HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 35 



The Hon. Frederick Smyth, Ex-Governor of New 

 Hampshire, Vice-President of the United States Agricul- 

 tural Society, spoke as follows : — 



Mr. President, and Gentlemen, — I count it a 

 high honor and great privilege to sit at this table 

 with so many venerable and distinguished men of 

 Massachusetts and New England ; and especially 

 so, on such an auspicious occasion as the birthday 

 of my honored and venerated friend. Although 

 associated with him officially in the United States 

 Agricultural Society, the American Pomological So- 

 ciety, and other organizations, for more than thirty 

 years, I have been his pupil, sitting at his feet and 

 learning what I could, not only of scientific pursuits 

 akin to agriculture, but of those graces and virtues as 

 well which adorn the civilization of our time; and, 

 while revering him as a master, loving him as a 

 friend above most other men whom it has been my 

 good fortune to know. 



The President of your Agricultural College has told 

 us how much Colonel Wilder has done for the schools 

 and colleges of Massachusetts. Why, Mr. President, I 

 consider Marshall P. Wilder a college himself, a great 

 university, from which has gone out to the people 

 a knowledge made practical by the tests of his expe- 



