20 CALEB COOKE MEMORIAL TABLET. 



Careless of forms, and all our casual creeds, 

 Known truly but to nearest friends, and few ; 

 He simply asked : " What is there I can do 

 For others?" heedless of his own scant needs. 



He led the Life that every pulpit feeds, 



Though ne'er the pastors found him in a pew : 



Yet one said : " Brother, many years we two 



Have preached The Christ; he made our words his deeds." 



Pure Soul ! not for himself he spent his might, 

 And humbly learned his Mother Nature's lore, 

 Roaming a child, with children, by her side. 



Leal-hearted Comrade ! not for him came night ; 



Rather for us who took the flowers he bore, 



The flowers still fair, though he, good man, has died. 



The Chair then read several letters which had been 

 received from persons at a distance, and those nearer 

 home who were prevented from being present on the 

 occasion and which are referred to below : 



CAMBRIDGE, MASS., Jan. 12, 1883. 



Were it not that I have been confined to the house for sev- 

 eral days by a severe cold, I should be with you this evening to join 

 in the well deserved tribute to the memory of Caleb Cooke, my friend 

 and associate for so many years. 



He was a faithful worker and officer in the Institute and Academy, 

 and to his quiet and unostentatious labors far more is due in develop- 

 ing the wide-spread interest in local natural history pursuits, for 

 which Essex County has become noted, than his peculiar character 

 and habits would lead the superficial observer to suspect. His sin- 

 gular life, with its many deep undercurrents of thought and action, 

 was only understood during his lifetime by a few who had long been 

 associated with" him, although his good works have been acknowl- 

 edged since his death. I am personally thankful that the memory of 

 my friend is to be perpetuated by the tablet to be presented to the 

 Academy this evening, and it seems to me that the Board of Trustees 



