MEMORIAL OF HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. • 13 



perennial youth. How different in its result from a life spent in 

 the absorbing and selfish pursuit of gain or worldly ambition ! 

 And yet in other respects Mr. Wilder was an old man, his life 

 was completed — his was a sublime old age, full of good works. 

 The world is better, how much better ! for his living in it. Long 

 shall we cherish his memory ; long ma}' we be stimulated by his 

 example. 



Kev. A.. B. Muzzej' read the following memorial, prepared by 

 him :■ 



A connection in this Society of fortj'-two A'ears with Marshall P. 

 Wilder, all filled with the highest respect, and many of them with 

 a friendship based on personal intimacy (treading, as we did, alike 

 through more than one path darkened by some of the deepest 

 shadows of home) demands, I feel, from myself, in these memo- 

 rial services, some notice of the traits of his remarkable character. 

 His prolonged life was too active, too earnest and influential, to 

 receive only an ordinary brief and superficial record. The son of 

 a farmer, he inherited a taste for cultivating the soil, and was 

 diverted Irom that pursuit only by a casual incident that led him 

 into a mercantile life. But this never stifled or decreased that 

 early love of nature which made him eventuallj' so distinguished in 

 horticulture. His passion for flowers and fruits Impelled him to 

 devote himself more and more, by importing new and i*are plants, 

 and especially through hybridization, to the production of the 

 choicest specimens in these departments. 



A constant contributor to our exhibitions, he secured numerous 

 premiums, both for flowers and fruits, on to the very last month of 

 his long life. Nor were these testimonials confined to this Society. 

 He received from the United States Agricultural Society a present 

 in silver which he tenderh' bequeathed to his daughters, down to 

 the last survivor of ihem, " to have and to hold, to her, her 

 heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, absolutely." 



A thoroughl}- practical gardener, he united with this art a steady 

 and deep thoughtfulness which made him a man of science. He 

 had a progressive mind, never satisfied with present achievements. 

 A steady observer of nature, he kept up with the times, ready for 

 new ideas, ready for everything that promised better results in the 

 garden. And so in agriculture ; a member of our State Board of 

 Agriculture, he was essentially the founder of the Massachusetts 



