1884.] ADDRESS OP WELCOME. 31 



and my son, who was about a quarter of a mile distant, heard 

 it go off. We went right up to the orchard, and saw no one 

 there ; but the neighbors said they saw a man running as 

 long as they could see him. 



Rev. Dr. Anderson. Mr. Chairman and G-entlemen : It 

 seems to me that such a Convention as this ought to receive 

 some sort of welcome from the citizens of Waterbury ; at 

 any rate, a welcome expressed in words. I wish I had 

 thought of it before I came here, so that I might have selected 

 my words with a little more care, because it seems to me that 

 the occasion is one that calls for careful as well as warm- 

 hearted expression. There have been Waterbury gentlemen 

 here this morning, — most of them have now disappeared, — 

 who could have extended to you a welcome more properly 

 than I can, but I want to say a word or two to those friends 

 who are gathered here, expressive of my own interest in the 

 matters which you are to discuss and have been discussing, 

 and to say that I believe my interest is shared by a great 

 many of the citizens of Waterbury, notwithstanding they 

 have not yet come into your Convention. 



I have had for several years past a farm of two and a half 

 acres on the seashore. That farm has contained an orchard 

 of about twenty-four peach trees, which, notwithstanding the 

 poorness of the soil (laughter), has dwindled to two or three, 

 and which has never yet furnished a peach fit to eat ; an 

 orchard of several pear trees, of which three remain, which 

 are like the fig tree that we read of in the Scriptures, cov- 

 ered with abundance of leaves, but with no fruit. For the 

 rest, I have indulged in the cultivation of shrubs and flowers 

 and grass. But it is curious what kind of education a piece 

 of ground like that gives to a man. It is curious what prob- 

 lems it starts. I have had to discuss in my own mind a good 

 many problems which I suppose are before your minds from 

 day to day. First, how to contend with inclement weather, — 

 cold in winter and winds in summer ; for we are on the sea- 

 shore, as I said. Secondly, how to enrich a very poor and 

 porous soil. Thirdly, how to cultivate, and particularly how 



