2 BULLETIN OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE. 



At its quarter-centennial, the first Wednesday was the 

 fifth day of March, and the first day of March was Sat- 

 urday. Accordingly Wednesday was chosen, and the 

 same course was followed now. This year, March came 

 in on Tuesday and the first Wednesday was the second 

 day of the month. It was determined to open our rooms 

 to the public on the evening of March 1. 



Later several distinct modes of celebrating the next 

 day were debated, depending to some extent on our success 

 in bringing home to Salem, for that day, the scattered sons 

 of Essex County. It was at last determined that, as 

 there was from the beginning an improbability that the 

 United States Senators, or either of them, could be 

 present, an uncertainty about the attendance of His Excel- 

 lency the Governor, and a contingency as to the accept- 

 ance of the Hon. Joseph Hodges Choate which time 

 only could remove, the commemoration should be planned 

 on a modest scale, and should consist of speaking in 

 Academy Hall, followed by a tea at Plummer Hall across 

 the way. Large committees were organized, and at once 

 undertook their several functions, and as soon as the 

 plans became known the demand for tickets became over- 

 whelming. It became evident at once that Academy Hall 

 would not contain the members of the Institute desiring 

 to be present, and generally they demanded that their 

 families be admitted also. A change of base to Cadet Ar- 

 mory was effected, where there was room for all, and the 

 question whether so large and undefined a number could 

 be entertained at tea, though grave at first, soon resolved 

 itself under the Avell-directed efforts of the ladies. It 

 was voted to provide each member of the Institute with a 

 ticket for himself and with one family ticket, and as many 

 more of the latter as he wished to buy at twenty-five cents 

 each. Every ticket bore a member's name. As the cost 



