FESTIVAL OF COMMEMORATION. 



At a special meeting of the Trustees of the Corporation, holden on 

 the Fifth day of April, A. D., 1871, it was unanimously voted to com- 

 memorate the Thirty Second Anniversary of the organization, and the 

 final release of the Society from every form of pecuniary obligation, hap- 

 pening, as both events quite felicitously would, almost simultaneously. 

 To provide for the more perfect accomplishment of this project, a Com- 

 mittee was at once constituted, of which Hon. George W. Richardson, 

 President of the Society, was Chairman, and Messrs. Samuel Flagg, 

 O. B. Hadwen, George E. Francis, George Jaques, and Henry Wood- 

 ward were associate members. How faithfully and well the duties of 

 that Committee were discharged, the appearance of the Hall, on the 

 evening of Friday, September 29th, the precise date selected, and the 

 success of the entertainment there given, amply attested. The Hall 

 itself was put in gala dress for the occasion. Dishes of specimen 

 Pears, victors in keen competition at the so recent Autumiial Exhibi- 

 tion, crowned with green house grapes, beautifully distributed along 

 the tables, as they were, were rivalled in number by vases of tastefully 

 arranged bouquets. From the center of the ceiling hung a basket of 

 ferns — '' a thing of beauty " that was the cynosure of every eye. The 

 table of the President, upon the platform received the most particular 

 attention. Seven choice bouquets in the centre were flanked on either 

 hand by two mammoth ones arranged in tall vases ; great pots of 

 salvia, in bloom, glorified each corner, and displays of colors were so 

 made as to heighten the general good eftect, while choice hanging 

 baskets of plants graced the windows in rear of the platform. 



Four long tables extending the entire length of the Hall, and set oft' 

 with a rare selection of flowers and fruit, were spread as the board at 

 a Horticultural Banquet should be, by Mr. Augustus Marrs, caterer. 



