WINTER FIELD MEETING. 63 



inspections of the pond itself, gathered all he could learn 

 by word of mouth, from life-long residents near it, and 

 from the living evidence of his own senses. 



Mr. Rantoul proceeded to read extracts from a mass of 

 notes thus accumulated, most of which are to be found in 

 print in Histor. Coll. Essex Institute, Vol. VI, pp. 82-3 

 and 141-52 and Vol. VIII, pp. 118-23, and commented 

 on these extracts in the light of his recent European expe- 

 rience. He felt that if the people of Salem were more ac- 

 customed to leave home, they would appreciate more fully 

 the blessings of Wenham Water, and he cited the evidence 

 of its superior excellence and fame which he had collected 

 from such authorities as Faraday, Dr. Charles T. Jackson, 

 Sir Charles Lyell, Sir Francis Bond Head, Professor Chase 

 of Brown University, the historians Alonzo Lewis <^f 

 Lynn, and Dr. Allen of Wenham r and "Wilmer and 

 Smith's European Times." 



Rev. GEO. H. HOSMER, of the East Church, Salem, 

 spoke of the interest with which these remarks had been 

 listened to, and added that when a boy, living in another 

 part of the country, he had taken part in an amateur per- 

 formance of an English play called "The Serious Family" 

 in which a feast was described, and among the delicacies 

 enumerated was "Wenham Ice." This he had supposed to 

 mean some English variety of ice cream unknown in this 

 part of the world. He was amused on moving east, to find 

 himself a neighbor of Wenham Lake and a consumer of 

 its ice and water. 



Mr. JOHN H. SEARS, of the Peabody Academy of Sci- 

 ence, at Salem, then addressed the gathering, illustrating 

 what he said about "Buds and the ramification of Branches" 

 with a collection of twigs he had made from the neighbor- 

 ing forest trees. He said the time of the year was favorable 

 for this investigation. 



