1871.] FESTIVAL OF COMMEMORATION. 35 



read a letter from Col. T. W. Higgiuson, of Newport, regretting his 

 inal)ility to be present, and congratulating the members of the society 

 on tlie fact that they found time to give attention to a more agreeable 

 apple than the apple of political discord. 



Hon. John Miltox Eakle, being hailed as the " great Nomencla- 

 tor " of the Society, spoke briefly in pleasant reminiscence of its early 

 days, giving some interesting statements relative to its growth. 



Mr. Stkphen S. Foster reluctantly rose in response to a call from 

 the President, and made one of the best speeches of the evening. He 

 said he was not in a mood for speaking, for he had just buried his 

 Butler and was still in mourning ; and, more than that, his mind was 

 not at all relieved by all the cheering he heard. He congratulated 

 the society on what it has done for the community as well as for itself, 

 and, raising a dish of fruit in his hand, said that he remembered the 

 time when all the wealth of Worcester could not procure such fruit as 

 was seen on the tables in abundance — money could not buy it. Much 

 has been accomplished by Horticultural Societies in the way of driving 

 second and third rate fruit from farms and markets, and still more 

 must yet be done. Speaking of flowers, he said he regarded them as 

 having a salutar}' moral effect; he considered them preachers of the 

 gospel of Jesus Christ ; in all his travels he had never failed to find a 

 welcome, cleanliness and comfort where there were flowers in tlie 

 window ; they were the product of refinement, and had a refining 

 influence. He said that he was compelled from a sense of duty to 

 abstain from the delightful task of cultivating flowers ; they capti- 

 vated and absorbed his mind, which he could not allow to be done, 

 for his thoughts were engaged in solving that great problem which 

 will only be sohed when every man can sit under his own vine and 

 fig tree and not under those of another. He was happ_y in the owner- 

 ship of land and a home ; and his religion, he said, consisted in 

 endeavoring to give to every other man what he himself prized and 

 enjoyed. 



Hon. George F. Hoar, who was the next speaker, indulged in a 

 humorous account of his early horticultural associations. He alluded 

 to Dr. Loring's remark in regard to the line " g f 4, " and said that in 

 view of the results of the recent convention, with which he, the 

 speaker, had something to do, the Doctor might perhaps be justified in 



