given him on the eightieth and the eighty-fifth anniversaries of his
birth. On the former occasion, September 22, 1878, the Reverend James H.
Means, D.D., his pastor for nearly thirty years, the Honorable Charles
L. Flint, secretary of the Board of Agriculture, the Honorable John
Phelps Putnam, judge of the Massachusetts Superior Court, and others,
paid tributes to the high moral character, the benevolent disposition,
and the eminent services, of the honored guest of the evening.

The last banquet, September 22, 1883, on his completing the ripe age of
eighty-five, was a much more important occasion. The banquet was held,
as the former was, at the Parker House, in Boston, and over one hundred
gentlemen participated, among whom were some of the most distinguished
persons in this and other States. Charles H.B. Breck, Esq.,
vice-president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society presided, and
the venerable Reverend Dr. George W. Blagden invoked a blessing. Mr.
Breck addressed Mr. Wilder, who responded. Addresses were then made by a
number of Mr. Wilder's friends, among them the Honorable Alexander H.
Rice and the Honorable Nathaniel P. Banks, ex-governors of
Massachusetts, his Honor Oliver Ames, lieutenant-governor of the State,
his Honor Albert Palmer, mayor of Boston, General Joshua L. Chamberlain,
ex-governor of Maine, the Honorable Frederick Smyth, ex-governor of New
Hampshire, Professor J.C. Greenough, president of the Massachusetts
Agricultural College, General Francis A. Walker, president of the
Institute of Technology, the Honorable Francis B. Hayes, president of
the Horticultural Society, the Reverend Edmund F. Slafter, corresponding
secretary of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, John E.
Russell, secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, and Major Ben:
Perley Poore, secretary of the United States Agricultural Society, and
ex-commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. Other
societies with which Mr. Wilder is connected were also represented, as