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tor's successor was one of the purest minded, the wisest, 

 and most cultivated scholar and statesman that Essex 

 County lias ever produced. The Hon. Daniel P. King was 

 a student in his retired and somewhat secluded home in 

 Danvers ; a patient, judicious and influential legislator, a 

 dignified presiding officer in both branches of the General 

 Court, a most patriotic and fearless member of Congress — 

 a public servant whom the people trusted, and whose un- 

 timely death deprived this Commonwealth of an opportu- 

 nity to bestow upon him her highest honors, and cut short 

 a career of most exemplary and useful distinction. And 

 upon the retirement of Mr. King, the Hon. Allen W. 

 Dodge entered upon his long official connection with the 

 Society, as Secretary for twenty-two years, and for three 

 years as President. Mr. Dodge's zeal and devotion were 

 not easy to follow. He commenced life as a devoted stu- 

 dent, a brilliant lawyer in the city of New York, a lover of 

 literature in every form, and when he left the spirited life 

 which his faculties secured for him as scholar and lawyer, 

 he brought to his farm to which he retired as a working 

 farmer, all the enthusiasm he had exercised in another 

 sphere. He was a painstaking, practical farmer, and in 

 the midst of all his labor on the land, and in those offices 

 to which his fellow citizens were ready to elevate him, he 

 never forgot his books nor relinquished his fondness for 

 keen criticism of the writers of his day. His enthusiasm 

 at our annual meetings, will not be forgotten by those who 

 knew him, and the skill with which he discharged the 

 duties of his office will be manifest as long as the records of 

 this society are preserved. It was such a list of Secretaries 

 as this, in which Mr. Preston's name was enrolled in 1860 

 and in which it remained to 1885. During this period he 

 has been associated with a large number of the farmers of 

 the county, who, as members. Presidents, Vice Presidents, 

 Trustees and active workers have secured for the Essex 

 Agricultural Society its prosperity and its good name. The 



