136 



tute, with an address from A. C. Goodell, Jr., Esq., on 

 the 5th of October last, at the Institute rooms. ^ 



The President next alluded to Concord as the home of 

 Thoreau,^ the poet-naturalist, who had done so much to 

 make us acquainted with the fauna and flora of Concord 

 by his writings. It is, likewise, the place where was 

 originated some two hundred years ago the famous Hunt's 

 russet apple ;* and also, more recently, the widely known 

 Concord grape so extensively and generally cultivated. 



The President closed his remarks by briefly sketching 

 the history and objects of the Institute, which is the 

 usual custom at meetings held in a new locality. 



Judge E. R. Hoar then came forward, and in behalf 

 of his townsmen gave the members of the Institute a 

 cordial welcome to Concord. He felt he but expressed 

 the feelings of the people of the town when he said he 

 was very glad to see them. The Judge continued in a 

 humorous strain which elicited much laughter and ap- 

 plause. He alluded to their researches on and around 

 the sluggish river, and to Hawthorne's declaration that it 

 was the only river he ever knew that was too lazy to keep 

 itself clean. His father, the Judge said, had a difierent 

 idea. He thought the river hated to leave Concord ! In 

 illustration of the ignorance of many people on the sub- 



2 For an account and the address see Bulletin of Essex Institute, Vol. 6, page 160, 

 The address is printed in full in the Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, 

 vol. xiii, page 1. 



s Henry David Thoreau, b. July 12, 1817, gr. Harv. Univ. 1837, d. May 6, 1862, 

 dedicated his genius with such entire love to the fields, hills and waters of this 

 town that he made them known and interesting to the reading public. The river 

 on whose banks he lived, he knew from its springs to its confluence with the Mer- 

 rimack. 



'The Hunt russet apple, a good and desirable variety, is said to have originated 

 on the Hunt farm, in Concord, located about one mile north of the village, on the 

 south side of "Puntakasset" Hill, overlooking the old North Bridge of Revolu- 

 tionary fame. 



