HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 53 



The Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, Corresponding Secretary 

 of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, was called 

 upon, and spoke as follows : — 



Mr. President, and Gentlemen, — The occasion 

 which has brought us together naturally turns our 

 thoughts to the little rural town of Rindge, on the 

 southern borders of New Hampshire, in whose his- 

 tory one of the most interesting features is the birth 

 of a boy-baby, which occurred eighty-five years ago 

 to-day. The parents were so young that in law they 

 and their young scion were infants together. The 

 father had not attained his majority, and the mother 

 was still younger. If, in general, we regard it an 

 act of imprudence to organize a family at so early an 

 age, nevertheless, in this particular case, I am sure, 

 we shall all be agreed that the enterprising young 

 couple could not have done a wiser or a better thing. 

 I was told to-day, by a lady, that every mother expects, 

 when she gives birth to a son, that he will some day 

 be President of the United States. What forecast- 

 ings that young mother, on the borders of New 

 Hampshire, had, as she gazed upon her baby-boy 

 while he lay slumbering in the new cradle that had 

 just been brought into the house, or in the old one 

 that had come down as an heirloom in the family, I 



