1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 27 



and the entire Republic. To his acute perception the merits of 

 the Concord Grape were at once obvious. Whatsoever the rank 

 of that variety now, let it never be forgotten that to John B. 

 Moore is it due that it was not lost in its first development ; and 

 that its decided advance upon anything theretofore cultivated 

 ■was and lias since been generally accepted. That he improved 

 upon it, diversifying color and augmenting flavor, is only what 

 would come naturally enough to him. But there are some in 

 this Hall (not many I trust), to whom his immediate services to 

 this Society are unfamiliar, or may have faded into a faint rem- 

 iniscence. Other some cannot forget how often he obeyed your 

 summons to discourse of his favorite flower, pre-eminent in itself, 

 but to which his unsurpassed skill of cultivation seemed to add 

 new charms. How it happened, — with the consummate taste 

 which he invariably manifested in other respects, that he cared 

 so little for the perfume of the Rose, was ever a mystery to the 

 writer. Save for that he craved and achieved perfection. In 

 all the Massachusetts Society, with its merited or factitious pres- 

 tige, no Rosarian approved himself his peer. Possibly, in the 

 New Jerusalem, he will be brought to admit that his judgment 

 lacked in one particular : and that, as between the flowers of 

 sulphur and the frankincense of Araby The Blest, fragrance is 

 an element that cannot be denied. 



In an obituary notice, wherein he received but scant justice, 

 allusion was made to his keen sense of humor. Strangers, who 

 beheld him for the first time, would not expect it : but, to some 

 that were fortunate enough to enjoy his friendship, it was not a 

 rare sight to behold that giant form shaking with half-suppressed 

 laughter over some rich and ripe old joke. He loved fun and 

 thoroughly assimilated an infinite jest. The writer will never 

 forget how he chuckled when narrating the discovery, by him- 

 self, in Concord, at a most opportune moment, of the Philoso- 

 pher's Stone ! 



John Brooks Moore was a typical Massachusetts yeoman, if 

 such ever lived. The place that he easily filled is vacant. The 

 aspirants who would rattle around in his shoes may be a legion 

 in number. But which of them all can deepen the impression 

 that his daily walk made upon this our solid earth ? 



