especially suggest a committee of ladies. But whether or not this particular method be the best to adopt—and perhaps we may presently have an expression of opinion on the subject—I can assure the two volunteers, and those who may hereafter offer their aid, that they shall not long remain idle.
I have wearied you, I fear, with overmuch detail—overmuch straining at points which, to some, may be so obvious as not to need even a passing mention in a presidential address, and an over-ambitious scheme of requirements. My justification will, I hope, be found in the new progress which the Society will make this coming year; and if you will withhold your censures, I am willing to defer receiving any acknowledgments until, at the expiration of my year's term of office, my successor will sit in judgment and tell you whether my view of the case was appropriate to the present position of the Folk-lore Society.
