HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 59 



uninviting task of obtaining the money to pay for it. 

 However difficult it may be for us to believe that 

 it was an easy task to accomplish this work, never- 

 theless, within a few months after the undertaking 

 was begun, the sum of forty-two thousand dollars 

 was secured for the purpose, nearly all of which 

 was obtained by the personal solicitation of Colonel 

 Wilder himself ; a house was purchased, remodelled, 

 and paid for, and is now the unencumbered property 

 of the Society. In addition to this he solicited, per- 

 sonally, with the assistance of one or two others, twelve 

 thousand dollars towards the endowment of the So- 

 ciety ; and in his annual addresses he has called upon 

 members not to forget the Society in their testamen- 

 tary bequests. In response, several legacies have been 

 received, so that our funds to-day are more than forty- 

 two thousand dollars ; to which, adding the cost of the 

 house, the amount is over eighty-four thousand dollars, 

 which has been added to our property since our hon- 

 ored guest was placed at the head of the institution. 

 Every other department has advanced in complete har- 

 mony with this. Our library has gone up from eight 

 thousand to more than eighteen thousand volumes ; it 

 has more than doubled in numbers, and quadrupled 

 in working value. Our membership was then eight 

 hundred, and is now more than eleven hundred. Our 

 publications are more numerous, and richer in ma- 

 terial. Our buildinof has become crowded, and too 



