HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 25 



Professor J. C. Greenougii, President of the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College, was called upon, and spoke as 

 follows : — 



Mr. President, and Gentlemen, — It is a pleasure 

 to be here to-day, and to be permitted, as representa- 

 tive of the State College, to render a brief tribute to 

 the value of the public services of our honored friend. 

 To say that the Massachusetts Agricultural College 

 owes its existence to him, would be but a very inade- 

 quate statement of what Colonel Wilder has done 

 for the Commonwealth and for our whole country. 



The power and the value of his efforts are best 

 estimated by considering the change wrought in pub- 

 lic opinion. Most of us remember that in our boy- 

 hood the opinion was almost universal, that a farmer 

 needed little, if any, education beyond the ability to 

 read, to write, and to perform the simpler operations 

 in numbers. The value to the artisan of scientific 

 knowledge and intellectual culture was not appre- 

 ciated. 



Though involved in the toil and the care insepara- 

 ble from his mercantile career. Colonel Wilder, in the 

 might of his manhood, with all his culture, his en- 

 thusiasm, and his force of character, gave himself 

 to the great work of helping those who co-operate 



