Introduction.

WHILE the anniversary in March commemorated the gathering of the church in Plymouth, England, and the departure for America, the second celebration commemorated the planting of the church and colony in Dorchester, coincident with the settlement of the town itself. Under the modern reckoning, the old date (June 6, O.S.) fell upon the 17th of June, also the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill. The weather without, like the exercises within, furnished a fitting complement to the first celebration. The soft, balmy air and mellow sunshine of a perfect June day contrasted strongly with the wintry aspect and chill breezes of Easter Sunday.

Concerning the general plan of the day, the details of which are revealed in the programme and full reports which follow, it is sufficient to say that the morning hours were devoted to a religious service, with a historic sermon, while the afternoon service took its key-note from the settlement of the town and its civil history.

Invitations were specially extended to the Governor of the State, who, with Colonels Kingsbury and Train, of his staff, was present at both services; to the pastors of all churches in Dorchester, and their congregations; to the pastors of the oldest churches in Boston and vicinity; to the oldest residents of the town; to many prominent descendants of

its founders, in various parts of the country (including Generals Grant, Sherman, Terry, and Benham, Hon. E. W. Stoughton, ex-Minister to Russia), and to many others whose interest in the early fortunes of the Massachusetts Colony and the town of Dorchester made them welcome and sympa

thetic guests.

June lent her flowers in rich profusion for the decorations of the day. Great masses of mountain-laurel hid the pulpit behind its glossy leaves and snowy blossoms. Connecticut, so early founded by energetic settlers from Dorchester, sent her fresh greeting of laurel to blend with that of Massachusetts. Heavy banks of roses filled the air with fragrance. Among them was one from a bush which tradition says was brought over in the Mary and John. From Providence came a bunch of damask roses, from stock brought from England in 1726, and a spray of white roses from a bush taken from Plymouth, Massachusetts, one hundred years ago. On the fronts of the galleries was the conspicuous motto, wrought in evergreen, "God be with us as with our fathers," and on either side of the pulpit the figures 1630-1880. A large basket of flowers was suspended from the centre-piece of the auditorium. The vestry was hung with pictures and sketches of Dorchester, England, kindly loaned by Rev. E. G. Porter of Lexington, Mass.

A chorus of thirty-two singers, under the training and direction of Mr. Wm. H. M. Austin, re-enforced the regular quartette choir of the church, at the morning service. Mr. H. W. Edes, the organist, was assisted by Mrs. Gertrude J. Rogers. Mrs. H. M. Knowles, the accomplished soprano of the church, being unfortunately kept away by sickness, her place was acceptably filled by Mrs. H. E. H. Carter. Further details of the musical service, which called forth wellmerited praise, are found in the programme which follows.

One of the most interesting events of the celebration was

the reception of a telegram from the Mayor of Dorchester, England, conveying the affectionate greeting of the mothertown. The message was received at ten o'clock in the morning, just before the services began. It is printed in connection with the afternoon report.

Among the relics displayed was the study-chair of John Eliot, "apostle to the Indians," now in the custody of the First Parish; a copy of Rev. John White's Way to the Tree of Life, published in 1647, the property of William B. Trask; and a model of the chair in the town hall of Dorchester, England, in which Judge Jeffreys sat while presiding at the Bloody Assize, 1658 A.D.