166 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1898. 



Mr. George Cruikshanks. — There is one thing that I will 

 take advantage of, and that is the opportunity to bring to the 

 Worcester County Horticultural Society the greetings of the 

 Massachusetts Association and will express the hope that the 

 seeds of horticulture that were sown by the founders of the 

 Worcester Society may continue to grow and prosper more 

 luxuriantly in the future than they have in the past. 



The Toastmaster. — The President reminds me that the limit 

 to the exercises of a literary character is now approaching, and 

 there is time for only one more to speak. As usual I have 

 reserved the best wine till the last. You may remember of my 

 alluding to a guest last year who left his speech unfinished. 

 He is a member of the Massachusetts Society and has a military 

 title. We are honored in having two generals here this evening, 

 General Appleton and General Wilson. I have the honor of 

 introducing General Henry W. Wilson. 



General Henry W. Wilson. — I had hoped you would 

 draw the line at the General, I do not claim it, I am not enti- 

 tled to it. I hardly know what to say in this presence. The 

 hour is getting late and my ideas are slightly mixed. You are 

 impatient to go, and I feel that what I might say would not 

 interest you. I would like to finish my speech, but really I 

 have forgotten what it was, and consequently it might not be 

 of any advantage to you. I have been thinking what a pleasure 

 it would be for us in Boston if we could enjoy such an occasion 

 as this. We have all the evidences of material prosperity, and 

 we have a hall that is valued at $700,000, and it is all paid for. 

 We have a librar}'^ of untold value. We have investments of 

 funds which will make us wealthy beyond the dreams of ava- 

 rice ; then we have a membership of one thousand, and I have 

 never witnessed there such an occasion as this. We run the 

 whole ffamut of social life from the millionaire who counts his 

 millions down to the man who delves and toils in the soil for 

 for his daily sustenance, and to get them together on a social 

 plane is a physical improbability, still they get along harmoni- 

 ously and do their business properly. The social element we 



