OFFICERS. 1895. PRESIDENT. HARRY BINGHAM, Littleton. VICE-PRESIDENTS. CHESTER B. JORDAN, Lancaster. CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. EDWARD C. NILES, Berlin. RECORDING SECRETARY. WILLIAM P. BUCKLEY, Lancaster. LIBRARIAN AND TREASURER. DEXTER D. Dow, Woodsville. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. JASON H. DUDLEY, Colebrook. THOMAS F. JOHNSON, Colebrook. FLETCHER LADD, Lancaster. WILLIAM P. BUCKLEY, Lancaster. DEXTER D. Dow, Woodsville. COMMITTEE ON LEGAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. JAMES F. COLBY, Hanover. C. EDW. WRIGHT, Whitefield. COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS. JAMES W. REMICK, Littleton. COMMITTEE ON MUSIC. MOSES A. HASTINGS, Lancaster. ADDRESS BY HON. HARRY BINGHAM, OF LITTLETON, PRESIDENT. Gentlemen of the Association: If you will now come to order, we will open the exercises. The first on the programme is an address from myself. I have been in bad health, in fact housed up with sickness for the last few days. I have been unable to formulate any landmarks to guide me in an extended discourse upon any of the numerous topics that might be suitable for consideration on the present occasion, and I do not dare, without chart or compass, to launch an extemporaneous craft on the wide, open sea of indefinite discussion, for fear that I might never see land again. I shall therefore content myself with a very few words beyond what may be necessary for the discharge of my formal duties. By so doing I doubt not I shall oblige you, as well as lighten my own burden. Gentlemen, I welcome you to the twelfth anniversary of this association. I welcome you to all that the occasion affords of reminiscence for the past, of festivity and good fellowship for the present, and of bright hopes for the future. In so doing I am conscious that I stir up memories which must awaken in your bosoms varying and conflicting emotions. We may well indulge in feelings of proud satisfaction as we look back upon the history of this association, and contemplate the work it has done in connection with what it is doing and what it promises to do. Already it has done much towards rescuing from that oblivion, which fain would bury all alike in forgetfulness, the names and lives of many worthy men who aided in laying the foundations and rearing the superstructures of the glorious institutions that insure protection to life, liberty, and property, and guarantee to us perfect freedom to seek our fortunes and pursue happiness along the ways of our choice. This association also records the names and doings of the men of our own day and generation, memorials to be transmitted to posterity for its reference and emulation. It has attained an age and acquired a stability which promises that it will endure, and continue to be an inspiration to wholesome ambition, and that those who shall come after us must appreciate its usefulness and permanently maintain it. Looking upon this association as our own work, our bosoms swell with spontaneous emotions of pride as we contemplate what it has done, what it is doing, and what it promises to do. Like Nebuchadnezzer of old, who, gazing on the mighty city of Babylon, its lofty walls, majestic palaces, and beautiful structures, said: "This is my Babylon. I built it." So we, looking at this association, may say, "This is our work. We built it." But alas! the images of those who were once with us, and wrought with us, and are now gone out from us forever, rise up before the mind's eye of each one of us and rebuke us. This work is theirs as well as ours. In its institution and maintenance some of our brethren, who now sleep their last sleep, were among the foremost and the strongest. This associa tion links us to the memories of our departed brothers, and we now hold it in trust for those who have gone before us, for ourselves, and for those who shall come after us. The pride which we have in this work is chastened by our sorrows for the lost ones whose memories are indissolubly connected with it. It is meet that at the anniversaries of our association we recognize the tie which links us to our |