Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 381 



The Governor not being present, the Hon. Mr. Palfrey, Secretary of 

 State, responded to the sentiment in a neat and appropriate speech. The 

 " time was" he said, " when Massachusetts had a governor who was on the 

 spot, and accustomed to respond for himself to any call that might be made 

 upon him." And then alluding to Mr. Everett, he remarked, "thank 

 God, he is among us again this evening ! [Great cheering.] Thank Heav- 

 en, that he is here safe and sound to receive again our hearty welcome, and 

 to respond to us in those eloquent tones to which this hall has so often re- 

 sounded !" 



He concluded with this sentiment : — 



Massachusetts^ThQ land of granite and ice, of fruits and flowers, of arts and men ; 

 the stern mother, who rears her children by a rugged discipline ; the generous mother, 

 who endows them with bountiful gifts of mind, body, and estate. 



Our Puritan Forefathers — The children of faith as well as of fanc}- — they trusted 

 their lives and fortunes in a Mayjioicer. 



Our late Minister to the Court of St. James — We honor him as a scholar, we respect 

 him as a statesman, and we love him as a noble specimen of the fruits of New England 

 culture. [Loud cheering.] 



This called up the Hon. Edward Everett, who replied in the following 

 happy speech : — 



" Afr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — I am greatly indebted to you 

 for this cordial reception. I cannot but feel under great obligations to the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, of which I have long had the honor 

 of being a member, — though a very unprofitable one, — that the first voice 

 of salutation which reached me on returning home, proceeded from them. 

 Our respected fellow-citizens, Messrs. Josiah Bradlee and Stephen Fair- 

 banks, on their morning stroll through East Boston, were good enough, 

 before I had set foot on terra fir ma, to convey to me your kind invitation, 

 and here, fellow-citizens and friends, amidst this attractive display of the 

 bounties and beauties of nature ; surrounded by so many of those who most 

 adorn and honor the community ; drinking in the breath of sweet flowers 

 and the sweeter breath of friendly voices, I have the happiness, after a long 

 absence, to stand in your presence, and to enjoy the honor of your wel- 

 come. [Applause.] 



I regret that I am so little able to thank you in a proper manner. I have 

 been so lately rocking upon the Atlantic, — whose lullaby is not always of 

 the gentlest, — that T am hardly fit for a rocking in the " Old Cradle of Lib- 

 erty," to which your kind note of this morning invited me. I almost un- 

 consciously catch at the table to steady myself, expecting that the flowers 

 and fruits will fetch a way in some lee-lurch ; and even the pillars of Old 

 Faneuil Hall, — not often found out of the true plumb line, — seem to reel 

 over my head. But as I look around and behold so many well-remembered 

 countenances, and as I listen to the friendly cheers with which you are so 

 kind as to receive the announcement of my name, I feel at length that I am 

 indeed at home. 



Something of this grateful feeling has been for some days growing upon 

 my mind. We seemed almost to have reached the goal, when we found 



