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- PIONEER SOCIETY'S BANQUET 145
officers the following: President, John Dickson; vice-president, Jules Rueff; treasurer, E. Grancini; secretary, Edgar Fawcett; directors, W. P. Sayward, H. E. Wilby, Alexander Young, and Sosthenes Driard. Long may the society continue. Mr. Sayward's son, Joseph, has since his father's death disposed of the business, of which he became the owner, to a large corporation, and has retired from business, one of our wealthy men.
Nothing better illustrates what I feel to-day, as the last of the charter members who met together at Smith's Hall, on Government Street, over Hall & Gospel's office, on the 28th April, 1871, than the following lines from my favorite poet, Thomas Moore:
" Oft in the stilly night,
Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Fond memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
"When I remember all
The friends so linked together I've seen around me fall,
Like leaves in wintry weather.
" I feel like one who treads alone
Some banquet hall deserted;
Whose lights are fled, whose garlands dead?And all but he departed."
I have applied this to my visit to Smith's Hall, of which I shall tell you. Since the death of my old friend, William P. Sayward, some months ago, I have reflected often on the fact that I was the last of that little band. The other night I woke up, and remained awake for
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