32 WOECESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1885. 



owner of the old Lincoln Homestead Farm, on Lincoln Street, which 

 he carried on, through a tenant. The evening before one of the 

 Agricultural Exhibitions, I walked out to his house with him. He 

 got a lantern, lighted it up, and then got a handle basket, and we 

 crossed Lincoln Street into the lot Easterly of the Street, then a large 

 mowing-lot and a portion of it considerably covered with Apple-trees. 

 I held the lantern, while he picked apples enough for two large 

 dishes, or plates, which he carried aback with him to his office that 

 evening. The next morning he put them in the Town Hall, now the 

 City Hall with its extensions, on exhibition. The Hall, at that time, 

 was occupied, one portion for the products of the dairies ; and the 

 other, and much the larger, by the ladies, for their great display of 

 fancy needle-work. 



Subsequently, he drafted a brief paper, the purport of which was 

 the formation of a Horticultural Society, and he himself, in person, 

 called upon many of the principal householders of Main Street, and its 

 adjoinings, for signatures for membership. 



There is a class of persons in this world who seem to be imbued 

 with a sort of personal magnetism. They attract men to them. They 

 soften down prejudices, measurably harmonize conflicting opinions, 

 and lead men to the accomplishment of great results. William 

 Lincoln was, emphatically, of this class. His kind and genial manner, 

 and his ever readiness to do any one a kindness, if in his power, 

 attracted men to him ; and with a feeling to do him a kindness, if 

 within their power. 



He quietly, but efficiently, continued his work, till the Worcester 

 County Horticultural Society was legally organized and established. 

 And he lived, and lived only, to see it make an earnest and vigorous 

 beginning, when, after a brief illness, he passed from this world, in 

 " his manhood's early prime" deeply and sincerely mourned by all 

 who knew him. 



^^ Men die ; but their works live after them," 



The Worcester County Horticultural Society, now an honor to the 

 City and County of Worcester, the work of William Lincoln, lives, 

 and his name should be forever associated with its history and honored 

 in its annals. 



Sincerely and truly, yours, 



L. A. Maynard, 



30 Clifton Street. 



Our Fiftieth Anniversary is fast drawing nigh, and it will be 

 well for those, who may survive to manage its celebration, if 

 they possess themselves of all attainable information upon the 



