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unusual expense for painting, papering, varnishing of floors and the like, a balance of two hundred and thirteen dollars remains in the treasury.

Apart from the financial strength that accrues from a large membership, it is gratifying to our pride that our Society has attained a position in the community that renders membership desirable. It numbers now about two hundred and fifteen active members, each of whom pays an annual due, and forty-six honorary members. Many are non-residents who are interested in the Town as the home of their ancestors, and many more are resident for the summer only. One of our number, Dr. E. S. Goodhue, is the Government Physician in Wailuku, in the island of Maui, in the Hawaiian group; another, Mr. Joseph K. Farley, resides in Lihue, Kauai, in the same group, and some are found upon the Pacific coast.

Our House is always a source of enthusiastic delight to visitors, who appreciate its architectural value. Cultured people from many towns and cities in our Commonwealth and from twenty-eight other States, have visited the House during the past year, and their verdict is always the same: that the House is the most remarkable specimen of the earliest architecture they have ever seen. So eminent an authority as the Hon. George Sheldon of Deerfield, who has been a life-long student of the antique and has gathered an unrivalled collection of old-time treasures, after a minute inspection, gave the House unstinted praise as the finest of ancient buildings of our colony, and complimented the Society on the excellence of its exhibit.

To promote acquaintance with the House and its contents an occasional free day has been advertised. It was opened in this way on the twenty-second of February, and also on July thirty-first. Notwithstanding the opportunity thus afforded to those who are not members, or who might be deterred by the usual admittance fee, only two hundred and fifty-one residents of Ipswich were recorded during the year. As familiarity always breeds contempt, we presume that this neglect is likely to continue. But any scheme that would tend to popularize it with our townspeople, would be for the advantage of the Society. Those who come always express surprise, and confess to new interest.

The courtesies of the House were also extended to the Ipswich Woman's Club, the North Bridge Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution from Salem, the Historical Class of the Crombie Street Church, Salem, and the Convention of Epworth Leagues.

The Social Committee gave an antique supper which proved an admirable social occasion and may have introduced many to the House for the first time. Miss E. Agnes Constant is entitled to the sincere thanks of the Society for the delightful benefit concert given on Thanksgiving evening in the Town Hall, which netted twenty dollars for our treasury. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph W. Burnham, who have done so much for the House, removed to Philadelphia early in September, but we hope for their return for the summer of 1903. Miss Abbie M. Fellows very kindly served as resident curator for a few weeks, and Mrs. Colman Tyler began her work as curator pro tem., in October. Each and all have kept the House with the nice painstaking care which is a theme of constant praise, and a cordial welcome has been given to all visitors, though they may have come at inconvenient hours.

By the liberality of the Town, funds were provided for the erection of bronze tablets, this year. One is bolted to the ledge on Meeting House Hill, and tells briefly the date of the settlement, and the points of interest that centre there. Another marks the site of Simon and Ann Bradstreet's dwelling, and a third, the site of Governor Dudley's residence. The exercises of dedication were held on July 31st, when Hon. Robert S. Rantoul of Salem, Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Augustine Jones, Esq., Principal of the Friends' School, Providence, R. I., delivered appropriate and eloquent addresses. Other localities deserve similar honor, and a continuance of the work should be made.

Now that the heavy expense of repairing and restoring the House has been fully met, we may face with courage and high ambition the task, not merely of extinguishing the debt but of securing funds for the erection of the Memorial Building to which allusion has been made. Many people of wealth and refinement have sprung from Ipswich ancestry. It is so much in fashion in these days to give generously for libraries and memorials in the old

family home, that no apology is needed to explain any appeal that may be made for this purpose.

The great names of Winthrop and Dudley and Saltonstall, of the famous ministers, of the soldiers Denison and Samuel Appleton, of the patriots of 1687, John Wise and his associates, and the grand deed they accomplished in the Ipswich Town Meeting, the names of soldiers in many wars, and of citizens who won honor for themselves in the quiet affairs of civil life,-all need to be grouped harmoniously and chiselled in stone or bronze, as an eternal memorial of their fair fame, and an illuminating and inspiring appeal to high living in each succeeding generation. Such a Hall of Fame would be an educational factor of great value, and a constant source of pride in our town and its history. The expansion of our work that would follow easily and naturally from it would raise our Society to unique and broad distinction. Before another twelve months have passed, shall we not witness a substantial beginning of this great and honorable enterprise?

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