the organized effort of the State of Maine 

 in the last forty years has been extending, not only information, 

 not only education, but culture as well among the people of the 

 State. And if you could contrast tonight the appearance of this 

 company and the entertainment that we have received, with 

 what has been my experience in those years long past, you would 

 feel as I feel, that we are receiving compensation for the labors 

 that have been put forth in the several agriculture directions 

 ii' our State. 



Secretary Knowlton : Before the meeting I came over here 

 to see about the situation. Mr. Dawes met me and took me to 

 his house. I have always found it a very pleasant place to visit. 

 In the evening he brought me down here to meet the members 

 of your committee — fine looking lot of men they are too. Lake- 



