464 Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



given in honor of triumphs, not only in the field, but of triumphs in every 

 department of literature and poetry. Such a scene as this, — how does it 

 contrast with the scenes which were presented in this land only one year 

 ago, when the nation was rushing madly into a war for foreign conquest, 

 and women were excluded from our councils, from our sympathies, and 

 almost from our remembrance ! It is the true and only way to preserve 

 these institutions, to bring woman up to her proper influence in society. It 

 is only by indulging in such enterprises as may appeal to her for a blessing, 

 that we can expect to preserve a great, a happy, a prosperous, and a peace- 

 ful people. I look to Massachusetts to set this example for New York and 

 for the whole Union. She is worthy ; she is well qualified ; and I give you, 

 with my thanks for the kindness v;ith which these very desultory remarks 

 have been listened to, as my sentiment : — 



Massachusetts : It is her destiny to lead the march of peaceful civilization on the Western Con- 

 tinent—worthy and well qualified. Let her fulfil it. 



After listening to music from the band, the President said : — 

 As the sentiment, to which our worthy Mayor responded, alluded to a 

 fruit to " be preserved" in " granite ;" and consequently, as he thinks, a 

 " stone-fruit ; " I will give you, for the purpose of accomplishing business 

 as we proceed : — 



Josiak Quinry, senior: The faithful son of a patriot sire. 



Mr. Quincy made the following reply : — 



The first sentiment proposed having been equally applicable to his son as 

 to himself, and his son having responded, he had hoped that this reply 

 would have been deemed sufficient for the family. But from the present re- 

 newed call there was no escaping, although he was wholly unprepared to 

 reciprocate. I came here, Mr. Chairman, to admire, approve, encourage, 

 and enjoy, with no intention or desire to analyze the sources of my feelings, 

 much less of making a display of them to others. 



Certainly it cannot be expected of me to make a dissertation on fruits and 

 flowers, — on fruits in their pride and prime, and on flowers in their bloom 

 and beauty, — on the results of the energies of nature, in their youthful and 

 most powerful exercise. At my period of life, it is far more natural and 

 appropriate to think of dried fruits and decayed flowers, and of energies fail- 

 ing and waning in their vigor. 



I will not, however, refrain from expressing my extreme gratification and 

 delight at what I witnessed yesterday in this hall, and at what lam witness- 

 ing to-day, — the evidences of the results of taste, judgment, skill, labor, 

 and of the wise application of capital for the increase, the enlargement, and 

 improvement of the bounties of Providence to a degree of perfection which, 

 forty years ago, when 1 first became connected with an agricultural society, 

 was as litUe anticipated by my contemporaries of that day as was the steam 

 engine or the magnetic telegraph. 



I rejoice in this state of things, because, in the improvement of the soil, 

 by the taste it excites, the powers it calls into exercise, and the moral and 

 social dispositions it inspires, I recognize the surest and broadest founda- 



