60 BULLETIN OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE. 



Boston, Tremont Building. 

 Feb. 15, 1898. 

 Henry M. Brooks, Esq. 



Secretary, Essex Institute. 

 My dear Sir : — 



It gives to Mr. Bingham, the librarian of the Man- 

 chester Library, and myself much pleasure to accept the kind invita- 

 tion of the Essex Institute to be present at its fiftieth anniversary 

 exercises on March second. 

 With thanks from us both for the courtesy, 



Very truly yours, 



Roland C. Lincoln, 

 Chairman of Trustees of Manchester, Mass., Public Library. 



Florence, Feb. 15th, 1898. 

 Honorable R. S. Rantoul, 



President of the Essex Institute, 

 Salem, 



Dear Sir, 



I am glad to know that the Essex Institute is to 

 have a celebration of its 50th year. 



Salem is the Mecca of the West. No town has such a varied 

 interest. No county has produced such men. The Past is as needful 

 to man as the Future. The Past refines. We go to Europe to see it. 

 The West comes here. Lying back on its fortunes & its history it 

 reproduces Europe in America. 



Its repose, out of the vortex of materialism & recency which devours 

 & sterilizes the country, gives it Avhat Emerson called security of 

 maimers & tastes invaluable to a new land. Where all Is money let us 

 hnve some mind & memory & associations. Violently new as is the 

 interior let us show on the seacoast what we do, what Ave have done 

 with our opportunities. The Avorld comes here, & will for endless 

 time where Hawthorne & the men who made Essex County lived. It 

 is a fortune to the town. It is an education to America. 

 I am with great respect, your friend, 



Edward A. Silsbee. 



Boston Public Library, 

 Librarian's Office, Feb'y 15, 1898. 

 Mr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of the Boston Public Library, begs 

 to congratulate the Essex Institute on the achievement of its fiftieth 



