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of their own sowing, but you, sir, have stood by the 

 cradle of its infancy and have watched its growth and are 

 now permitted to rejoice with us in its full manhood and 

 extensive usefulness. 



Your association, like our New England Society, is 

 giving special attention to the preservation and transmis- 

 sion of New England's history to future generations, and 

 it is indeed a grateful and noble service. "History," says 

 a renowned author "is but the development of God's gntnd 

 plan, to preserve the treasures of human thought, and to 

 increase for countless generations the absolute wisdom of 

 mankind." And what more benevolent and sflorious work 



O 



can we have than the preservation of the history of our 

 own beloved New England ! Time -will not permit me to 

 refer to the early history of the colonies, with which Salem 

 was so intimately connected, or to those principles of 

 piety, patriotism and philanthropy, which laid the foun- 

 dations of our free institutions, which have made our nation 

 what it is, and which we believe are yet to revolutionize 

 and christianize the nations of this earth ; suffice it to 

 say, that in all that pertains to civil and religious liberty, 

 in whatever relates to the great and benevolent enterprises 

 of the age, Massachusetts has ever stood forth prominently 

 as the champion of progress and principle. It would 

 be pleasant, had we time, to revert to some of the great 

 events and great men which characterize her history from 

 the time when Endicott and Winthrop landed on your 

 shores. I cannot refrain, however, from alluding to a few 

 of her sons who have moved on the stage of life within 

 the last hundred years, and whose names and deeds will 

 gild the page of American history with an effulgence 

 which will shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day ; 

 to Hancock whose bold sign-manual was affixed first to'the 

 ever memorable Declaration of Independence ; to Frank- 



