ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 23 



Bridge, and by the men of Danvers who marched to the fore 

 front for the freedom of their country, is fresh in our memory, 

 and guides us still. When the Union was threatened and the 

 flag was insulted the sons of Essex were among the first to enter 

 Baltimore, the first to enter Richmond, and the last to leave. 

 They fell on almost every battle-field of the war. They were 

 found among the horrors of Port Hudson, at the weary work 

 at Vicksburg, fighting for freedom at Gettysburg, toiling with 

 Grant through the gloom of the Wilderness, holding New 

 Orleans under loyal sway with Butler, passing along the great 

 march with Sherman, manning the decks of our navy on every 

 sea. What a half-century of greatness the Almighty Father 

 has bestowed upon us ! May we who are here never forget 

 our obligations, and may those who come after us be true to 

 their great inheritance. 



In concluding this address, gentlemen, I desire to express my 

 grateful recognition of the honor you have conferred upon me, 

 by selecting me for a second time to discharge this duty — an 

 honor bestowed by this society upon but one other, and he the 

 distinguished first president. I congratulate you upon your 

 career thus far ; upon the wisdom and good judgment which 

 have always guided your counsels ; upon the fraternal regard 

 which has always existed among your members; and upon the 

 devotion of your present presiding officer, in whose hands the 

 first half-century of the society is brought to a bright and pros- 

 perous termination. I trust your career will still be successful, 

 and that among the most useful of the institutions which we 

 transmit to those who come after us will be the Essex Agricul- 

 tural Society, supported by the practical intelligence of the 

 county, and surrounded by all the delightful associations which 

 cheer alike the young and the old, in a cultivated and happy 

 rural life. 



