A^DD RE S S. 



BY ROBERT MORRIS COPELAND. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: — So very cordial an introduc- 

 tion rather takes away my breath. Being a Norfolk County 

 boy, and coming here to-day, twenty-five years after your So- 

 ciety is founded, it is hard to believe that within these twenty- 

 five years, I can see so great a change as that which presents 

 itself to-day. If it is so great to me, what must it be with 

 Mr. Wilder, who has been identified with the Society from 

 the very beginning .-' When we say twenty-five years it seems 

 but a small time ; but when we say a quarter of a century, it 

 seems a long time ; and it happens to-day that we have 

 reached one of those distinguishing boundaries in our pro- 

 gress, which mark an important step gained — that we have 

 passed one of the heats in which this Society has made good 

 time. It has got now far beyond the hopes of those who 

 founded it. If those gentlemen could have foreseen even but 

 a part of what has been accomplished they would have been 

 amply satisfied. One looks now at the Society and the 

 County with a good deal of honest pride. Look at the 

 County compared with what it was twenty-five years ago. 



