20 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1884. 



character without blemish or flaw ; — an example free from speck 

 or taint. 



The loss sustained by this Society through the death of the 

 Hon. Stephen Salisbury ; whilom its President, and erst as ever 

 its benefactor; was fittingly noticed at the time, in a most feeling 

 and appropriate tribute to his memory, by our senior surviving 

 ex-President, J. Henry Hill. Some facts stated by him, 

 orally, familiar, as they were and are, to but few, deserve to 

 be put in more permanent shape for an enduring record of 

 appreciative and continuous liberality whereof this Society was 

 the beneficiary. 



The legacy from Hon. Daniel Waldo, united with the receipts 

 from Memberships, and some revenue derived from admission to 

 the Annual Exhibitions; the whole managed frugally and wisely 

 by our life-long Treasurer, Frederic William Paine ; had encour- 

 aged and enabled the Society to venture upon the erection of 

 this, their own Hall. The funds in hand, however, were inade- 

 quate to the cost of the land and building ; and a loan was indis- 

 pensable. To secure the sum needed, certain Members became 

 individually responsible : an obligation voluntarily assumed and 

 wherefrom, for that reason if no other, it behoved the Society 

 to discharge them as soon as possible. To accelerate an object 

 so meritorious, Mr. Salisburj', then just entering upon his fourth 

 year as President, made the following unsolicited ofier : — 



" Worcester, Jan. 4, 1854. 

 To the 



Worcester County Horticultural Society. 



Gentlemen. — 



For the relief of the Members of the late Building 

 Committee from suretyship for the Corporation debt, and for the 

 increase of the ethciency of the Society by the enlargement of its 

 available means, I offer to pay to Fred'k W. Paine, Esq., your 

 Treasurer, the sum of Three Thousand Dollars, to be applied to the 

 reduction of the Society's debt to such an amount as shall require no 

 other security than the Society's note and a Mortgage of the Horti- 

 cultural Hall. 



I am prepared to make the payment whenever the Society shall 

 signify their acceptance of this offer. 



With great respect, 



Your obed't servant, 



S. Salisbury." 



