21 



To my astonishment, I afterwards discovered that the 

 author was a Biddeford boy, Grouville Mellen, a son of 

 Chief Justice Prentiss Mellen, the poet who wrote the 

 ode on Boston's two hundredth anniversary of settlement, 

 the man who, in his time, "occupied a position ranch like 

 that which Dr. Holmes fills now," and that he lies buried 

 in a place utterly forgotten and unknown. What a shame 

 that it should be so ! All his poems and all the facts of 

 his life should be in the safe custody of this society. 

 Here is a person dying as late as 1841, a man of letters, — 

 for, besides writing poems for the leading magazines and 

 annuiils, his books brought him into wide and favorable 

 notice, — here he is — allowed to be dropped from memory ! 

 I cannot leave him thus coldly. I plead for his fame, 

 that it may not die. I give you the titles of his poems of 

 note : In 1826, "The Rest of Empires," before the Peace 

 Society at Portland ; in 1828, "The Light of Letters," be- 

 fore the Athenaean Society of Bowdoin College ; in 1827, 

 "Our Chronicles of Twenty-six ;" in 1833, "The Martyr's 

 Triumph," "Buried Valley." He wrote a volume of 

 prose, "Sad Tales and Glad Tales." He wrote an ode 

 "The Pilgrim Fathers," for the New England Society's 

 annual dinner in 1832, at New York. He wrote another 

 ode for the New York Historical Society's banquet in 

 1839. Have we these poems in our collection? Have 

 we all the knowledge we should have of other distin- 

 guished men and women of this county? York Insti- 

 tute's duty is to save these men and women from oblivion. 

 If any remissness has been in the past, let no charge of 

 indifference and neglect stain the society's future. 



But what shall this future be? Of one thing I am cer- 

 tain : it will exceed our present expectations greatly. 

 Napoleon said : "Give me nine men and I will make a 

 monarchy." The Institute has had its "nine men ;" and 



