THE FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE INSTITUTE. 65 



Plymouth, 

 20 February. 

 My drar Sib : — 



I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the courteous 

 invitation of the Essex Institute to the President of the Pilgrim 

 Society to be present at the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of 

 the Institute on March 2d, 1898. It will give me great pleasure to ac- 

 cept that invitation, and with thanks for the courtesy extended to the 

 Pilgrim Society and myself, I am 



Very truly yours, 

 Henry M. Brooks, Es^., Arthur Lord. 



Secretarv. 



Hotel Biscayne, 



Miami, Biscayne Bay, 



Florida, Feb'y 20, 1898. 

 My dear Sir : — 



Indeed I would like to be with you on your fiftieth 

 anniversary of the Essex Institute, and to compliment that body on 

 the success that has attended their intelligent and untiring labors in 

 the development of the history of Essex County. No County in this 

 or any other state can parallel the efforts of this Institute in its 

 chosen walks, and in no scant measure should gratitude be felt towards 

 its successive boards of able and faithful officers. Your library will 

 remain a monument, and your historical collections a golden mine for 

 historians, antiquarians and genealogists. One cannot realize by 

 mere verbal phrases the excellence of your collections ; one must have 

 gleaned and mined in them for facts, to realize the rich results of 

 your fifty years of labor. 



I regret that my physician does not confirm the wish of my heart 

 to join in the feast of reason and flow of soul that will be opened at 

 your meeting, but my sympathies and the cooperation of the heart 

 are with you. 



Very truly yours, 



Ciias. Levi Woodbury. 

 Hon. Robert S. Rantoul, 

 President Essex Institute, 

 Salkm, Mass. 



Dear Mr. Brooks : — 



Thank you for your invitation to the Essex 

 Institute anniversary celebration. If here, I shall be glad to come. 



Yours truly, 

 Feb. 20, 1898. H. L. Higginson. 



ESSEX INST. BULLETIN, VOL XXX 5 



