REMARKS OF MR. HORTON. 35 



ezer Francis, Charles Levi Woo'dbury, J. Elliot Cabot 

 and Henry Cabot Lodge. In closing, he alluded in terms 

 of commendation to the chairman's recent contribution to 

 the history of the Woddbury Family, and feelingly related 

 some family reminiscences of his own connected with the 

 perilous ventures of the early fishermen, a craft which had 

 numbered many of his ancestors in its sturdy ranks and in 

 which some of them had lost their lives. 



Hon. Nathaniel A. Horton was next called on, and said 

 that if we could make out a table of pedigree and descent 

 for a tree as we did for a man, he would expect to find 

 growing in these woods to-day some lineal offshoots of the 

 stalwart oaks which went to make the knees or keel of the 

 frigate Essex, built but a gun-shot away by the Essex Pa- 

 triots of '98. It was an interesting thought that these giants 

 of the woods had their history and their pedigree, that 

 the tree family had its family tree, so to say, as well as the 

 more intelligent beings who sometimes so wantonly de- 

 stroyed them. The Great Elms, junior and senior, on 

 Boston common ; the Charter Oak of Hartford ; the Endi- 

 cott Pear tree ; what scenes they had witnessed, what his- 

 tories they could write, had they the gift of language, 

 were there but "tongues in trees." He then alluded to 

 Nathan Dane, a Beverly man, to whom Webster had as- 

 cribed the authorship of the famous "Ordinance of 1787," 

 now in process of commemoration in the great northwest- 

 ern section of the Union, whose virgin soil his wise, humane 

 and patriotic forethought had shielded from the polluting 

 touch of slavery. Mr. Dane was thought to divide with 

 Manasseh Cutler of Hamilton and Rtifus King of New- 

 buryport, two other sons of Essex, the entire credit of 

 dedicating the Northwest Territory to freedom. 



After the customary vote of thanks, which was grace- 

 fully responded to by Mr. Peabody, the session of the 

 Institute was adjourned. 



