383 Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



race, when we make a comparison between periods of time sufficient- 

 ly remote from each other. Look at our progenitors, the early inhab- 

 itants of Great Britain, and all those lawless, plundering hordes, 

 which invaded that country from the North of Europe. Look at 

 those boat-loads — for the ships of those days were only boats — of 

 Saxons and Danes, who conquered England. Look at Hengist and 

 Horsa, and their savage retinue, those red-haired, uncombed, shaggy 

 pirates, clad in undressed skins, (as far as they were clad at all,) de- 

 scending upon the coast, driving the natives before them, or destroy- 

 ing them on the spot — were these likely men, from whom to extract 

 Lord Bacon, and Shakspeare, and Milton, and Wilberforce.'' 



"Mr. President, 1 will detain you no longer than to give the follow- 

 ing sentiment: — 



Horticultural Lnprovemenis — which have exalted the useless into the useful, 

 have adorned the inelegant with beauty, and purified the poisonous into the 

 healthful: may they be the emblems and the augury of similar improvements 

 in the intellectual and moral world. 



The President then gave — 



The Speaker of the House of JRepresentatives—Comma.nding respect by his 

 talents, and enforcing moderation by his urbanity. 



To this sentiment Mr. Kinnicutt replied, and concluded by propos- 

 ing— 



The Ladies of the 3Iemhers and of the Guests of the Massachusetts Horticuh 

 tural Society — The richest fruits of a New England soil — The brightest flow- 

 ers of our New England homes. 



Hon. J. T. Austin, the Attorney General, being present, the Chair 

 called upon him for a sentiment. Mr. Austin replied in a delightful 

 speech, of which we can only present the more pleasing parts: — 



"Mr. President, — If those only who could share your agreeable oc- 

 cupation, were permitted to take a part in this interesting festival, 

 those of us who live by necessity on the crowded pavement — strebitu- 

 que pulvere urbis — in the noise and dust of the city, would be exclud- 

 ed from this fairy land, which Calypso might have envied, and 

 which more than rivals in beauty the fabled garden of the Hesper- 

 ides. 



"But we can admire, sir, if we could not work. We can ajypreciate 

 the novelty, the splendor, the fragrance of this scene of enchantment; 

 and, as an humble individual, I come to thank you for having created 

 from the dust of the earth, one of the fairest and richest and most in- 

 nocent sources of human happiness, and given to the heart of every 

 man and woman, who has taste and sensibility, a most grateful sub- 

 ject of satisfaction and delight. 



"There is something in this occasion higher and nobler than the mere 

 momentary pleasure of the eye or the taste. I cannot but think, sir, 

 that it casts the spell of kindness, of brotherhood, of social affection, 

 of good fellowship, over all classes of our agitated community. It di- 

 versifies our eternal discussion of banks, tariffs, and vetoes. It gives 

 us to learn that there is something worth living for besides politics 

 and party, and it may persuade us that men of all parties, and all pol- 

 itics, may have something in common for the good of the country and 

 the race. 



