A D D E E S S 



OF 



J. HENRY HILL, Vice-Pie8iclent. 



At ike Twenty- Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Society. Delivered 

 on Thursday Evening, September 19, 1867. 



Ladies and Gentlemen of the Worcester Count;/ Horticultural Society. 



There could scarcely be a more forcible ilUi.stration of the old maxim that 

 " a bad penny is soon returned," than the one you have now before you. My 

 leave-taking of you, one year since, I supposed final ; and it can be a matter 

 of no greater surprise to any of you than it is to me, to find myself back again 

 in the old place upon the present occasion. 



We are, all of us, at one time or another, in the course of our lives the sport 

 of accident. Now this is my present experience ; for my successor had no 

 sooner become fairly settled in his seat, than upon the strength of his newly 

 acquired honors, apparently, he resolved upon a course of foreign travel ; for 

 the ostensible purpose, perhaps, of qualifying himself for the better perform- 

 ance of his new official duties ; but really, 1 more than half suspect, for his 

 own gratification and amusement. In any other times than these, it would 

 have been regarded as certainly a very extraordinary step for a President, the 

 moment he was elected, to abandon his own territory and jurisdiction, for 

 foreign lands, leaving the duties and responsibilities of his position to be borne 

 by his subordinates in rank ; and as my companions in the line of vice have 

 seen fit to neglect their duties, likewise, I am thrown into a position which, 

 while it is unfortunate enough tor me, is far more so, in its consequences, for 

 you. And in consideration of this accident, which the freaks and wanderings 



