106 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



work to do, and no one else can do it for me ; T take good care of myself, 

 so that I can stay and do it.' 



•'There is something very childlike, and at the same time beautifullj'- 

 Christian, about these words. Here was a man who had survived his 

 generation by a great way, living a long while already upon borrowed 

 time, and yet happy to think that the Lord might have more for him to 

 do, and carefullj' husbanding his slender resources of vitality that he 

 might have the pleasure of doing whatever more the Lord might have 

 still remaining. 



"One of the sweetest old people, we take it, in the town of Concord, 

 for a long time was Mr. Bull. When it seemed as though he might be 

 lonesome, and regretful, and anxious, none of these things moved him. 

 His lot seemed to him beautiful, because he saw the beautiful that was in 

 it. And so he moved among us a preacher of Christian faith, and reveal- 

 ing to us many of the sweetest things of life ; a benefactor of the public ; 

 an invaluable citizen, an example to multitudes of us that are treading 

 sometimes a weary way. 



''Mr. Bull was the originator of the Concord grape. How much he has 

 added in that capacity to the sum total of human welfare could not easily 

 be told. Neither can we estimate how much he has added to the fair 

 fame of the old town of which he was so proud." 



S. E. SWEETSER. 



We were pained to learn in the winter following our 1894 exhibition, of 

 the serious illness of Mr. S. R. Sweetser, at his home in Cumberland 

 Center. Although he had been in poor health for many years, this sick- 

 ness proved to be his last. For many months loving friends watched by 

 his bedside, ministered to his wants and cheered him by the teuderest 

 words of love as the journey of life drew near its close. On the 10th of 

 December, 1895, he passed away. 



Mr. Sweetser was born in Cumberland, April 19, 1817. In accordance 

 with the custom of that time, when a boy he was apprenticed to learn the 

 shoemaker's trade, and for several years after he followed the trade. He 

 also engaged in brickmaking a number of years. In 1849 he married Mary 

 J. Pettie, and settled on the homestead, where he lived during the 

 remainder of his life. There were born to them three children, two sons 

 and a daughter. His wife died in 1879 and the daughter in 1890. 



Mr. Fred R. Sweetser, one of his sons, has kindlj^ furnished the Secre- 

 tar\'^ with these data, and in his letter he adds : 



"From my earliest recollection he was very much interested in fruit 

 growing. He and his brother were the first to introduce several of the 

 standard varieties of apples in this section. They procured scions of the 

 same and grafted them on seedlings of their own growing. 



