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PRESENTATION TO MR. WILLIAM COLE.
done in the way of Nature Study among children, a teaching which will make them
more observant and enable them to enjoy the charms of country life. To-night,
we meet within a stone's throw of one of those two museums, established by the
Essex Field Club, in which children and others are being educated. I am glad
to think that in these two museums we have a lasting and tangible memorial
which will be a reminder to our children and grandchildren of the work which
Mr. Cole and his family have done. I hope that that work will be more
recognized by the county as a whole that it has been. It is much to be desired
that the number of members of the Club should be increased; and I cannot but
think that this meeting, which will be read about and talked about all over the
county, will lead to a large increase in the membership. This, I know, is what
Mr. Cole himself much desires.
While we congratulate Mr. Cole and while we remember the benefits he has
conferred upon the County, I am glad we see no signs of flagging in the work,
and we look forward to that work being continued for many years to come.
There is something peculiarly charming in meeting with him and his two brothers
and two sisters, all of whom have for so many years worked shoulder to shoulder
for this good object (Applause). I am sure we all join in giving them our very
hearty good wishes for long life and happiness and every blessing for time and for
eternity (Applause).
Mr. David Howard said: My part in this matter has been a very pleasant
one. I must say that, when next I have to do with such a matter, I hope
I may have such a man of business as our President to take the lead and do all
the work. Nothing was left to me but to receive the money. On that matter,
may I say, there was one disadvantage : the letters came in so fast that I found it
perfectly impossible to write out all the receipts myself, and I have a horrible
suspicion that my clerk is not quite an accurate reader of handwriting. There-
fore, if some of you have had weird perversions of your names, please forgive, for
it was owing to the number of letters that came at once (Laughter).
One thing that made it extremely pleasant to act as Treasurer has been the
extreme readiness of the response. I have had a good deal of experience and I
think I can read between the lines of the letters that came with subscriptions.
In the case of some public subscriptions, one is conscious of something very
emphatic between the lines, such as "Oh, bother this thing!" But you cannot
read that between the lines of the letters I have received. There has been
nothing in them but extreme cordiality. The only expressions of disapproval I
received related to the fact that the limit was fixed at a guinea. On the other
hand, the expressions of approval which accompanied some of the smaller
subscriptions made one feel that some of these smaller subscriptions really meant
as much as, or more than, some of those which reached the maximum allowed.
At all events, it is perfectly true, as the President has said, there was no
"flogging." The sum raised has been limited only by our own acton in limiting
the maximum subscription ; but I think it is sufficient, at any rate, to show the
hearty appreciation we all feel of the work of our honorary secretary and his
coadjutors, his brothers and sisters,
I hope it will be quite understood that this is not the sort of presentation
which one occasionally hears of—that sort which is sometimes caused by a
retirement and is sometimes intended to cause a retirement. There is nothing of
that sort in any of our minds, that is quite certain (Applause).
As to the work that has been done in connection with the Field Club an