217 



J. L. Sibley of Cambridge, and Librarian of Harvard 

 College, had come down with a friend to see what kind of a 

 thing a " field meeting " might be. He had heard some- 

 thing of these gatherings ; but he had not expected to find 

 in them so much that spoke of the active, living study of 

 nature, and of the thousand wonderful and lovely things 

 she spreads around us. And as no one in this life knows 

 what may be the consequences of his acts, how much wo 

 may be left to inquire, as resulting, one day from such exer- 

 cises as these. Here was a dissertation on the almost un- 

 known fiber of a common plant. Who can tell what results 

 may follow from what that speaker has told us on that sub- 

 ject, results, perhaps, as broadly affecting the country as 

 the growth and use of cotton already have. 



A few other gentlemen favored the meeting with remarks, 

 after which, on motion of Mr. Beaman of Salem, the thanks 

 of the Institute were voted to Messrs. John Whipple and 

 Edmund Knowlton, for their efforts to render the meeting 

 successful and pleasant, and to all our friends in this vi- 

 cinity. Adjourned. 



Wednesday, September 17, 1862. 



Field Meeting at Rowley. — This was the last of the 

 series for this year, and nearly one hundred from other 

 towns availed themselves of the opportunity to visit this 

 time-honored old place, where cluster so many memorials of 

 the past, highly interesting to the antiquary and to the stu- 

 dent in our early history. The assemblage were welcomed 

 at the Town Hall, by Rev. John Pike, the '' parson of the 

 parish," in a few remarks of great kindliness ; after which, 

 dispersing in various directions, the visitors spent the usual 



ESSEX INST. PROCEED. VOL. iii. 28. 



