187 
They are rendering valuable assistance throughout the exercises 
of this week, as they do on all occasions when called upon. 
Also to the Garden Teachers Association of the Botanic Garden, 
generous contributors of service and money and moral support for 
the furtherance of our work. 
The English language is said to be more deficient than other 
languages in synonyms for adjectives, and especially for super- 
latives. JI never realize this so much as when I endeavor to ex- 
press my appreciation for all that our Woman’s Auxiliary has 
meant and is meaning to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The 
Oxford Dictionary defines “ auxiliary ” as “a quantity introduced 
for the purpose of facilitating some operation.” With our Wom- 
an’s Auxiliary in mind I wish to supplement that definition by 
adding that, in my experience, our auxiliary is an organization of 
public spirited, civically minded, sympathetically and enthusiasti- 
cally interested women, identified with a botanic garden as an 
integral and indispensable part of it, for the purpose of enabling 
it to do what it needs to do but could by no possibility accomplish 
” 
without such an organization. 
The greatest need of such an institution as this is people who 
are enthusiastic about it. I can assure you that nothing can put 
such spirit and energy and courage into a director and staff as the 
realization that others are not merely interested but are ent/uist- 
astic. Archimedes said, “Give me a place to stand and I can 
move the world.” Give a botanic garden supporters who believe 
in it sufficiently to be enthusiastic about it, and it can even make 
— 
progress in a period of world-wide economic depression. 
For the planting of the Plaza in front of this building, for the 
planting of our Horticultural Section, for the materials used in 
improving the interior of this auditorium, for many new members 
and friends of this Garden, for moral, as well as financial support, 
for keeping us strong where we would otherwise have been weak, 
our Trustees and the Director and Staff are under a lasting debt 
of gratitude to the members of our Woman’s Auxiliary. 
Perhaps no form of public service is more thoroughly altruistic 
than that of being a trustee. Trustees are so often taken for 
granted. Credit for substantial accomplishment so often is given 
to salaried executives when it should go to trustees, or at least be 
— 
