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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26084-8.txt b/26084-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..feeac46 --- /dev/null +++ b/26084-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1999 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Parks for the People, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Parks for the People + Proceedings of a Public Meeting held at Faneuil Hall, June 7, 1876 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: July 17, 2008 [EBook #26084] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE *** + + + + +Produced by Betsie Bush, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan's Making of America collection.) + + + + + + +PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. + +PROCEEDINGS OF A PUBLIC MEETING +HELD AT FANEUIL HALL, + +JUNE 7, 1876. + +BOSTON: +FRANKLIN PRESS: RAND, AVERY, & CO. +1876. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +ORGANIZATION OF MEETING 5 + +SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH S. ROPES 7 + + " " MR. GEORGE B. CHASE 10 + + " " MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUN. 11 + + " " DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 20 + + " " REV. ROLLIN H. NEALE, D.D. 26 + + " " REV. J. P. BODFISH 27 + + " " COL. CHARLES W. WILDER 31 + + " " MR. JOSEPH F. PAUL 33 + + " " HON. P. A. COLLINS 36 + +LETTER OF DR. EDWARD H. CLARKE 38 + +COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED 45 + + + + +FANEUIL HALL MEETING IN FAVOR OF PUBLIC PARKS. + + +Pursuant to a call published in all the daily papers, and signed by a +large number of prominent citizens and tax-payers of Boston, a public +meeting was convened in Faneuil Hall on the evening of Wednesday, the +7th of June, 1876, to take action on the recommendations contained in +the Report of the Park Commissioners. The hall was crowded by an +intelligent and enthusiastic audience; and the proceedings as reported +_verbatim_ in the columns of the "Boston Morning Journal," were as +follows:-- + +The meeting was called to order at eight o'clock by Mr. JOHN W. CANDLER, +who said,-- + +GENTLEMEN,--As Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, I have been +requested to call this meeting to order. It is usually the case, that, +when a mass meeting of citizens is to be held, a great deal of labor has +to be performed in preparing for and organizing the meeting. But I am +glad to say, that, on this occasion, the important advantage of having a +public almost entirely in our favor was enjoyed by the Committee. We +found a strong and intelligent and deep-seated sentiment almost +unanimous throughout the community, in favor of having the City +Government take prompt and favorable action upon the report of the Park +Commissioners. [Applause.] We found the community earnest and +enthusiastic in the desire that a system of parks should be projected +for the city of Boston, to insure the health, and to make certain and +positive the prosperity, of our citizens in the future. The Committee +had only to present the call or address through the press, which some +of you have read, to find hundreds ready to indorse it; and the +authorities had only to open wide the doors of Faneuil Hall to have the +people throng here, as they have to-night, to manifest the sentiment +which they feel so generally. + +Gentlemen, we have with us to-night men of science, philanthropists, the +representatives of the learned professions. We have the capitalist; we +have the merchant; we have the mechanic; and we have the daily laborer, +who toils from the rising to the setting sun,--we have them all here, to +give out a voice to-night, expressing the opinions of the people, which +can neither be misrepresented nor misunderstood. [Applause.] + +It is not my duty, gentlemen, to make a speech. You have here this +evening to address you, the representatives of every class, the best +that can be afforded in any city, the leading men of the city of Boston +in the different professions. It is only necessary, in the discharge of +my duty, that I should read to you the names of the gentlemen whom you +will be asked to elect as the officers of this meeting. They are as +follows:-- + + + PRESIDENT. + + THE HON. JOSEPH S. ROPES. + + VICE-PRESIDENTS. + + CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, WILLIAM AMORY, RICHARD FROTHINGHAM, PETER C. + BROOKS, MARTIN BRIMMER, GEORGE C. RICHARDSON, BENJAMIN F. THOMAS, + EDWARD S. RAND, HENRY P. KIDDER, THOMAS J. GARGAN, EBEN D. JORDAN, + C. A. RICHARDS, JOHN C. CROWLEY, WILLIAM B. BACON, AARON D. + WILLIAMS, CHARLES F. DONNELLY, WM. W. CLAPP, BENJAMIN DEANE, + RICHARD OLNEY, WILLIAM ATHERTON, THOMAS GOBIN, WILLIAM ENDICOTT, + JUN., ALBERT BOWKER, DANIEL J. SWEENEY, PATRICK T. JACKSON, R. M. + PULSIFER, ROLAND WORTHINGTON, JOHN G. BLAKE, M.D., J. H. CHADWICK, + LEWIS COLEMAN. + + SECRETARIES. + + HAMILTON A. HILL. WILLIAM E. PERKINS. + + +The list of names was unanimously approved; and the announcement of the +election of the gentlemen named therein was received with applause. + +Mr. CANDLER continued, I have the honor of introducing to you JOSEPH S. +ROPES, Esq., a merchant of Boston, who has been called to fill a great +many places of trust, and who has always been found able in the +discharge of every duty, and faithful in every trust committed to him. + + + + +SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH S. ROPES. + + +FELLOW-CITIZENS,--I thank you for the honor you have done me in inviting +me to preside on this auspicious occasion. You have come together +to-night, not to quarrel with one another's politics, not to abuse one +another's rival candidates, but to hold a friendly consultation upon one +of the most important and interesting and agreeable subjects which can +engage your attention,--the subject of public parks for the city of +Boston. [Applause.] + +Gentlemen, I was born in Boston; and I well remember the time when our +cows were pastured on Boston Common, when the Back Bay was not a myth, +but a reality, and when at least a portion of the summit of Beacon Hill +was covered with green fields, on which were seen sometimes "raree +shows" and travelling menageries. Since that time, our city has grown +and swelled, and stretched itself north and south, and east and west, +striding over one arm of the sea, filling up another, swallowing the +neighboring towns one by one, taking two mouthfuls for Roxbury, and one +for Dorchester, and one for Charlestown and Brighton together, until it +has expanded its population sevenfold, and its area almost seventy times +seven, within fifty years. Yet there stands Boston Common just where and +just what it was--no larger, and thank heaven! as yet no smaller [loud +applause]--than it was fifty years ago. + +Where are the breathing-places for this enlarged metropolis? Where are +the places of common resort for quiet and healthful enjoyment and +peaceful recreation for this expanded population? Where are the noble +parks and the wide-spreading groves? Where are the places fit for public +entertainment, which we find in every other large city in the civilized +world?--such as we see in London and Paris and Berlin and Vienna and +Florence and Rome and Naples--yes, even for the few brief months of +summer, in the northern capitals of Stockholm and St. Petersburg? And +echo answers, "Where?" [Laughter and applause.] + + + "Gone like a vision!" + + +My friends, I need not tell you that this matter has excited the +interest of our philanthropic and public-spirited citizens, and +especially of the medical faculty, to whom it is, in its sanitary +aspect, a matter of most important practical interest. And, through +their representations to the city government and to the state +legislature, a bill was brought before the legislature, which I had the +honor myself to report in the House of Representatives a little more +than a year ago, and which was passed by large majorities in both +houses, authorizing the city of Boston to purchase and to take lands +within its own limits for laying out public parks, and to co-operate +with adjacent towns in laying out conterminous parks for the common +benefit and advantage of citizens on both sides of the line. + +This measure was opposed (as all such measures are opposed) on the +ground that "it would lead to jobbery and extravagance." And the answer +was ready at hand, that all public enterprises are liable "to lead to +jobbery and extravagance," but that the abuse of a good thing is no +argument against its valid use [applause]; that it is for the citizens +themselves, and for the government of the city of Boston, to see that +their trust is rightly and honestly carried out. + +Again: it was argued that the people of Boston possess already, in their +beautiful suburbs, all that is required in pure air and beautiful +scenery. And this, again, is most true as regards those who live in +those suburbs, and those whose wealth enables them to pass to and fro in +their carriages, and regale their senses with the luxury of what they +there find. But what application has this, my friends, to the +working-man, to the masses of our population, whose sole idea of the +suburbs consists of an hour's rattling drive in a crowded street-car, +and an hour's seat by the side of a dusty thoroughfare? + +Again: it was argued that the city of Boston could not afford this +expensive luxury of parks. And to this again it was easy to reply, that +so long as the city of Boston could afford prisons and jails, and any +number of millions spent for liquor and for hurtful indulgences, and for +the repression of vice and crime, it could afford to spend money for +this peaceful and healthful and elevating enjoyment for the people. + +In a word, gentlemen, this bill became a law; and, in pursuance of that +law, a Commission was appointed by the city of Boston, the names of the +gentlemen composing which Commission I need not repeat to you; for they +are in all your hearts, as well as on all your lips. The Report of that +Commission is now, and has been for weeks, in your hands; and it is the +object of this meeting to indorse that Report, and to stimulate and +incite the government of the city of Boston to act in accordance with +its suggestions. We cannot expect that all its details will be approved +by every one; nor are we to suppose that all its details will be carried +out in action by the government. But it is not too much to say that it +is so well digested, so full and complete, and in every way so +satisfactory to the city and the citizens, that we cannot do better than +recommend it as a whole to the municipal authorities. [Applause.] + +Now, my friends, it is not for me to do what will be so much better done +by those who succeed me on this platform,--to give you the reasons, and +enforce the arguments, for your action at this time. But as a +representative of the city of Boston, as an almost constant resident +within it for nearly thirty years past, as in my humble sphere a +representative of the merchants of Boston, as a taxpayer of Boston, and +in every way identified with the best interests and all the highest and +best aims of our city, I call upon you to-night to adopt and to indorse +and to commend this admirable system to our city government. [Applause.] +I have now the pleasure of introducing Mr. GEORGE B. CHASE, who will +present the resolutions. + + + + +SPEECH OF MR. GEORGE B. CHASE. + + +MR. PRESIDENT,--On behalf of the committee who have had in charge the +arrangements for this meeting, I have the honor to offer for its +acceptance several resolutions which have been prepared for it by a +gentleman, than whom none is more versed in all that relates to the +business questions and interests of the city of Boston, and who, during +long and faithful service as secretary of the Board of Trade, became +familiar with all subjects relating to the development and prosperity of +the city. It is hardly necessary, Mr. Chairman, in such a connection, to +mention the name of Mr. HAMILTON A. HILL. [Applause.] + +Mr. CHASE then read the resolutions as follows:-- + +_Resolved_, That this meeting would hereby emphatically re-affirm the +opinion which has been expressed, at the polls and elsewhere, by the +citizens and tax-payers of Boston, that the time has arrived when this +city should be provided with a park or parks similar to those which have +been projected by the other great cities of the United States, adapted +to the wants of our large and steadily increasing population, and on a +scale commensurate with the growing commercial importance and +metropolitan influence of the city. + +_Resolved_, That the plan for a system of parks and parkways, prepared +and recommended by the Park Commissioners, commends itself to this +meeting as broad and comprehensive in its general features, fair to all +sections of the city in its details, admirably suited to meet all the +necessities of the case, and promising, when carried out, to make Boston +one of the most healthful, attractive, and beautiful cities in the +world. + +_Resolved_, That the pressing need which exists for a radical +improvement of the sewerage in some parts of the city, the present +cheapness and abundance of labor, the diminished value of land, and the +exceptionally favorable terms on which the city can now negotiate for +money, render it of the first importance that there should be no delay +on the part of the city government in the acceptance of the proposed +plan, and in the adoption of decided and vigorous measure for carrying +it into execution. + +_Resolved_, That this meeting would therefore respectfully and +earnestly ask for immediate and favorable official action upon the +Report of the Commissioners, and that the chairman and secretaries are +hereby authorized and requested to communicate a copy of these +resolutions, properly authenticated, to his Honor the Mayor, and to each +branch of the City Council. + +_Resolved_, That a committee of one hundred be appointed by the Chair, +to represent this meeting before the city government, and to secure the +desired action by it without loss of time. + + +THE CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen, you have heard the resolutions, which evidently +meet with your unanimous approbation. You will now be addressed in +behalf of those resolutions by one who needs no introduction from me, +Mr. RICHARD H. DANA, Jun. [Prolonged applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUN. + + +FELLOW-CITIZENS,--I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this very +kind welcome I have received at your hands to-night on coming upon the +platform. I assure you, gentlemen, if I felt at liberty to waste the +precious hours of this evening upon any thing relating to myself, I +could say much more than I do to thank you for your great kindness. + +But, gentlemen, we are met here on public business. You have heard what +we are asked to do. We are asked to petition the city government, and +send a committee of force to the city government (not as if the +government were at all reluctant, but that they may know the feeling of +the people of Boston), and ask the city government to go to work at +once, and see that Boston has, as soon as possible, these necessities +for her honor, her health, and her beauty. [Applause.] + +In thinking of this subject, Mr. President and gentlemen, it occurred to +me that it was a very singular fact, and not altogether to the credit of +human nature, that great numbers of persons cannot live together without +extreme inconvenience. Now, Robinson Crusoe, when he lived on the Island +of Juan Fernandez alone, was not troubled with any question of public +parks, or drainage, or health. Things took care of themselves. But when +you get two or three or four hundred thousand Robinson Crusoes in a few +square miles, you find the whole state of things is reversed, that you +require all the patience, all the science, a large part of the money, +and a large part of the industry, of the population, that you may live +at all, and on any terms. The lower parts of our nature, the animal +parts, tend to produce certain results which the intellectual parts are +expected to meet and control. If they do not that, men become savages; +if they do, they are enlightened. + +Now, in this great and enlightened city of Boston, the pride of us all, +the "Athens of America," as we all know we are [laughter], and, as our +friend Dr. HOLMES there has told us, the "Hub of the Universe" +[laughter], it would hardly be respectful to say that one of the +questions before us was, Which of those two roads we were going to +take,--whether we were going to let the intellectual and moral parts +have the upper hand, or whether we were going to sink beneath the +material part. And yet, gentlemen, that is a good deal the question that +is before us to-night. + +Why, look at the progress which is inevitably made where you get great +numbers of human beings together. You must have drainage, you must look +to the health of the population, and then you must look to their +recreation and their amusements (for they will have them); and, if they +are not good and creditable and honorable, they will not cease to exist, +but they will come before us in the most shameful and unwholesome form. +We used to be told, gentlemen, that Boston had natural parks all about +her, and she did not need any artificial parks. Well, now, I am not in +favor of any artificial parks. All I ask is, that the beauty of the +environs of Boston may be preserved. [Applause.] + +We are on the defensive. We are defending the wholesomeness and the +beauty of our beloved city against this encroachment of population. Why, +the time was--Mr. ROPES will tell you when the time was--when the Back +Bay was a beautiful sheet of water, filled at high tide, carrying the +healthful air through the whole city. But then the necessity of +population called for its filling up, and it is now piled in upon, and +we have there now what Dr. CLARKE called "a natural cesspool." + +We changed the Back Bay from a beautiful bay, where the wholesome tides +of the ocean swept in, to a natural cesspool. + +Well, now, look at the lanes and roads in the suburbs of +Boston--beautiful. As you ride over them, there are trees hanging over +them, and there are bushes on each side: you say it is charming. Well, +go out there the next year. The selectmen if it is a town, the city +government if it is a city, have changed all that. They have made a +straight line right through it, and widened the streets sixty feet; cut +down every tree, and made it one of the most disagreeable and painful +spectacles that the eyes could rest upon. It is their duty so to do: it +is a necessity. And so you go on destroying the beauties of the city, +destroying its wholesomeness, destroying its charm; and now we have got +to meet that tendency, and we have the power to meet it. We have the +intellect, we have the money, we have the will, and we have the taste; +and we would be incensed if any one should suggest that we do not. And +yet we have allowed every city in the United States to get in advance of +us. [A voice, "That's so."] Chicago has three thousand acres of parks; +Philadelphia, five thousand; New York, one great park of about one +thousand acres; and almost every city in Europe has better, more +handsome and attractive accommodations than the city of Boston. I am +ashamed to say it; but it is so. I trust, however, gentlemen, that, +before I ever have the honor of addressing you again, we shall have +taken the first step to remove this odium from the city of Boston. +[Applause.] + +Some six years ago, I think it was, the people got greatly in earnest +that this park should be undertaken. They saw that the progress of the +manufactories was fast destroying the beauties of Boston; that they were +taking up the land in the suburbs rapidly: and, when I said that your +green lands were destroyed, with their beautiful curved lines, I forgot +to mention that your beautiful sheets of water are in the same danger. +Why, look at Fresh Pond, look at Jamaica Pond! They are beautiful +objects to gaze upon: but when manufactories begin to surround them, +when there are soap manufactories and tanneries, and I do not know what, +draining into the pond, the result is, that the water is unwholesome, +that the fish die, the water cannot be drunk, and then physicians begin +to tell their patients, "You had better move out of that neighborhood." +Are you aware, gentlemen, that that is coming upon us, that we must meet +it, and avert it? + +Some years ago, the people of Boston were earnestly in favor of a park, +or system of parks. The legislature, for some reason or other, required +that the project should receive a vote of two-thirds of the people. That +was extraordinary and hard. But it did receive a vote of two-thirds of +the people of Boston proper, and more than two-thirds; but from the +accident of a newly added portion of the city, for some reason or other, +taking a slant in a certain direction, they voted very largely against +it, and it fell through. We must take warning from that; for land that +would have made then a handsome park, which we could have had, we cannot +have now at all. It would cost altogether too much to take +dwelling-houses and factories and railroad beds, if we could, for a +park. + +Well, after six years of restlessness, at last we went before the +legislature again; and we got an act passed, authorizing the appointing +of commissioners with powers. That act passed, helped by our most able +fellow-citizen, MR. ROPES, chairman of this meeting; and it was +submitted to the votes of the people of Boston; and the park project was +carried by the votes of this entire population,--Boston, East Boston, +Charlestown, South Boston, Dorchester, Brighton, which make, all +together, a very large and most decisive majority. And therefore, +gentlemen, the question is not, Shall we have parks? you have decided +that; but the question is, Whether, having determined to have them, we +shall rest content with saying so? whether we will have our paper parks, +as we have our paper money, with nothing to rest upon [laughter], or +whether we shall have genuine parks, with life and trees, and have +sheets of water? Now we are here to-night to say it is the latter that +we want. [Applause.] + +Fellow-citizens, that statute authorized the appointment by the MAYOR, +subject to approval, of three commissioners. Well, that was wise. It +was not nine, seven, nor five; but it was three. Well, his Honor the +Mayor, who has presided with so much dignity, wisdom, and integrity +[applause] over the city of Boston for two years,--and we would be glad +to get him for a third year, if his health would permit it +[applause],--his Honor the Mayor appointed three gentlemen as +commissioners, in whom this community have entire confidence. There are +no politics among the Board of Commissioners; there is no jobbery in the +Board of Commissioners; and I will venture to predict, gentlemen, that, +when they finish their task, there will be no investigation. [Great +applause.] + +I was amazed on looking over their charge. Why, I found an item of +coach-hire for the whole period of their service, nine dollars. Why, it +would not have been enough to take three common councilmen from Parker's +or Young's. [Laughter.] But it is all they have charged; and how, on +that sum, they succeeded in riding around Boston, I do not know. Their +experience with persons who let carriages must have been much more +favorable than mine has been. But not only have they done honorably, +economically, and frugally, they have put into their work an amount of +brain-labor, an amount of patient investigation and of good judgment, +which no one can have an adequate opinion of who has not read their +book; but, if he has not, I hope he will. And at least this I may be +allowed to say, I do not think any citizen of Boston has the right to +object to those parks, or to be silent or indifferent on the subject, +unless he has read the report of the Commission, and knows what is +proposed, and has been done. [Applause.] They have consulted the best +authorities. They have consulted Mr. FREDERICK LAW OLMSTEAD, who laid +out Central Park in New York, and he is the highest authority on the +construction of parks in the country; and he has been all over this +neighborhood, viewing the localities, and they have taken every thing +into consideration; and, gentlemen, what is the result? They do not +propose to us one great park of a thousand acres, at an almost +unattainable distance; they do not propose a great park that nobody can +get to, unless he gives a day to it, and a good deal of money: but they +have adopted a system based upon the natural characteristics of the +neighborhood of Boston. And what better could they do? At East Boston, +they have given them a park upon the water-side, where they will always +have the fresh breezes of the sea. At South Boston, they have given them +a park upon the water-side, one directly opposite Fort Independence, and +then another one, called the South Park, larger; and Chester Park, which +you are all familiar with, is already extended, and nearly ready to be +used as far as Beacon Street; and thence it is to go over to Cambridge, +and be the quickest means of access to the University. That same avenue +is to be extended easterly till it strikes the farthest of the South +Boston parks, opposite Fort Independence; and, when that is done, you +will be able to drive or walk, according to your powers of walking, from +the park opposite Fort independence, into the city, and across it, to +Harvard University. + +Now that is a good deal; but they have taken another step. They propose +to take the water-front of the Charles River basin; and there is nothing +in Nature so beautiful, so well adapted to the needs of a city, as a +park, or boulevard, or promenade, directly on a water-front, especially +if that water is sea-water,--if it is brought in and carried out by two +daily tides. What more beautiful, what more wholesome, what more +invigorating, during the hot season of the year, than to have an open +boulevard, where you can sit, or walk, or ride,--a place for the fresh +sea-water of the ocean brought in pure to you every day! Well, they mean +to preserve that, and give us about two hundred feet for a driveway, a +saddle-horse way (a saddle-pad, I think they call it), and footpath, a +place for flowers and trees, as it extends along the water-side, +beginning by Leverett Street, and going out as far as Brighton. Then +from there they mean to take this great Back Bay, which Dr. CLARKE +properly called a natural cesspool, and keep a large part of it under +water, the ocean to be let in and let out at our option, so that it can +be always kept pure; and yet such a quantity of it, that it will be a +sort of inland sea, where we can have regattas, and where every +gentleman may keep his boat, and every boy may keep his scull; and +perhaps it is just as well a boy's skull should be there as anywhere +else a large part of the time. [Laughter.] + +Then, gentlemen, they are going to take Jamaica Pond, and have a park +or driveway around the pond; then the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, that has +a parkway one hundred feet in width, where you can drive or walk at your +pleasure. In West Roxbury they are to have a mountain-park, which will +be the largest (about five hundred acres); and it is well called a +providence, because it is high, it is rocky, it has a thoroughly sylvan +look, like a forest. You would feel as if you were fifty miles from +Boston, if you were where you could not see the city. At the same time, +it is beautiful for a park. There are very few houses there; and it is +difficult to make it salable for residences. But they have selected this +spot; and they are going to give us the best park of the city, and then +have all these parks connected by parkways, thus making them so +convenient of access, that every poor man in Boston can take his child +by his hand, and for five cents a head can be carried out to any one of +those parks by the railroads. [Applause.] + +And, when he gets there, he can show this poor boy or girl, who has +passed all the winter, and all the opening spring, in an alleyway,--he +can show them, by a wholesome ascent of two hundred feet only, slow, +gradual, one of the noblest prospects in the world,--the ocean pouring +up into these great bays, and floating the great ships that come and go, +the Bunker Hill Monument and the Navy Yard, the University, and the +great series of cities that surround us. And, more than that, he can +show him or her Wachuset Mountain, and over the top of Mount Monadnock +in New Hampshire. + +Now I ask you, fellow-citizens, if it is not worth while for the city of +Boston to improve these opportunities. We have been most fortunate in +our Commissioners,--in their wisdom, in their frugality, in their +intelligence, and their public spirit; and I hope, gentlemen, you will +study their Report. It is easy reading, pleasant reading; and if, when +you get home, you find your boy or girl engaged over some novel, +especially if it is a yellow covered one, take it right out of his or +her hand, and ask them to read that Report. + +You may think it absurd; but, ten to one, it will interest the children +more than the novel would. It will certainly give them more valuable +instruction; and I venture to say it will interest them more. I felt +quite carried away by it. It seemed to me it must be a fancy; but, when +I turned to their accounts (and they are all mercantile men), I was +amazed to see at what small cost it could all be done. And, gentlemen, I +want to detain you a moment longer on statistics, and show that it has +increased the value of property in every city that has had a park, by +bringing houses all about the parks, and by detaining as inhabitants of +the city, to be taxed in the city, those men who skulk in small towns to +throw the burden of the expense of their own city on those who stay +behind. [Applause.] All we want to do to-night is to say to the city +government that we are in earnest about this matter, and that we want +the work done now. [Applause.] + +I tell you, gentlemen, it is very doubtful, if this fails, whether you +will have another Board of Commissioners to compare with the present. I +tell you it is doubtful, whether there will be a state of things in +Boston which will be any thing like as favorable as the state of things +we are in now. But I can tell you one thing that is certain; and that +is, if you postpone it, you cannot have the parks that they propose. The +growth of population will be crowding over it; speculators will buy it; +the ponds will become injured; and the expense will be so great, that +you will shudder at the thought of it. And, more than that, the parks +that you ask for in another ten years will be four or five miles from +the centre of population now, and I confess that one great argument with +me for instant action is, that I want the parks to be as accessible as +possible to all those persons especially who do not own their private +carriages, and cannot give a day to it. [Applause.] + +And last of all, Mr. President and gentlemen, it should be done for +economical reasons, as has been stated very well by the address and in +the resolutions, because there never was a time, and I hope there never +will be a time again, when the land was so cheap as it is now; and, when +we take this land for parks, we take it at its present price. There has +not been a time for many years, and I hope there never will be a time +again, when the price of labor is as low as it is now [applause]; and +that labor we would employ at once, and the laborers are begging for +employment. Why, there is not one of you who has not often and often, +within the last two years, perhaps it is not extravagant to say, felt +his heart bleed when he has been stopped in the way by evidently honest +men, who would say, "We can't find any thing to do. We have looked +everywhere; and there is no work for us." [A voice, "That's so."] Yes, +that is so. Now, some philanthropists, and some political economists, +have told us that the government ought always to find employment for +everybody; it is the duty of the city to see that everybody has work: +but, though I do not advocate any such doctrine as that, I advocate this +doctrine,--that whenever the community has any thing it ought to do, and +which will employ laborers (and this is a hard time on the laborers), +then is the time that they ought to do it. [Applause.] So that it is not +only good economy, but it is humanity, that dictates an instant advance +upon this work. To save the land that we can get now in a low market, +and to employ laborers who are paid low wages, but are glad to get even +that, and to prevent the entire failure of this scheme so carefully and +beneficially made, we shall ask the city government to work at once. + +Now, there are others much more able to speak of the finances of the +city government than I am; but we always do find, that, when a thing +ought to be done, there is a way of doing it; and we sometimes find, +that, when things ought not to be done, there is a way of doing them. I +wish to say one word more, before I take my seat, on the report and +scheme of these Park Commissioners; and that is its entire equitableness +in its attention to localities. It has left no part of the city that is +not benefited. Charlestown cannot have a park, because it is built over, +and there is no room for one. If there was room, they would have one. +They must annex; and then they can have a park. [Laughter.] East Boston +has a park; South Boston has a park; then comes the great West Roxbury +Park; then comes the Bussey Farm, which I omitted to mention; and then +comes Jamaica Pond and Chestnut Hill Reservoir Park, and the park roads +connecting them all, and uniting them; and then the water-front on all +that part of the city of Boston where the water-fronts are not needed +for commerce. + +I say, therefore, this plan is equitably divided among the citizens +according to their residence; and it is accessible to all, and the plan +is economical, and the time is auspicious. Therefore I hope that you +will with unanimity adopt the resolutions, and call upon the city +government to proceed at once. [Applause.] + + +THE PRESIDENT. Allusion has been made to the "Hub of the Universe;" and +you will all understand, that, when any thing is the matter with that +Hub, the diagnosis must be made not only by an able physician, but by an +able spokesman. [Laughter and applause.] I have great pleasure in +introducing to you one who combines both, and a hundred other qualities, +Dr. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. + +You will not ask for rhetoric or eloquence in the few remarks upon a +vital subject to be offered you by a member of the silent profession. +What could be so eloquent as the hollow voice which announces the Boston +annual death-rate as being 26.18 against 23.7, that of the great paved +nation of London; against 19.3, that of Philadelphia; and approaching +that of our two unhealthiest cities, New York and New Orleans? This high +death-rate has been shown to be largely due to the excessive mortality +among infants and children under five years of age. The most fatal of +the diseases which assail them is that destruction which wasteth at +noonday, to which our American practitioners give the name of +cholera-infantum. And this disease prevails chiefly, almost entirely, +from June to October, the season when all out-of-door influences are +most tempting and most needed. The weekly record of August and September +is that of a pestilence. The destroying angel carries off the firstborn, +and, oftener still, the last-born, out of almost every household in +certain districts, as in the heaviest curse laid on Egypt. Thousands +have fled the city, as they deserted London in the season of the +plague; but thousands are left to follow in the funeral procession of +those who were the hope of their households. + +A considerable part of this mortality, it may be feared, is unavoidable. +Our climatic influences are permanent factors, and must always count in +the bills of mortality. But there are certain agencies which we can, to +a great extent, control. We can and do submit the dwellings of our +citizens to inspection and sanitary regulation; we can and shall provide +our city with proper drainage; we can and do inspect the food in our +market, and condemn it if unfit for use; we can and must secure for our +citizens the influences of unroofed and unwalled Nature,--air, light, +space for exercise and recreation, the natural birthright of mankind. + +Of the uses of these larger breathing-spaces, which we call parks,--for +the relief of the imprisoned dwellers in crowded streets, for the +recreation of poor and rich alike, for the health of mind and body which +they offer to all,--it seems almost needless to speak from the medical +point of view; for all know what cities would be without open areas, +where children can play in the shade, and old people warm themselves in +the sun. I wish to call your attention to a single point intimately +connected with the alarming fact of the excessive death-rate of which I +have spoken. That point is the influence of the air they breathe on the +health of children, with the bearing of this on the question before us. + +If a child is found to have been starved to death in a cellar or an +attic, a cry of horror is raised over it. If two or three wandering +boys, as it happened the other day at Lowell, come upon some noxious +roots, and, in obedience to their omnivorous instinct, devour them, and +pay the forfeit, the whole country hears of it. If a family or two get +hold of some ill-conditioned meat, and suffer for it, the groans of +their colics are echoed all over the land. If a milkman misrepresents +his honest cows by falsifying their product, the chemist detects him, +and the press puts him in the pillory. If the Cochituate or Mystic water +is too much like an obsolete chowder, up go all noses, and out come all +manner of newspaper paragraphs from "Senex," "Tax-payer," and the rest. +But air-poisoning kills a hundred where food-poisoning kills one. Let me +relate a circumstance which happened in Ireland, to which circumstance, +in all probability, I owe the pleasure of being listened to at this +moment by some among our hard-working, adopted citizens who are before +me. + +When I say to you, meaning to speak the words of sober truth, that a +single physician, by a single and simple measure, saved more lives than +were lost at Waterloo by the British army and all its allies, leaving +out the Prussians, you will suspect me of exaggeration, not very +uncommon in public speakers. I will therefore intrench myself behind +certain details which I have often before cited, but not in the presence +of a gathering of this kind. + +Dr. ROBERT COLLINS was Master, as it is called, of the great Dublin +Lying-in Hospital, where the annual rate of births was between two and +three thousand, from the year 1826 to 1833. A work of his, containing +the results of his practice during his seven years of service, was +published in Boston in 1841, by order of the Massachusetts Medical +Society, for the use of its members. I consider him vouched for as +authority, therefore, by men in whom you can put confidence. Dr. COLLINS +makes the following statement:-- + +When his predecessor, Dr. JOSEPH CLARKE, was in office, in the year +1784, he found that seventeen children in the hundred, nearly one in +six, died within the first fortnight after birth, nineteen-twentieths of +these of one particular disease peculiar to very early infancy. Looking +for the cause of this frightful mortality, he thought he found it in a +foul and vitiated state of the air of the hospital. So he had some +openings of considerable size made in the ceiling of each ward, and +three holes, of an inch in diameter, through each window at top: the +doors, too, were perforated with numerous holes. In this way, a free +circulation was secured, and so arranged, that the nurses could not +control it; for some of the old-fashioned nurses would not have opened a +window in the Black Hole at Calcutta, for fear the inmates should catch +a cold. + +What was the result of this simple proceeding? Why, the mortality fell, +from seventeen in a hundred, down to between five and six; and Dr. +Collins gives us the result up to his time in these words, "Thus, by his +valuable suggestions, 16,371 lives have been saved, as, had the +mortality of infants continued one in six to this day (1833), the number +of children dying of the 131,227 (which is the total number born in the +hospital) would be 21,871, as the hospital registry now shows." In the +battle of Waterloo, the British and their allies lost 16,186 men; that +is, 185 less than the great army of very light infantry saved from death +by letting out the smoke of the battle of life, and letting in the sweet +air of heaven, through the walls of the Dublin hospital. + +So much for what air alone can do for children. Now, it is not the +"nine-day fits" of that hospital in its unventilated condition which +kills our poor children in the hot months, but that other disease of +infancy, which to name is like sounding a funeral knell in the ears of +many a parent. This one malady, more than any other, gives Boston its +place on the black list of unhealthy towns. All parents having young +children leave the city during the worst part of the sickly season, if +they have the means of so doing. Our best streets look as DEFOE tells us +London streets looked during the Great Plague. But thousands of families +must remain; and we are bound to do what we can for them in their +dearest interests,--the lives of their children. + +With regard to cholera-infantum,--the deadly scourge of which I have +spoken,--the testimony of experience shows that change of air, even +temporary, often effects the cure of which the apothecary, who "pestles +a poisoned poison behind his crimson lights," cannot bring about with +his drugs, though the wisest of physicians had written the prescription. +This point is so important, and bears so directly, not only on the +necessity of park-spaces, but upon their distribution so as to bring +them within reach of all the crowded and unhealthy districts as far as +possible, that I shall borrow a few sentences, enforcing it, from +writers recognized as authorities on the diseases of children. + +"Even in cases in which a removal to a healthy and airy situation in the +country is impracticable," says Dr. CONDIE of Philadelphia, long and +well known by his writings, "much benefit may be derived from carrying +the patient frequently into the open air in a carriage, or in the arms, +or, when its residence is near a large river, sailing it daily in an +open boat." And Dr. JOHN BELL of the same city says, "The restorative +effects of fresh air in cholera-infantum are strikingly evinced in the +relief procured by many hundreds of children every summer in +Philadelphia, by their simply crossing and recrossing the River Delaware +in steamboats once or twice a day. New life is restored to the little +beings, who, on leaving their homes in the city, seemed almost +exanimate, and in the last stage of incurable exhaustion." Dr. JAMES +STEWART of New York, in his treatise on the diseases of children, and +our own honored patriarch of the profession, the late Dr. JAMES JACKSON, +in his letters to a young physician, speak in similar terms of the great +advantage of change of place and of air. The "aquatic jaunts" +recommended by Dr. STEWART, and spoken of as so efficacious by Dr. BELL, +are among the advantages to be secured by the plan proposed by our Park +Commissioners. I wish twenty tons of little children could be shipped +every fine summer day for a good sail. + +There is one particular region which I will mention as like to be +specially benefited by the plan referred to,--a region which would get +the advantages of the fresh air coming over the wide estuary of Charles +River without the expense and trouble of taking boats. The narrow and +crowded streets of the northern slope of Beacon Hill, and a wide region +extending northward from it, are inhabited by the very class most +exposed to cholera-infantum and diseases of that nature. Having lived +for many years in Charles Street, where I am no longer an owner, I had +occasion to learn the incomparable comfort and delight to be got in a +hot summer's day, when the wind is from the southwest, by turning the +corner of Charles and Cambridge Streets, and getting into the current of +air cooled by passing over the water. Some of the poor mothers with sick +children had found out where to bring them for relief; and I often +thought, if there were an open green filling up that corner, with shade +trees and seats, what a priceless _sanatorium_ it would be to all that +suffering quarter of the city! The proposed green margin, beginning at +Leverett Street, and extending along the river, will meet this very +want; and this is only one locality of many which will thus turn its +natural advantages to account. + +I have preferred to insist on a single point rather than to expatiate on +a larger number. But I trust that the eloquence of others will enforce +and illustrate the innumerable advantages our city will derive from the +only chain she would submit to,--a chain of pleasure-grounds all around +her. The Bostonian has looked up at the gilded dome of the State House, +and down at the reflection of his own features in the Frog Pond, long +enough. Our city has always been a centre; and it must not act as if it +considered itself a mere feeder. We must provide ourselves with the +complete equipment, not of a village community, not of a thriving town, +but of a true metropolis, large enough for a citizen of the world to +live in without feeling himself provincialized, and not too large for +one honest mayor like our own to handle. The marrow-bones of the past +are pretty well cleared out, or will be before the Centennial year is +over, and we must not be content to live on them for another century. +The Old Elm got enough of it,--grew discontented, and started on its +travels for wider quarters, but, unfortunately, stumbled and fell. Let +us take the hint, and plant a thousand acres with young elms and all +other trees of the forest, where the hillsides are not already clad in +foliage; so that the children of coming generations may bless our +memory, not only for all the happiness they have had in their shadow, +but for saving more lives to the country than were lost in any one of +the battles which scarred and crippled their fathers. [Applause.] + + +THE PRESIDENT. Gentlemen, you have been addressed by two of the learned +professions. It follows, as a matter of course, that you will now be +addressed by one from the third, the most important and most respected +of all. I am happy to introduce to you the Rev. Dr. NEALE, the oldest +settled pastor of the city of Boston. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF THE REV. ROLLIN H. NEALE, D.D. + + +I do not intend, my friends, to trespass much upon your time, and +certainly shall not presume to give any new information on the subject +which has been presented. Owing, probably, to my long residence here, it +has been thought, I suppose, that my _testimony_, in these days of +calling for witnesses, may be of some importance. Of the financial +bearings of this proposed enterprise, of course I cannot judge. These +are to be considered and acted upon by men on whom the public +responsibility rests, who will, doubtless, act considerately and wisely; +but the desirableness of the thing itself is unquestionable. I have had +opportunity, with some gentlemen here present, of wandering of a +summer's day through the beautiful and extensive parks of Europe and of +this country, and know how welcome and refreshing they are to the weary +traveller. "Boston Common," of course, we praise everywhere; and when +abroad, and thinking of dear home, say there is nothing like it the +world over. + +It is a good feature in the character of Bostonians to love their own +city. There is something delightful in its old buildings, and even its +crooked streets. We forget political and even religious differences in +view of ancient landmarks. We cling to the Old South, and would gladly +have kept Brattle Square with its cannon-ball, whatever might have been +thought of its theology. We cherish the memory of our fathers, and wish +to keep among us, as far as possible, signs of the good old days. This +is right and noble; but equally right, and quite as unselfish, is it to +think of those who shall come after us. HORACE BUSHNELL was a scholar, +and wrote many elaborate works on metaphysics and divinity; but the +Bushnell Park of Hartford will probably be that for which coming +generations will thank him most. Certainly it will keep his memory +fragrant and green forever. + +Our good city is justly famous for its hospitals and physicians, as well +as its churches and clergymen. I hope the contemplated parks may not +supersede the sanctuary and the sermon, though, as they say, there are +"sermons in stones, and good in every thing." But certain it is, that a +ramble through green fields at any time, and along sparkling streams, is +better than a sick-bed, or the apothecary's drugs and doses. + +We are all of us, I suppose, more or less subject to the blues, +business-men, clergymen, and even politicians. In such cases, it is of +no use to shut one's self up in the house, and brood over trouble. The +best remedy is a walk, a good long stretch into the country, fresh air, +a hearty laugh with some friend; or an exhilarating ride, Brother MURRAY +would say, probably, behind a "perfect horse." And these are some of the +blessings it is proposed to secure for us. The very season now here +speaks impressively for this enterprise. The glories of a June day, how +they make us yearn for rural scenes! Nature everywhere is beckoning. +"The mountains and the hills break forth before us into singing, and all +the trees of the field clap their hands." + + +THE PRESIDENT. We have listened with much satisfaction and enjoyment to +the address of one of the clergymen of the city of Boston: but all +denominations of the Christian Church are included in this call; and I +am now happy to introduce to you the Rev. Mr. BODFISH, Rector of the +Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Cross of the city of Boston. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF THE REV. J. P. BODFISH. + + +MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,--I am happy to stand here, where so many of +my ancestors have stood, and to address my fellow-citizens on such a +measure of public importance. When this matter was first brought to my +attention through the papers, when the plan proposed in all its grandeur +first came before my mind, I was reminded of a saying of a musical +friend of mine. He belonged to a band. He came from the fatherland; and +his great specialty was to play on the trombone. After a while, it +became rather remarkable, these solos on the trombone; and some of the +college boys wanted to put him down a little; so they commenced by +applauding. That seemed to have no effect. So one night they thought +they would try another plan. He was playing his best on the trombone; +and one of the boys cried out, "Louder!" And so he began again on the +trombone; and the boys said, "Louder!" And he tried again on the +trombone; and the boys still cried, "Louder!" And they still kept on, +"Louder!" until he almost burst every blood-vessel. And he put down his +instrument in disgust and said, "It is very well to say, 'Louder!' but +where is you going to get the vind?" [Laughter.] + +Now when I thought of this system, and the immense expense it would be, +I said to myself, Now, that is a grand system; it would be beautiful +indeed; but where are you going to get the money? But then I took the +Report of those able Commissioners, this pamphlet that is spoken of; and +I read it myself carefully to see if it was a practicable and feasible +plan, and was surprised to see the ability with which the whole matter +had been treated. So thorough had been their investigations, that they +had demonstrated it was perfectly clear that this grand and beautiful +system of parks could be built at this time, now, with a very slight +taxation upon the whole business community; and, furthermore, that by +the improvement of property in the neighborhood of the parks, and by the +advantage to the city in general, the money expended would soon return +to the taxpayers of the city; and so that objection is disposed of at +once. + +There seems to be no difficulty. There are so many solid men here in +Boston, that a work of this kind surely can be carried out with greater +ease than it has been in other cities; and we know in other cities they +have reaped great pecuniary benefit from the establishment and +building-up of their system of parks. But you would hardly expect a +clergyman here to talk on the financial question: that is a little out +of order. But the physicians have considered the medical point of view, +the sanitary point of view, how necessary it is to the health of the +city; and the financiers have demonstrated that it is easy in a +financial point of view; and it would be natural for me to speak here +to-night, perhaps, on the moral necessity of such a system of parks. + +Now, when I think of the conditions under which a great many of our +poor people live, I am not very much surprised that they are goaded into +desperation to commit some fearful crime; because we know very well, +where a person lives in the country, and has the blue sky over his head, +and the running brooks gurgling through the meadows, and the green trees +and villages, and every thing cheerful and pleasant about him, why, he +is removed from a great many temptations that are common to a large +city; and we know, that, in a moral point of view, the people of a town +or of a country district are removed from a great many temptations and +incentives to crime: therefore every one who wishes well for the +religious welfare of the people would be glad to have these parks +established as a real moral agent in the community and to the people of +this city. And, as my respected friend has suggested, perhaps the people +would rather go out in the park than to stop and hear our dull sermons. +But I would run even that risk; for the Lord's Day, you know, is a day +of rest; and, after we pay our homage to our Creator, I think it would +be pleasant even to Him to go and take your family, and take a stroll +out into these pleasant parks that are proposed for your health. +[Applause.] + +And then there is another feature which pleases me very much. You know, +in the olden time, the lords and nobles, and those who possessed the +landed estates, they felt it their duty to provide for the welfare of +the laboring classes, upon whom they depended really for their riches; +for they tilled their lands, and brought them in their incomes and the +returns from their estates: and so they watched over them with a kind of +a paternal care; and, when they were sick, they provided for them +hospitals, and they watched over them as a father would over his family. +Now, we live in a little somewhat different order of society; but still +there remains the same common duty for the men of wealth, for the men +who possess capital, to look out and provide for the wants and +necessities of the poor, on whom they depend to a great extent; for +capital cannot be independent of labor. [Applause.] + +Now I see around me, I may say, the nobility of this city. They may not +have long, sounding titles; but they have the wealth, they have the +philanthropy; and their presence here to-night shows you that they have +those same generous impulses toward the whole of this city's population. +They have come here as a unit: they are willing to pay whatever is +required to build this magnificent system of parks, that all the people +of every class may enjoy its benefits. I say they are acting the part of +the nobles of old; and they are taking care of the people of this city +as though they had a certain paternal influence and responsibility +toward them [applause], and it rejoices my heart. And in another point +of view, we know that the safety of any community and society depends +upon the contentment and happiness of all classes of its people. + +If there is one class that is ground down, and unhappy, and living under +unworthy conditions, they are, of course, immediately a dangerous +element. I say that it is a matter of good policy, as a stroke of +political economy, to provide for the wants of all classes of people in +this way, that they may live contented and happy, and have every thing +that is necessary for the health and recreation of their families. +[Applause.] + +I cannot, of course, at this late hour, delay you with arguments. You +have had sufficient already. That, as I understand it, is not the chief +object of our meeting here. The arguments are at present before the +authorities in this excellent Report of the Commissioners. + +We meet here to encourage them to go forward, to speak out in such a +positive manner, that they can hesitate no longer. It is our duty to +cheer them and encourage them in their work, and we hardly realize what +an influence this meeting will have in encouraging them to the great and +arduous work which they have undertaken to accomplish. Why, it reminds +me of a little incident that happened in New York not long ago, when one +of those great buildings was on fire,--those nine-story tenement-houses. +When the great crowd gathered there in the night, and they were surging +there, the police were trying to keep order, and the firemen were +working, and the hot flames shot up toward the sky, and the black smoke +rolled forth, and all was din and confusion; and, in the noise and +tumult of that dark and threatening night, there was one voice heard. It +was a mother's voice above the noise; and she cried, "Save my child! +Will no one save my child?" And they would hush her; but still she +cried, "Oh, save my child!" And there was one of the brave firemen, when +he learned that a little child was in the fourth story of that building, +who thought of his little ones at home; and he said he would risk his +life, he would dare any thing, rather than that child should be lost. +And they brought the great ladders, and they spliced them together, and +they swung them up against the burning building; and he commenced to +ascend. And, when he was halfway up, he looked at the hot flames and the +dense smoke rolling forth, and his heart trembled with fear: it seemed +to be instant death. But some one in the crowd below, who knew the +springs that govern the human heart, cried, "Cheer him!" "Cheer him!" +And there went up from that great crowd the wild hurrah, and it cheered +his heart like an electric thrill; and he rushed on, and disappeared in +the smoke. All was suspense; they waited with breathless anxiety: and at +last he returned with the child, and placed it in its mother's arms. +[Tremendous applause.] So you see the power of a word of encouragement +and cheer when any one has arduous work before him; and that is our duty +here to-night, my fellow-citizens,--to speak out with one voice, and +determined voice, and to cheer those who have undertaken this work, and +to let them know that we are ready to support them, that now is the +time, and that we are determined that this great work shall be +accomplished. [Applause and cheers.] + + +THE PRESIDENT. I shall now have the pleasure of introducing to the +audience Col. CHARLES W. WILDER. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF COL. CHARLES W. WILDER. + + +This large gathering of our citizens in Faneuil Hall is for some +purpose: it is significant that the people want something. I do not +understand that it is in any sense to re-affirm their conviction that +their best interests will be served by adding to our public property a +park or parks. That question has been fully discussed and decided by the +people themselves for themselves: they settled that by their, with +remarkable unanimity, voting to accept the act of the legislature, +giving power to the city government to purchase or take land for that +purpose. All classes seem to agree upon the necessity. The entire +medical faculty with one voice say we want it for sanitary reasons, and +have joined in the general petitions. Our capitalists and merchants have +spoken for themselves unmistakably by their petitions to the city +government, bearing more than seven thousand names, and representing, I +am informed, more than two hundred millions of taxable property. An able +Commission, after a year of careful study, and diligent devotion to +their duty, have made their report. The people have examined, discussed, +criticised, and finally approved and accepted it, and now come here in +Faneuil Hall to speak direct to City Hall for its adoption. Mr. +President, our professional men, our merchants and capitalists, have +spoken for themselves by their petitions and voices here to-night. It +remains only for me to speak for the more numerous class of our +fellow-citizens who pay but two dollars poll-tax. Yet they are as good +citizens, have and feel as deep interest in the growth, prosperity, and +progress of our city, as their more fortunate neighbors; and in the name +and behalf of the mechanics, the laborers, the great mass of men that +build our cities, and whose labor contributes so much to our growth and +prosperity, and whose employment is the one thing more than any other +needed to-day to inaugurate the beginning of our old-time prosperity, I +appeal to our city government to complete the work so opportunely and +well begun. It is immediate action we ask for. + +There being no difference of opinion as to the necessity and utility of +parks, and their ultimate payment for their full cost, the only open +question is the time to begin. We say that time is now,--now, while +thousands of unwillingly idle hands are waiting for work, and money is +cheap; cheap, because labor is unemployed. We say to you, gentlemen of +the city government, respectfully but earnestly, Act upon this matter +now. + +Don't wait till your summer vacation; don't wait till next month; don't +let any personal matter intervene to prevent the performance of this +public duty the people now ask at your hands. The present truly great +debt of our city, the bulk of which has been created in improvements, +made enormously more costly by the failure of city governments in past +times to comprehend the wants of a growing metropolis, admonishes you to +act now, and secure the advantages the present favorable combination of +circumstances offers. We confer on you the power to spend our money for +the public good; and we ask you to act now, because we clearly see that +delay means largely increased cost for what we must have in the near +future. + + +THE PRESIDENT. The Act under which this Commission was appointed, and +has discharged its duty, was supported, I think, by nearly every member +of the Boston delegation; and I may be allowed a single moment to add a +tribute of respect to that delegation. Boston has been well represented, +with one exception, perhaps, during the last two years, in the State +legislature; and I am very happy to know that you are now to be +addressed by a member of that delegation, who, as I said, supported this +Act when it was passed; who did not always vote with me on every +occasion, but who never voted against his conscience, never supported +any thing dishonest, or unjust, or unfair; and who will stand up, I have +no doubt, to-night, and speak well his mind, as he did on every fit +occasion in the State House, for what he deems just and right, and for +the good of the people: Mr. JOSEPH F. PAUL, whom I am very happy to +introduce to you. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH F. PAUL. + + +MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN,--I hardly know what reply to make to the +remarks of the gentleman who has just taken his seat. In fact, I think I +had better let them go, and allow you to judge for yourselves after I +have said what I propose to say. I may say, in the first place, that +this is my first appearance upon this stand as a speaker; and, when +called upon to speak after such gentlemen as you have listened to +to-night, I trust you will make all due allowance for any mistakes that +I may make. But I claim the right as a citizen of Boston, as a +tax-payer of Boston, to express my opinion upon this subject, as upon +all others in which I take an interest. The necessity of parks has been +made apparent to every gentleman here by those who are better qualified +than I am to do so. I believe that there is no man here who does not +believe that we are to have parks. I have not heard from such; and I do +not believe that there is such a man, unless it is one who does not +expect to enjoy them himself, and is unwilling that posterity should. + +Taking it for granted that that question is settled, the only question +which seems to be before the people is, whether this is the proper time; +and I propose to address myself to the consideration of that question. I +propose to speak of it as of a private enterprise, and as an individual +business-man. It has been explained to you in regard to the condition of +the labor-market, and I think that I may say fairly and squarely that +labor of the character to be used about parks has not been so cheap for +twenty years. Money is cheap; labor is required; parks are wanted; and +it is better to keep the men at work, and retain them in the city, than +to sustain them and their families at the public cost. It is not like +sending out of the country to import something for which we must pay our +money. All the money is to be paid to our own citizens; and, unless some +show of enterprise is made, we shall lose business-men from this city. +They will not stay here, and do nothing, unless the city government +makes some show of enterprise. I have had some experience myself in the +city government, having been a member of it, whether that is an honor or +not; though I hold that the honor or dishonor of any society depends +upon one's own conduct. There is always some doubt about making a move +in the city government; and, in a matter like the park question, such a +meeting as this will be a great encouragement to action. The public +feeling on this question is so great, that the parks must be +established. The project has been fought no harder than the Water Board +was; and where would the city of Boston be, if the friends of that +enterprise had not succeeded? Act here to-night, and then let the city +government do its part. Objections may be made by some gentlemen, made +conscientiously; but, five years from now, these gentlemen will not +remember that they raised any objection. + +This meeting is called for the purpose of giving the city government to +understand that the business-men, the working-men, of the city, mean +what they say, when they say that they want public parks; and there is +no question that an impulse will be given to the action of the city +government by this meeting. We are the city of Boston; and the members +of the city government act for us. + +Gentlemen, it is getting late, and there are those to follow who will +entertain you better than I can. But I propose to close with a little +story which I heard; and it was in church that I heard it, in an +excellent sermon. Just after the war of 1812, our laboring men stood, as +they stand to-day, idling about the wharves and public places. That was +the case in a little town to the east of Boston. They had enterprising +men, as we have now; and one day a gentleman stepped into a bank, and +said to the president, "Mr. President, I am going to build a +ship."--"What do you know about shipbuilding?" asked the president. +"Nothing. But I can do the business; and there are men here who can do +the work. We have the money, and there are the men. I will build the +ship, and sell it; you will get your money back; and the profit will be +divided among the men." The idea was a novel one; but the president +wanted to set the wheels of business in motion; and so he said that he +would give an answer the next day. The gentleman called promptly the +next morning; and the president informed him that the directors had +agreed to advance the money. The gentleman then went out among the idle +men, and said, "I am going to build a ship, and I want you to do the +work. I will pay you enough to live on; and, when the ship is built, we +will divide the profit." So they went to work as co-partners, and built +the ship, this gentleman generously attending to the business. The ship +was built and launched and sold, the money was paid to the bank, and the +profits divided. That was the first ship built on the Merrimack in +Newburyport, which has since become one of the largest shipbuilding +places in Massachusetts. + +So we want something to set the wheels in motion. The city of Boston +can borrow the money, and buy the land, for these parks, more cheaply +now than ever again; and the men are ready to do the work. I know of +nothing more that I can say. I am glad to see this hall filled to-night. +There are men here to-night who have at heart the interests and +prosperity of the city of Boston. That is what we are acting for; and I +trust that that hundred men will go up to City Hall, and, if the city +government will move in the matter, every true man will deem it his duty +to stand behind and encourage them. + + +THE PRESIDENT. My friends, the best things and the most enthusiastic +meetings must come to an end; but those who wait till the last generally +get the best. I have now the pleasure of introducing to you the closing +speaker, the Hon. P. A. COLLINS. + + + + +SPEECH OF THE HON. P. A. COLLINS. + + +I know that no word of mine can add to the force of this movement. I am +neither great tax-payer nor eminent sanitarist. I cannot hope to equal +others who have discussed the moral, æsthetic, sanitary, and economic +phases of the question before us. But, happily, there is no need of such +discussion now. The question of public parks has been submitted, in all +its forms and probable effects, to the ablest, keenest, wisest, of our +citizens; and there is but one answer. The answer is, that we need more +out-door life than our sedentary race enjoys, and that public grounds, +accessible to all, are not only desirable, but necessary to the moral +and physical health of our crowded population. + +This is the verdict; and, granted this, there remain but two +questions,--"Is this the time?" "Can we afford it?" To some, the present +is never the time for any thing. Their motto seems to be, "Don't do +to-day what you can put off till to-morrow, because you may not live +till to-morrow, and then you won't have to do it at all." This principle +has been acted upon by short-sighted Boston too long; and the result is +a melancholy looking-back to the time when improvements could have been +made for a tenth or a fifteenth of the present cost. We are told of our +beautiful suburbs, as if they can be suburbs forever. Even now, they are +but for the rich. Beware of trespassing in the fields and woods: they +are private property. The roads seem to belong to blood-horses and their +owners. If you wish to know the future, look at the past. Look back, you +aged men, to the fields and gardens of Tremont and Boylston Streets. +Look back, you younger men, to rambles through South Boston farms, and +land at "South End" sold by the acre. Always comes the old conservative +admonition, "Wait!"--yes, wait till the great sea-wall makes City Point +of Castle Island,--wait till the now extended arms of Boston clasp +Brookline to the bosom of the metropolis,--wait till private avarice and +easy legislation, acting intermittently, deface the shore and basin of +Charles River,--wait till the dense and ever growing population, +bursting from its narrow bounds, spreads itself in streets laid out at +random, over what you are pleased to call our suburbs,--wait, in short, +till the inevitable happens, and where are your public parks? You may +have them, even then, I grant you; but you will have them where _the +people_ cannot reach them, and where the cost will be too great. +Remember that our city growth is like the growth of all cities in the +New World and the Old; and, if we want green places in the future +Boston, we must seize them now. + +Can we afford the expense? Rather, let us ask, Can Boston afford to be +less comfortable to live in, less attractive, less healthy, than sister +cities? We can afford police, paved streets, light, sewers, scavengers, +a fire department, a board of health, and a score of other agencies, not +because they give salaries and employment to certain men, but because +the public health and safety require it; we can afford schools, +maintained at enormous cost, though it may be conceded that we could +live without education; we can afford pure water in abundance, be the +expense never so great, because we need it; and, if we need pure air, we +can afford to pay for it, to seize the means of having it, and keeping +it forever. + +And suffer me, with due modesty, to say, that we in this +meeting--representing as we do the commerce, industries, and professions +of this goodly town--have a right to demand that what we ask shall be +given us, and that Boston shall take and hold for the use of its people +this needed reservation, while yet there is time. I trust our city +fathers will need no further admonition than this meeting gives; but, if +they should, we are enlisted for the war. + +As Cromwell, grimly looking down on the fair fields and shining streams +of the land he came to conquer, said, "This is a land worth fighting +for," so let us, as we survey the magnificent area of shore and hill and +glade which fortune now permits us to dedicate to public use, exclaim, +"This, indeed, is worth our effort;" and let us strive for it till the +battle is won. + + +THE PRESIDENT. I have been requested to state that the well-known +physician, Dr. EDWARD H. CLARKE, who is too ill to be present here +to-night, has written a long and interesting letter on the subject of +this meeting, which will be published in the morning papers; and I +desire that every citizen present will make a point of reading that +letter. + + + + +LETTER OF DR. EDWARD H. CLARKE. + + +HAMILTON A. HILL, ESQ., SECRETARY, &C. + +_Dear Sir_,--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of +the 2d inst., requesting me, in the name of the committee who have +called a public meeting on the park question, to address to them a +letter which shall contain my views upon "the necessity existing at the +present time for action on this subject, and upon the Report of the Park +Commissioners." + +If my views are of any value to the community on this question, or if I +could exert any influence, however little, in bringing about a result so +necessary to the comfort, prosperity, and health of all the citizens of +Boston, as the establishment of a public park within the limits of the +city, I should esteem it not less a privilege than a duty to present +those views, and exert that influence. + +Among the many and weighty considerations that might be appropriately +urged in favor of the establishment of a park in this city, three stand +out so prominently, that their importance can scarcely be overestimated. +These are, first, the sanitary, second, the educational, and, third, the +economic aspects of the question. Let me call your attention briefly to +these three points. + +The first is the sanitary aspect of the park. The discussion of sewerage +and drainage, and of the ventilation of sewers, drains, and houses, with +which our community have latterly been made familiar, has impressed upon +our citizens, to some extent, the importance of introducing pure air +into our houses, and of keeping foul air out of them. The importance of +such ventilation cannot be overstated. But we are in danger of +forgetting that the importance of ventilating a city is as great as that +of ventilating all the houses in it, with this difference, that if a +city is not well ventilated, so as to bring fresh air into it, and to +keep foul air and poisonous gases out of it, the ventilation of +individual dwellings will be of little avail. + +The foul air of the streets will not only envelop those who pass through +them, but will penetrate the houses that line them, visiting alike the +sick and the well, increasing the danger of disease to the former, and +diminishing the health and strength of the latter. In proportion as a +city increases in size, large open spaces should be reserved. Parks are +the lungs of the city. They are more than this: they are reservoirs of +oxygen and fresh air. They produce atmospheric currents, which sweep +through and purify the streets. Parks not only offer oxygen to all who +visit them, but distribute a large amount of this prime necessity of +life everywhere in their neighborhood. Without open spaces appropriately +placed, it is impossible, in a large city, to have well ventilated +streets, and to keep the air of the houses sweet and clean. Let us +remember, moreover, that bad ventilation means poisoned air, and that +poisoned air is sure to be followed by a ghastly train of diseases, with +an occasional pestilence to remind the inhabitants what a terrible thing +it is to disregard sanitary laws. + +Improved ventilation is by no means the only sanitary good that parks +yield to a city wise enough to possess them. A fraction, and only a +small fraction, of our population, are able to leave the city during the +hot months of the year, for the country. When these favored ones reach +Nahant, Swampscott, or Newport, or some modest farmhouse, or comfortable +dwelling by the side of the many railroads that lead from the foulness +of the city to the purity of the country, or of the mountains, how +gladly and enthusiastically they speak of their escape from heat, +discomfort, and disease, to coolness, comfort, and health! But the mass +of the community,--the artisans and work-people, whose necessities +compel them to remain within the limits of the city,--their families, +children, sick ones and all, have at present no such escape from close +and impure air. + +The carrying of little children who are pinched by cholera-infantum, or +spotted by scarlet-fever, or of those who are paralyzed by diphtheria, +or distorted by scrofula, or emaciated by consumption, for a few hours a +day into the pure air and bright sunlight of an open square, has saved +many a life. Many a needless death has occurred, because the city +afforded no such opportunity for escape. A few hours' exposure of a +child on a mother's lap, or in a basket or carriage, to the freshness of +a park, will produce a sleep that never follows opium, chloral, or +ether, and will yield a chance for health that no drug can give. For the +last few years, Philadelphia has shown a diminished death-rate. Dr. +WILLIAM PEPPER, who has lately investigated the sanitary condition of +that city, commenting upon the gratifying fact just stated, says, "While +thus showing an average rate of mortality more favorable than that found +in any other city containing over 500,000 inhabitants, Philadelphia has +recently (1874) attained a degree of healthfulness almost unparalleled; +namely, with a population at that time of 775,000, the number of deaths +was but 14,966, giving a death-rate of only 19.3 per thousand. These +very favorable results are largely due to the abundant and cheap +water-supply, and to the opportunities given, even to the poorest +citizens, for the enjoyment of pure country air in the great Fairmount +Park, which contains 2,991 acres. The extent to which this is valued by +the citizens may be inferred from the fact, that, during the year 1875, +the park was visited by over eleven million persons." There is no +reason why a park in Boston should not yield as good a sanitary result +as one in Philadelphia. + +While looking at the sanitary aspects of this subject, let us not forget +that a park laid out in accordance with the plan of the Park +Commissioners will utilize localities that would otherwise become +plague-spots, and nurseries of disease. The low lands along the banks of +Charles River, portions of the Back Bay, and other sections that might +be mentioned, are sure to become unhealthy localities,--stations for +distributing the germs of disease throughout their neighborhood and at a +distance from them,--unless they are reserved, and left unoccupied. The +most extravagant way of disposing of such localities is for the city to +permit them to be built over, "improved" is the phrase, I believe, and +then suffer the consequences, in the way of increase of disease and +taxes, which follow such sort of improvements. + +Let us now pass from the sanitary to the educational aspect of our +subject. The educational value of a park to the community of a large +city is second only to its sanitary value. We are too apt to think that +education is the exclusive function of the school, and that books and +school-teachers are the only educators. This is a grievous mistake. The +education of the home and street, of the workshop and store, of the +church and theatre, of the base-ball club and the evening party, of the +rum-shop and dance-hall, and of the numerous other influences of a great +city, is more potent than that of the school. The evil of all evil +agencies is intensified, and the good of the good ones diminished, by +uncleanness and impure air. Clean hands and a pure heart go together. +Foul air prompts to vice, and oxygen to virtue, as surely as sunlight +paints the flowers, and ripens the fruits, of our gardens. The tired +workman, who, after a day's labor, needs the repose and relaxation of +home, is apt to be driven from it by the close atmosphere of the street +and house in which he lives. He would, if he could, get into the fresh +air of the country; but, as he cannot do this, he seeks the relief which +drink or other excitement yields. If there were a park accessible to +him, he with his family would seek it as instinctively as a plant +stretches towards the light. The varied opportunities of a park would +educate him and his family into the enjoyment of innocent amusements and +open-air pleasures. Deprived of these, he and his are educated into the +ways of disease and vice by the character of their surroundings. Who +that has watched the groups of families, neighbors, and friends, that +bivouac by hundreds and thousands on the parks which cluster around, +adorn, and invigorate the great cities of Europe, can have failed to +notice the innocent amusements and enjoyment of these crowds of young +and old, or to be impressed with the fact that the influence of the +natural scenes around them, of the trees and plants and flowers, of the +pure air and bright skies, is a humanizing and elevating one? It is +difficult to compute the value of such an influence in dollars and +cents, or to measure it by any scale that the market acknowledges; but +it is, nevertheless, a real, substantial, and potent one. If our large +cities are the pride and boast of the republic, they also contain the +greatest elements of danger to the state and the nation. Ignorance and +vice, disease and crime, crowd themselves into cities. There they find +their best hiding-places, their surest protection, and their most +defenceless victims. It makes one tremble to think of the thousands of +youth in our cities whom the school and the church do not reach, and who +are moulded by these influences into the worst and lowest forms of +humanity. They can not and will not go out into the country themselves, +except upon some errand of violence and crime. The city should therefore +bring the country to them, and give them a chance, at least, to +experience its humanizing and blessed influence. + +A park, or a series of parks, with its trees and running waters, its +grass and plants and flowers, its variegated surface and changing views, +and all the beauty with which such scenes are flooded, supplements the +labor of the church and school in educating, refining, and elevating the +community. There will be less gambling, drinking, and quarrelling in +Boston, when the mass of its inhabitants shall be allowed to partake of +the blessing and beauty of a public park. + +These considerations naturally bring us to the third point which has +been mentioned, viz., the economic aspect of the matter. Few will deny +the truth of the above statements; but the admission of their truth is +apt to be coupled with the reply, "The park will cost so much, we cannot +afford it." It is true that it will cost a good deal, but not so much to +each household as the inevitable cost of the sickness, vice, and death, +which the opportunities that a park provides would prevent. Are human +life and health and virtue so cheap, that we can afford to count the +cost of procuring and maintaining them? Are vice, crime, and disease so +unimportant, that we can afford to let them thrive, and propagate +themselves indefinitely? We cannot repeat too often, or ponder too +seriously, the statement made in the first report of the Park +Commissioners: "Nothing is so costly as sickness and disease: nothing so +cheap as health. Whatever promotes the former is the worst sort of +extravagance: whatever fosters the latter is the truest economy." The +truth is, it will cost the city of Boston more to get on without a park +than to incur the expense of buying and taking care of one. We pay at +present an enormous sum yearly for the maintenance of hospitals, +prisons, jails, and workhouses. It is not asserted that the +establishment of a park will depopulate these institutions, or render +them unnecessary; but no sanitarian will deny that one result, and a +most important one, of the establishment of a park, would be to diminish +the number of those who are compelled to resort to these institutions. A +greater economy than all this would be found to accrue to each household +in the increased comfort, diminished sickness, more vigorous health, and +ample enjoyment, that would be added to all its members. + +Boston has been long and justly celebrated for its health, beauty, and +wealth. If it loses the two first of these distinctions, how long will +it retain the last? Business and population will turn away from an +unhealthy and unattractive town. Defective sewerage and imperfect +drainage are sapping the health; and the occupation of the suburbs by +houses, manufactories, workshops, and stores, is destroying the beauty +of the city. Will the merchants of Boston, whose reputation for +intelligence, sagacity, and enterprise has gone out to the ends of the +world, permit a false economy to blind them to the importance of this +whole matter? + +Of the details of the financial question, I am not qualified to speak; +but I will venture a single remark. It seems only a piece of common +sense to one unfamiliar with the intricate problems of finance to say, +that, if the present time is one of great depression of values, it is +precisely the time when a wealthy corporation like the city of Boston +can purchase the land for a park at the lowest price, and therefore +should do it. + +Permit me to add a single word with regard to the plan proposed by the +Commissioners. It offers more advantages, and fewer disadvantages, than +any other that has been proposed. This might be expected, when we +reflect that it was prepared in accordance with the advice of Mr. +OLMSTEAD, than whom no one is better qualified to advise in such +matters. It may be safely asserted, that if Boston should accept this +plan, and authorize it to be carried out, the city would possess a park +unique in its character, of unrivalled beauty, and one which all our +citizens, young and old, rich and poor, would greatly enjoy, and of +which, if they once obtained it, they would never be bribed to +dispossess themselves. + +The Rev. Dr. ELLIS, in his recent eloquent address at the centennial +anniversary of the evacuation of Boston, used the following language, +"As I read the history of our fathers in all their generations, their +toil and virtue seem to me to have been the noblest, in their steady +regard for the welfare and happiness of their posterity. And as I firmly +believe that no single individual can follow the highest pattern of an +earthly life, unless his hope and faith link on to a future, so I find +it proved in all biographies and annals, that all unselfish, noble, and +heroic lives are those which parents lead for their children and their +children's children. We have such lives among us in city, state, and +nation, private and public, high and humble." May we be true to the +reputation and tradition of our fathers, and provide as intelligently +for the well-being of ourselves and our posterity as they provided for +themselves and for us! + + I am, with great respect, very truly yours, + + EDW. H. CLARKE. + +ARLINGTON STREET, BOSTON, June 6, 1876. + + +The President, in calling for a vote on the resolutions, said, I merely +wish to say that old Faneuil Hall can stand a great deal of noise; but +still I would recommend, for the benefit of future audiences, that you +should not take off the roof, nor burst the windows, nor put out the +gas. [Laughter.] + +The resolutions were unanimously agreed to; and the following committee +of a hundred, to present the result of the meeting to the city +government, was appointed; the assembly dispersing shortly after ten +o'clock. + + + + +COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED. + + +Joseph S. Ropes William P. Hunt +Marshall P. Wilder Hamilton A. Hill +Oliver W. Holmes, M.D. Joseph F. Paul +Richard Frothingham Charles W. Wilder +Samuel Cabot, M.D. M. F. Dickinson, jun. +J. Baxter Upham, M.D. P. A. Collins +Thomas J. Gargan Albert Bowker +George C. Richardson John C. Pratt +John P. Reynolds, M.D. Jerome Jones +John W. Candler H. H. A. Beach, M.D. +George B. Chase S. J. Langmaid, M.D. +William E. Coffin Joseph H. Chadwick +Francis A. Osborn Benjamin Deane +Ralph Crooker J. J. McNutt +Robert Seaver Nath. Adams +J. Mitchell Galvin B. F. Nourse +W. W. Morland, M.D. Martin Griffin +Richard Olney John J. May +Joseph W. Balch M. Doherty +C. Allen Richards Thomas B. Curtis, M.D. +Charles L. Thayer Thomas Gogin +William E. Perkins Royal E. Robbins +James Edwards William W. Clapp +J. Tisdale Bradlee E. B. Haskell +Jonas Fitch C. F. Donnelly +James Sturgis T. Quincy Browne +J. N. Borland, M.D. F. E. Goodrich +Charles W. Slack Charles W. Morris +Clement H. Hill D. N. Skillings +William V. Hutchings Hales W. Suter +William T. Hart Henry Smith +Robert Johnson William Atherton +Asa P. Potter Charles J. Bishop +William J. R. Evans Aaron D. Williams +Charles Nowell Henry C. Morse +Jacob Pfaff S. Parkman Dexter +Eben D. Jordan George P. King +George Woods Rice Albert Thompson +Thomas Mack Joseph Dix +Lewis Coleman H. M. Bearce +Charles F. Choate William B. Bacon +Roland Worthington George O. Carpenter +M. B. Leonard, M.D. Henry J. Nazro +A. H. Lewis J. Kent Crowley +George G. Crocker James N. Spillane +Charles L. Haley W. H. Forbes +Waldo Adams J. B. Dacey +John F. Payson James F. Gray +Hollis Hunnewell John Bigelow +Martin Hayes A. 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Faneuil hall meeting, June 7, 1876. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + hr.smler { width: 10%; } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; border: none; } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0px; + } /* page numbers */ + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + .tbrk { margin-top: 2.75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em;} + + .mono {font-family: monospace;} + + /* index */ + + div.index ul li { padding-top: 1em ;text-align: left; } + + div.index ul ul ul, div.index ul li ul li { padding: 0; text-align: left; } + + div.index ul { list-style: none; margin: 0; } + + div.index ul, div.index ul ul ul li { display: inline; } + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Parks for the People, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Parks for the People + Proceedings of a Public Meeting held at Faneuil Hall, June 7, 1876 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: July 17, 2008 [EBook #26084] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE *** + + + + +Produced by Betsie Bush, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan's Making of America collection.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2>PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE.</h2> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2>PROCEEDINGS</h2> + +<h4>OF A</h4> + +<h1>PUBLIC MEETING</h1> + +<h4>HELD AT</h4> + +<h2>FANEUIL HALL,</h2> + +<h4><span class="smcap">June 7, 1876.</span></h4> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h4>BOSTON:<br />FRANKLIN PRESS: RAND, AVERY, & CO.<br />1876.</h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="index mono"> +<ul> +<li><a href="#MEETING"><span class="smcap">Organization of Meeting</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#SPEECH_OF_MR_JOSEPH_S_ROPES"><span class="smcap">Speech of Mr. Joseph S. Ropes</span></a></li> +<li> " " <a href="#SPEECH_OF_MR_GEORGE_B_CHASE"><span class="smcap">Mr. George B. Chase</span></a></li> +<li> " " <a href="#SPEECH_OF_MR_RICHARD_H_DANA_JUN"><span class="smcap">Mr. Richard H. Dana, jun.</span></a></li> +<li> " " <a href="#SPEECH_OF_DR_OLIVER_WENDELL_HOLMES"><span class="smcap">Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes</span></a></li> +<li> " " <a href="#SPEECH_OF_THE_REV_ROLLIN_H_NEALE_DD"><span class="smcap">Rev. Rollin H. Neale, D.D.</span></a></li> +<li> " " <a href="#SPEECH_OF_THE_REV_J_P_BODFISH"><span class="smcap">Rev. J. P. Bodfish</span></a></li> +<li> " " <a href="#SPEECH_OF_COL_CHARLES_W_WILDER"><span class="smcap">Col. Charles W. Wilder</span></a></li> +<li> " " <a href="#SPEECH_OF_MR_JOSEPH_F_PAUL"><span class="smcap">Mr. Joseph F. Paul</span></a></li> +<li> " " <a href="#SPEECH_OF_THE_HON_P_A_COLLINS"><span class="smcap">Hon. P. A. Collins</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#LETTER_OF_DR_EDWARD_H_CLARKE"><span class="smcap">Letter of Dr. Edward H. Clarke</span></a></li> +<li><a href="#COMMITTEE_OF_ONE_HUNDRED"><span class="smcap">Committee of One Hundred</span></a></li> +</ul> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="MEETING" id="MEETING"></a>FANEUIL HALL MEETING</h2> + +<h4>IN</h4> + +<h1>FAVOR OF PUBLIC PARKS.</h1> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<p>Pursuant to a call published in all the daily papers, and signed by a +large number of prominent citizens and tax-payers of Boston, a public +meeting was convened in Faneuil Hall on the evening of Wednesday, the +7th of June, 1876, to take action on the recommendations contained in +the Report of the Park Commissioners. The hall was crowded by an +intelligent and enthusiastic audience; and the proceedings as reported +<i>verbatim</i> in the columns of the "Boston Morning Journal," were as +follows:—</p> + +<p>The meeting was called to order at eight o'clock by Mr. <span class="smcap">John W. Candler</span>, +who said,—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>,—As Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, I have been +requested to call this meeting to order. It is usually the case, that, +when a mass meeting of citizens is to be held, a great deal of labor has +to be performed in preparing for and organizing the meeting. But I am +glad to say, that, on this occasion, the important advantage of having a +public almost entirely in our favor was enjoyed by the Committee. We +found a strong and intelligent and deep-seated sentiment almost +unanimous throughout the community, in favor of having the City +Government take prompt and favorable action upon the report of the Park +Commissioners. [Applause.] We found the community earnest and +enthusiastic in the desire that a system of parks should be projected +for the city of Boston, to insure the health, and to make certain and +positive the prosperity, of our citizens in the future. The Committee +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>had only to present the call or address through the press, which some +of you have read, to find hundreds ready to indorse it; and the +authorities had only to open wide the doors of Faneuil Hall to have the +people throng here, as they have to-night, to manifest the sentiment +which they feel so generally.</p> + +<p>Gentlemen, we have with us to-night men of science, philanthropists, the +representatives of the learned professions. We have the capitalist; we +have the merchant; we have the mechanic; and we have the daily laborer, +who toils from the rising to the setting sun,—we have them all here, to +give out a voice to-night, expressing the opinions of the people, which +can neither be misrepresented nor misunderstood. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>It is not my duty, gentlemen, to make a speech. You have here this +evening to address you, the representatives of every class, the best +that can be afforded in any city, the leading men of the city of Boston +in the different professions. It is only necessary, in the discharge of +my duty, that I should read to you the names of the gentlemen whom you +will be asked to elect as the officers of this meeting. They are as +follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">PRESIDENT.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Hon. JOSEPH S. ROPES.</span></p> + +<p class="center">VICE-PRESIDENTS.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Charles Francis Adams, William Amory, Richard Frothingham, Peter C. +Brooks, Martin Brimmer, George C. Richardson, Benjamin F. Thomas, +Edward S. Rand, Henry P. Kidder, Thomas J. Gargan, Eben D. Jordan, +C. A. Richards, John C. Crowley, William B. Bacon, Aaron D. +Williams, Charles F. Donnelly, Wm. W. Clapp, Benjamin Deane, +Richard Olney, William Atherton, Thomas Gobin, William Endicott, +jun., Albert Bowker, Daniel J. Sweeney, Patrick T. Jackson, R. M. +Pulsifer, Roland Worthington, John G. Blake, M.D., J. H. Chadwick, Lewis Coleman.</span></p> + +<p class="center">SECRETARIES.</p> + +<p class="center">HAMILTON A. HILL. WILLIAM E. PERKINS.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The list of names was unanimously approved; and the announcement of the +election of the gentlemen named therein was received with applause.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p><p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Candler</span> continued, I have the honor of introducing to you <span class="smcap">Joseph S. +Ropes</span>, Esq., a merchant of Boston, who has been called to fill a great +many places of trust, and who has always been found able in the +discharge of every duty, and faithful in every trust committed to him.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_MR_JOSEPH_S_ROPES" id="SPEECH_OF_MR_JOSEPH_S_ROPES"></a>SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH S. ROPES.</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fellow-Citizens</span>,—I thank you for the honor you have done me in inviting +me to preside on this auspicious occasion. You have come together +to-night, not to quarrel with one another's politics, not to abuse one +another's rival candidates, but to hold a friendly consultation upon one +of the most important and interesting and agreeable subjects which can +engage your attention,—the subject of public parks for the city of +Boston. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>Gentlemen, I was born in Boston; and I well remember the time when our +cows were pastured on Boston Common, when the Back Bay was not a myth, +but a reality, and when at least a portion of the summit of Beacon Hill +was covered with green fields, on which were seen sometimes "raree +shows" and travelling menageries. Since that time, our city has grown +and swelled, and stretched itself north and south, and east and west, +striding over one arm of the sea, filling up another, swallowing the +neighboring towns one by one, taking two mouthfuls for Roxbury, and one +for Dorchester, and one for Charlestown and Brighton together, until it +has expanded its population sevenfold, and its area almost seventy times +seven, within fifty years. Yet there stands Boston Common just where and +just what it was—no larger, and thank heaven! as yet no smaller [loud +applause]—than it was fifty years ago.</p> + +<p>Where are the breathing-places for this enlarged metropolis? Where are +the places of common resort for quiet and healthful enjoyment and +peaceful recreation for this expanded population? Where are the noble +parks and the wide-spreading groves? Where are the places fit for public +entertainment, which we find in every other large city in the civilized +world?—such as we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> see in London and Paris and Berlin and Vienna and +Florence and Rome and Naples—yes, even for the few brief months of +summer, in the northern capitals of Stockholm and St. Petersburg? And +echo answers, "Where?" [Laughter and applause.]</p> + +<p class="center">"Gone like a vision!"</p> + +<p>My friends, I need not tell you that this matter has excited the +interest of our philanthropic and public-spirited citizens, and +especially of the medical faculty, to whom it is, in its sanitary +aspect, a matter of most important practical interest. And, through +their representations to the city government and to the state +legislature, a bill was brought before the legislature, which I had the +honor myself to report in the House of Representatives a little more +than a year ago, and which was passed by large majorities in both +houses, authorizing the city of Boston to purchase and to take lands +within its own limits for laying out public parks, and to co-operate +with adjacent towns in laying out conterminous parks for the common +benefit and advantage of citizens on both sides of the line.</p> + +<p>This measure was opposed (as all such measures are opposed) on the +ground that "it would lead to jobbery and extravagance." And the answer +was ready at hand, that all public enterprises are liable "to lead to +jobbery and extravagance," but that the abuse of a good thing is no +argument against its valid use [applause]; that it is for the citizens +themselves, and for the government of the city of Boston, to see that +their trust is rightly and honestly carried out.</p> + +<p>Again: it was argued that the people of Boston possess already, in their +beautiful suburbs, all that is required in pure air and beautiful +scenery. And this, again, is most true as regards those who live in +those suburbs, and those whose wealth enables them to pass to and fro in +their carriages, and regale their senses with the luxury of what they +there find. But what application has this, my friends, to the +working-man, to the masses of our population, whose sole idea of the +suburbs consists of an hour's rattling drive in a crowded street-car, +and an hour's seat by the side of a dusty thoroughfare?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p><p>Again: it was argued that the city of Boston could not afford this +expensive luxury of parks. And to this again it was easy to reply, that +so long as the city of Boston could afford prisons and jails, and any +number of millions spent for liquor and for hurtful indulgences, and for +the repression of vice and crime, it could afford to spend money for +this peaceful and healthful and elevating enjoyment for the people.</p> + +<p>In a word, gentlemen, this bill became a law; and, in pursuance of that +law, a Commission was appointed by the city of Boston, the names of the +gentlemen composing which Commission I need not repeat to you; for they +are in all your hearts, as well as on all your lips. The Report of that +Commission is now, and has been for weeks, in your hands; and it is the +object of this meeting to indorse that Report, and to stimulate and +incite the government of the city of Boston to act in accordance with +its suggestions. We cannot expect that all its details will be approved +by every one; nor are we to suppose that all its details will be carried +out in action by the government. But it is not too much to say that it +is so well digested, so full and complete, and in every way so +satisfactory to the city and the citizens, that we cannot do better than +recommend it as a whole to the municipal authorities. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>Now, my friends, it is not for me to do what will be so much better done +by those who succeed me on this platform,—to give you the reasons, and +enforce the arguments, for your action at this time. But as a +representative of the city of Boston, as an almost constant resident +within it for nearly thirty years past, as in my humble sphere a +representative of the merchants of Boston, as a taxpayer of Boston, and +in every way identified with the best interests and all the highest and +best aims of our city, I call upon you to-night to adopt and to indorse +and to commend this admirable system to our city government. [Applause.] +I have now the pleasure of introducing Mr. <span class="smcap">George B. Chase</span>, who will +present the resolutions.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_MR_GEORGE_B_CHASE" id="SPEECH_OF_MR_GEORGE_B_CHASE"></a>SPEECH OF MR. GEORGE B. CHASE.</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. President</span>,—On behalf of the committee who have had in charge the +arrangements for this meeting, I have the honor to offer for its +acceptance several resolutions which have been prepared for it by a +gentleman, than whom none is more versed in all that relates to the +business questions and interests of the city of Boston, and who, during +long and faithful service as secretary of the Board of Trade, became +familiar with all subjects relating to the development and prosperity of +the city. It is hardly necessary, Mr. Chairman, in such a connection, to +mention the name of Mr. <span class="smcap">Hamilton A. Hill</span>. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Chase</span> then read the resolutions as follows:—</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That this meeting would hereby emphatically re-affirm the +opinion which has been expressed, at the polls and elsewhere, by the +citizens and tax-payers of Boston, that the time has arrived when this +city should be provided with a park or parks similar to those which have +been projected by the other great cities of the United States, adapted +to the wants of our large and steadily increasing population, and on a +scale commensurate with the growing commercial importance and +metropolitan influence of the city.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That the plan for a system of parks and parkways, prepared +and recommended by the Park Commissioners, commends itself to this +meeting as broad and comprehensive in its general features, fair to all +sections of the city in its details, admirably suited to meet all the +necessities of the case, and promising, when carried out, to make Boston +one of the most healthful, attractive, and beautiful cities in the +world.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That the pressing need which exists for a radical +improvement of the sewerage in some parts of the city, the present +cheapness and abundance of labor, the diminished value of land, and the +exceptionally favorable terms on which the city can now negotiate for +money, render it of the first importance that there should be no delay +on the part of the city government in the acceptance of the proposed +plan, and in the adoption of decided and vigorous measure for carrying +it into execution.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p><p><i>Resolved</i>, That this meeting would therefore respectfully and +earnestly ask for immediate and favorable official action upon the +Report of the Commissioners, and that the chairman and secretaries are +hereby authorized and requested to communicate a copy of these +resolutions, properly authenticated, to his Honor the Mayor, and to each +branch of the City Council.</p> + +<p><i>Resolved</i>, That a committee of one hundred be appointed by the Chair, +to represent this meeting before the city government, and to secure the +desired action by it without loss of time.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Chairman.</span> Gentlemen, you have heard the resolutions, which evidently +meet with your unanimous approbation. You will now be addressed in +behalf of those resolutions by one who needs no introduction from me, +Mr. <span class="smcap">Richard H. Dana</span>, Jun. [Prolonged applause.]</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_MR_RICHARD_H_DANA_JUN" id="SPEECH_OF_MR_RICHARD_H_DANA_JUN"></a>SPEECH OF MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUN.</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fellow-Citizens</span>,—I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this very +kind welcome I have received at your hands to-night on coming upon the +platform. I assure you, gentlemen, if I felt at liberty to waste the +precious hours of this evening upon any thing relating to myself, I +could say much more than I do to thank you for your great kindness.</p> + +<p>But, gentlemen, we are met here on public business. You have heard what +we are asked to do. We are asked to petition the city government, and +send a committee of force to the city government (not as if the +government were at all reluctant, but that they may know the feeling of +the people of Boston), and ask the city government to go to work at +once, and see that Boston has, as soon as possible, these necessities +for her honor, her health, and her beauty. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>In thinking of this subject, Mr. President and gentlemen, it occurred to +me that it was a very singular fact, and not altogether to the credit of +human nature, that great numbers of persons cannot live together without +extreme inconvenience. Now, Robinson Crusoe, when he lived on the Island +of Juan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> Fernandez alone, was not troubled with any question of public +parks, or drainage, or health. Things took care of themselves. But when +you get two or three or four hundred thousand Robinson Crusoes in a few +square miles, you find the whole state of things is reversed, that you +require all the patience, all the science, a large part of the money, +and a large part of the industry, of the population, that you may live +at all, and on any terms. The lower parts of our nature, the animal +parts, tend to produce certain results which the intellectual parts are +expected to meet and control. If they do not that, men become savages; +if they do, they are enlightened.</p> + +<p>Now, in this great and enlightened city of Boston, the pride of us all, +the "Athens of America," as we all know we are [laughter], and, as our +friend Dr. <span class="smcap">Holmes</span> there has told us, the "Hub of the Universe" +[laughter], it would hardly be respectful to say that one of the +questions before us was, Which of those two roads we were going to +take,—whether we were going to let the intellectual and moral parts +have the upper hand, or whether we were going to sink beneath the +material part. And yet, gentlemen, that is a good deal the question that +is before us to-night.</p> + +<p>Why, look at the progress which is inevitably made where you get great +numbers of human beings together. You must have drainage, you must look +to the health of the population, and then you must look to their +recreation and their amusements (for they will have them); and, if they +are not good and creditable and honorable, they will not cease to exist, +but they will come before us in the most shameful and unwholesome form. +We used to be told, gentlemen, that Boston had natural parks all about +her, and she did not need any artificial parks. Well, now, I am not in +favor of any artificial parks. All I ask is, that the beauty of the +environs of Boston may be preserved. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>We are on the defensive. We are defending the wholesomeness and the +beauty of our beloved city against this encroachment of population. Why, +the time was—Mr. <span class="smcap">Ropes</span> will tell you when the time was—when the Back +Bay was a beautiful sheet of water, filled at high tide, carrying the +healthful air<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> through the whole city. But then the necessity of +population called for its filling up, and it is now piled in upon, and +we have there now what Dr. <span class="smcap">Clarke</span> called "a natural cesspool."</p> + +<p>We changed the Back Bay from a beautiful bay, where the wholesome tides +of the ocean swept in, to a natural cesspool.</p> + +<p>Well, now, look at the lanes and roads in the suburbs of +Boston—beautiful. As you ride over them, there are trees hanging over +them, and there are bushes on each side: you say it is charming. Well, +go out there the next year. The selectmen if it is a town, the city +government if it is a city, have changed all that. They have made a +straight line right through it, and widened the streets sixty feet; cut +down every tree, and made it one of the most disagreeable and painful +spectacles that the eyes could rest upon. It is their duty so to do: it +is a necessity. And so you go on destroying the beauties of the city, +destroying its wholesomeness, destroying its charm; and now we have got +to meet that tendency, and we have the power to meet it. We have the +intellect, we have the money, we have the will, and we have the taste; +and we would be incensed if any one should suggest that we do not. And +yet we have allowed every city in the United States to get in advance of +us. [A voice, "That's so."] Chicago has three thousand acres of parks; +Philadelphia, five thousand; New York, one great park of about one +thousand acres; and almost every city in Europe has better, more +handsome and attractive accommodations than the city of Boston. I am +ashamed to say it; but it is so. I trust, however, gentlemen, that, +before I ever have the honor of addressing you again, we shall have +taken the first step to remove this odium from the city of Boston. +[Applause.]</p> + +<p>Some six years ago, I think it was, the people got greatly in earnest +that this park should be undertaken. They saw that the progress of the +manufactories was fast destroying the beauties of Boston; that they were +taking up the land in the suburbs rapidly: and, when I said that your +green lands were destroyed, with their beautiful curved lines, I forgot +to mention that your beautiful sheets of water are in the same danger. +Why, look at Fresh Pond, look at Jamaica Pond! They are beautiful +objects to gaze upon: but when manufactories begin to surround<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> them, +when there are soap manufactories and tanneries, and I do not know what, +draining into the pond, the result is, that the water is unwholesome, +that the fish die, the water cannot be drunk, and then physicians begin +to tell their patients, "You had better move out of that neighborhood." +Are you aware, gentlemen, that that is coming upon us, that we must meet +it, and avert it?</p> + +<p>Some years ago, the people of Boston were earnestly in favor of a park, +or system of parks. The legislature, for some reason or other, required +that the project should receive a vote of two-thirds of the people. That +was extraordinary and hard. But it did receive a vote of two-thirds of +the people of Boston proper, and more than two-thirds; but from the +accident of a newly added portion of the city, for some reason or other, +taking a slant in a certain direction, they voted very largely against +it, and it fell through. We must take warning from that; for land that +would have made then a handsome park, which we could have had, we cannot +have now at all. It would cost altogether too much to take +dwelling-houses and factories and railroad beds, if we could, for a +park.</p> + +<p>Well, after six years of restlessness, at last we went before the +legislature again; and we got an act passed, authorizing the appointing +of commissioners with powers. That act passed, helped by our most able +fellow-citizen, <span class="smcap">Mr. Ropes</span>, chairman of this meeting; and it was +submitted to the votes of the people of Boston; and the park project was +carried by the votes of this entire population,—Boston, East Boston, +Charlestown, South Boston, Dorchester, Brighton, which make, all +together, a very large and most decisive majority. And therefore, +gentlemen, the question is not, Shall we have parks? you have decided +that; but the question is, Whether, having determined to have them, we +shall rest content with saying so? whether we will have our paper parks, +as we have our paper money, with nothing to rest upon [laughter], or +whether we shall have genuine parks, with life and trees, and have +sheets of water? Now we are here to-night to say it is the latter that +we want. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>Fellow-citizens, that statute authorized the appointment by the <span class="smcap">Mayor</span>, +subject to approval, of three commissioners. Well,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> that was wise. It +was not nine, seven, nor five; but it was three. Well, his Honor the +Mayor, who has presided with so much dignity, wisdom, and integrity +[applause] over the city of Boston for two years,—and we would be glad +to get him for a third year, if his health would permit it +[applause],—his Honor the Mayor appointed three gentlemen as +commissioners, in whom this community have entire confidence. There are +no politics among the Board of Commissioners; there is no jobbery in the +Board of Commissioners; and I will venture to predict, gentlemen, that, +when they finish their task, there will be no investigation. [Great +applause.]</p> + +<p>I was amazed on looking over their charge. Why, I found an item of +coach-hire for the whole period of their service, nine dollars. Why, it +would not have been enough to take three common councilmen from Parker's +or Young's. [Laughter.] But it is all they have charged; and how, on +that sum, they succeeded in riding around Boston, I do not know. Their +experience with persons who let carriages must have been much more +favorable than mine has been. But not only have they done honorably, +economically, and frugally, they have put into their work an amount of +brain-labor, an amount of patient investigation and of good judgment, +which no one can have an adequate opinion of who has not read their +book; but, if he has not, I hope he will. And at least this I may be +allowed to say, I do not think any citizen of Boston has the right to +object to those parks, or to be silent or indifferent on the subject, +unless he has read the report of the Commission, and knows what is +proposed, and has been done. [Applause.] They have consulted the best +authorities. They have consulted Mr. <span class="smcap">Frederick Law Olmstead</span>, who laid +out Central Park in New York, and he is the highest authority on the +construction of parks in the country; and he has been all over this +neighborhood, viewing the localities, and they have taken every thing +into consideration; and, gentlemen, what is the result? They do not +propose to us one great park of a thousand acres, at an almost +unattainable distance; they do not propose a great park that nobody can +get to, unless he gives a day to it, and a good deal of money: but they +have adopted a system based upon the natural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>characteristics of the +neighborhood of Boston. And what better could they do? At East Boston, +they have given them a park upon the water-side, where they will always +have the fresh breezes of the sea. At South Boston, they have given them +a park upon the water-side, one directly opposite Fort Independence, and +then another one, called the South Park, larger; and Chester Park, which +you are all familiar with, is already extended, and nearly ready to be +used as far as Beacon Street; and thence it is to go over to Cambridge, +and be the quickest means of access to the University. That same avenue +is to be extended easterly till it strikes the farthest of the South +Boston parks, opposite Fort Independence; and, when that is done, you +will be able to drive or walk, according to your powers of walking, from +the park opposite Fort independence, into the city, and across it, to +Harvard University.</p> + +<p>Now that is a good deal; but they have taken another step. They propose +to take the water-front of the Charles River basin; and there is nothing +in Nature so beautiful, so well adapted to the needs of a city, as a +park, or boulevard, or promenade, directly on a water-front, especially +if that water is sea-water,—if it is brought in and carried out by two +daily tides. What more beautiful, what more wholesome, what more +invigorating, during the hot season of the year, than to have an open +boulevard, where you can sit, or walk, or ride,—a place for the fresh +sea-water of the ocean brought in pure to you every day! Well, they mean +to preserve that, and give us about two hundred feet for a driveway, a +saddle-horse way (a saddle-pad, I think they call it), and footpath, a +place for flowers and trees, as it extends along the water-side, +beginning by Leverett Street, and going out as far as Brighton. Then +from there they mean to take this great Back Bay, which Dr. <span class="smcap">Clarke</span> +properly called a natural cesspool, and keep a large part of it under +water, the ocean to be let in and let out at our option, so that it can +be always kept pure; and yet such a quantity of it, that it will be a +sort of inland sea, where we can have regattas, and where every +gentleman may keep his boat, and every boy may keep his scull; and +perhaps it is just as well a boy's skull should be there as anywhere +else a large part of the time. [Laughter.]</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p><p>Then, gentlemen, they are going to take Jamaica Pond, and have a park +or driveway around the pond; then the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, that has +a parkway one hundred feet in width, where you can drive or walk at your +pleasure. In West Roxbury they are to have a mountain-park, which will +be the largest (about five hundred acres); and it is well called a +providence, because it is high, it is rocky, it has a thoroughly sylvan +look, like a forest. You would feel as if you were fifty miles from +Boston, if you were where you could not see the city. At the same time, +it is beautiful for a park. There are very few houses there; and it is +difficult to make it salable for residences. But they have selected this +spot; and they are going to give us the best park of the city, and then +have all these parks connected by parkways, thus making them so +convenient of access, that every poor man in Boston can take his child +by his hand, and for five cents a head can be carried out to any one of +those parks by the railroads. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>And, when he gets there, he can show this poor boy or girl, who has +passed all the winter, and all the opening spring, in an alleyway,—he +can show them, by a wholesome ascent of two hundred feet only, slow, +gradual, one of the noblest prospects in the world,—the ocean pouring +up into these great bays, and floating the great ships that come and go, +the Bunker Hill Monument and the Navy Yard, the University, and the +great series of cities that surround us. And, more than that, he can +show him or her Wachuset Mountain, and over the top of Mount Monadnock +in New Hampshire.</p> + +<p>Now I ask you, fellow-citizens, if it is not worth while for the city of +Boston to improve these opportunities. We have been most fortunate in +our Commissioners,—in their wisdom, in their frugality, in their +intelligence, and their public spirit; and I hope, gentlemen, you will +study their Report. It is easy reading, pleasant reading; and if, when +you get home, you find your boy or girl engaged over some novel, +especially if it is a yellow covered one, take it right out of his or +her hand, and ask them to read that Report.</p> + +<p>You may think it absurd; but, ten to one, it will interest the children +more than the novel would. It will certainly give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> them more valuable +instruction; and I venture to say it will interest them more. I felt +quite carried away by it. It seemed to me it must be a fancy; but, when +I turned to their accounts (and they are all mercantile men), I was +amazed to see at what small cost it could all be done. And, gentlemen, I +want to detain you a moment longer on statistics, and show that it has +increased the value of property in every city that has had a park, by +bringing houses all about the parks, and by detaining as inhabitants of +the city, to be taxed in the city, those men who skulk in small towns to +throw the burden of the expense of their own city on those who stay +behind. [Applause.] All we want to do to-night is to say to the city +government that we are in earnest about this matter, and that we want +the work done now. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>I tell you, gentlemen, it is very doubtful, if this fails, whether you +will have another Board of Commissioners to compare with the present. I +tell you it is doubtful, whether there will be a state of things in +Boston which will be any thing like as favorable as the state of things +we are in now. But I can tell you one thing that is certain; and that +is, if you postpone it, you cannot have the parks that they propose. The +growth of population will be crowding over it; speculators will buy it; +the ponds will become injured; and the expense will be so great, that +you will shudder at the thought of it. And, more than that, the parks +that you ask for in another ten years will be four or five miles from +the centre of population now, and I confess that one great argument with +me for instant action is, that I want the parks to be as accessible as +possible to all those persons especially who do not own their private +carriages, and cannot give a day to it. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>And last of all, Mr. President and gentlemen, it should be done for +economical reasons, as has been stated very well by the address and in +the resolutions, because there never was a time, and I hope there never +will be a time again, when the land was so cheap as it is now; and, when +we take this land for parks, we take it at its present price. There has +not been a time for many years, and I hope there never will be a time +again, when the price of labor is as low as it is now [applause]; and +that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> labor we would employ at once, and the laborers are begging for +employment. Why, there is not one of you who has not often and often, +within the last two years, perhaps it is not extravagant to say, felt +his heart bleed when he has been stopped in the way by evidently honest +men, who would say, "We can't find any thing to do. We have looked +everywhere; and there is no work for us." [A voice, "That's so."] Yes, +that is so. Now, some philanthropists, and some political economists, +have told us that the government ought always to find employment for +everybody; it is the duty of the city to see that everybody has work: +but, though I do not advocate any such doctrine as that, I advocate this +doctrine,—that whenever the community has any thing it ought to do, and +which will employ laborers (and this is a hard time on the laborers), +then is the time that they ought to do it. [Applause.] So that it is not +only good economy, but it is humanity, that dictates an instant advance +upon this work. To save the land that we can get now in a low market, +and to employ laborers who are paid low wages, but are glad to get even +that, and to prevent the entire failure of this scheme so carefully and +beneficially made, we shall ask the city government to work at once.</p> + +<p>Now, there are others much more able to speak of the finances of the +city government than I am; but we always do find, that, when a thing +ought to be done, there is a way of doing it; and we sometimes find, +that, when things ought not to be done, there is a way of doing them. I +wish to say one word more, before I take my seat, on the report and +scheme of these Park Commissioners; and that is its entire equitableness +in its attention to localities. It has left no part of the city that is +not benefited. Charlestown cannot have a park, because it is built over, +and there is no room for one. If there was room, they would have one. +They must annex; and then they can have a park. [Laughter.] East Boston +has a park; South Boston has a park; then comes the great West Roxbury +Park; then comes the Bussey Farm, which I omitted to mention; and then +comes Jamaica Pond and Chestnut Hill Reservoir Park, and the park roads +connecting them all, and uniting them; and then the water-front<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> on all +that part of the city of Boston where the water-fronts are not needed +for commerce.</p> + +<p>I say, therefore, this plan is equitably divided among the citizens +according to their residence; and it is accessible to all, and the plan +is economical, and the time is auspicious. Therefore I hope that you +will with unanimity adopt the resolutions, and call upon the city +government to proceed at once. [Applause.]</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The President.</span> Allusion has been made to the "Hub of the Universe;" and +you will all understand, that, when any thing is the matter with that +Hub, the diagnosis must be made not only by an able physician, but by an +able spokesman. [Laughter and applause.] I have great pleasure in +introducing to you one who combines both, and a hundred other qualities, +Dr. <span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes</span>. [Applause.]</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_DR_OLIVER_WENDELL_HOLMES" id="SPEECH_OF_DR_OLIVER_WENDELL_HOLMES"></a>SPEECH OF DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.</h2> + +<p>You will not ask for rhetoric or eloquence in the few remarks upon a +vital subject to be offered you by a member of the silent profession. +What could be so eloquent as the hollow voice which announces the Boston +annual death-rate as being 26.18 against 23.7, that of the great paved +nation of London; against 19.3, that of Philadelphia; and approaching +that of our two unhealthiest cities, New York and New Orleans? This high +death-rate has been shown to be largely due to the excessive mortality +among infants and children under five years of age. The most fatal of +the diseases which assail them is that destruction which wasteth at +noonday, to which our American practitioners give the name of +cholera-infantum. And this disease prevails chiefly, almost entirely, +from June to October, the season when all out-of-door influences are +most tempting and most needed. The weekly record of August and September +is that of a pestilence. The destroying angel carries off the firstborn, +and, oftener still, the last-born, out of almost every household in +certain districts, as in the heaviest curse laid on Egypt. Thousands +have fled the city, as they deserted London in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> season of the +plague; but thousands are left to follow in the funeral procession of +those who were the hope of their households.</p> + +<p>A considerable part of this mortality, it may be feared, is unavoidable. +Our climatic influences are permanent factors, and must always count in +the bills of mortality. But there are certain agencies which we can, to +a great extent, control. We can and do submit the dwellings of our +citizens to inspection and sanitary regulation; we can and shall provide +our city with proper drainage; we can and do inspect the food in our +market, and condemn it if unfit for use; we can and must secure for our +citizens the influences of unroofed and unwalled Nature,—air, light, +space for exercise and recreation, the natural birthright of mankind.</p> + +<p>Of the uses of these larger breathing-spaces, which we call parks,—for +the relief of the imprisoned dwellers in crowded streets, for the +recreation of poor and rich alike, for the health of mind and body which +they offer to all,—it seems almost needless to speak from the medical +point of view; for all know what cities would be without open areas, +where children can play in the shade, and old people warm themselves in +the sun. I wish to call your attention to a single point intimately +connected with the alarming fact of the excessive death-rate of which I +have spoken. That point is the influence of the air they breathe on the +health of children, with the bearing of this on the question before us.</p> + +<p>If a child is found to have been starved to death in a cellar or an +attic, a cry of horror is raised over it. If two or three wandering +boys, as it happened the other day at Lowell, come upon some noxious +roots, and, in obedience to their omnivorous instinct, devour them, and +pay the forfeit, the whole country hears of it. If a family or two get +hold of some ill-conditioned meat, and suffer for it, the groans of +their colics are echoed all over the land. If a milkman misrepresents +his honest cows by falsifying their product, the chemist detects him, +and the press puts him in the pillory. If the Cochituate or Mystic water +is too much like an obsolete chowder, up go all noses, and out come all +manner of newspaper paragraphs from "Senex,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> "Tax-payer," and the rest. +But air-poisoning kills a hundred where food-poisoning kills one. Let me +relate a circumstance which happened in Ireland, to which circumstance, +in all probability, I owe the pleasure of being listened to at this +moment by some among our hard-working, adopted citizens who are before +me.</p> + +<p>When I say to you, meaning to speak the words of sober truth, that a +single physician, by a single and simple measure, saved more lives than +were lost at Waterloo by the British army and all its allies, leaving +out the Prussians, you will suspect me of exaggeration, not very +uncommon in public speakers. I will therefore intrench myself behind +certain details which I have often before cited, but not in the presence +of a gathering of this kind.</p> + +<p>Dr. <span class="smcap">Robert Collins</span> was Master, as it is called, of the great Dublin +Lying-in Hospital, where the annual rate of births was between two and +three thousand, from the year 1826 to 1833. A work of his, containing +the results of his practice during his seven years of service, was +published in Boston in 1841, by order of the Massachusetts Medical +Society, for the use of its members. I consider him vouched for as +authority, therefore, by men in whom you can put confidence. Dr. <span class="smcap">Collins</span> +makes the following statement:—</p> + +<p>When his predecessor, Dr. <span class="smcap">Joseph Clarke</span>, was in office, in the year +1784, he found that seventeen children in the hundred, nearly one in +six, died within the first fortnight after birth, nineteen-twentieths of +these of one particular disease peculiar to very early infancy. Looking +for the cause of this frightful mortality, he thought he found it in a +foul and vitiated state of the air of the hospital. So he had some +openings of considerable size made in the ceiling of each ward, and +three holes, of an inch in diameter, through each window at top: the +doors, too, were perforated with numerous holes. In this way, a free +circulation was secured, and so arranged, that the nurses could not +control it; for some of the old-fashioned nurses would not have opened a +window in the Black Hole at Calcutta, for fear the inmates should catch +a cold.</p> + +<p>What was the result of this simple proceeding? Why, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> mortality fell, +from seventeen in a hundred, down to between five and six; and Dr. +Collins gives us the result up to his time in these words, "Thus, by his +valuable suggestions, 16,371 lives have been saved, as, had the +mortality of infants continued one in six to this day (1833), the number +of children dying of the 131,227 (which is the total number born in the +hospital) would be 21,871, as the hospital registry now shows." In the +battle of Waterloo, the British and their allies lost 16,186 men; that +is, 185 less than the great army of very light infantry saved from death +by letting out the smoke of the battle of life, and letting in the sweet +air of heaven, through the walls of the Dublin hospital.</p> + +<p>So much for what air alone can do for children. Now, it is not the +"nine-day fits" of that hospital in its unventilated condition which +kills our poor children in the hot months, but that other disease of +infancy, which to name is like sounding a funeral knell in the ears of +many a parent. This one malady, more than any other, gives Boston its +place on the black list of unhealthy towns. All parents having young +children leave the city during the worst part of the sickly season, if +they have the means of so doing. Our best streets look as <span class="smcap">Defoe</span> tells us +London streets looked during the Great Plague. But thousands of families +must remain; and we are bound to do what we can for them in their +dearest interests,—the lives of their children.</p> + +<p>With regard to cholera-infantum,—the deadly scourge of which I have +spoken,—the testimony of experience shows that change of air, even +temporary, often effects the cure of which the apothecary, who "pestles +a poisoned poison behind his crimson lights," cannot bring about with +his drugs, though the wisest of physicians had written the prescription. +This point is so important, and bears so directly, not only on the +necessity of park-spaces, but upon their distribution so as to bring +them within reach of all the crowded and unhealthy districts as far as +possible, that I shall borrow a few sentences, enforcing it, from +writers recognized as authorities on the diseases of children.</p> + +<p>"Even in cases in which a removal to a healthy and airy situation in the +country is impracticable," says Dr. <span class="smcap">Condie</span> of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> Philadelphia, long and +well known by his writings, "much benefit may be derived from carrying +the patient frequently into the open air in a carriage, or in the arms, +or, when its residence is near a large river, sailing it daily in an +open boat." And Dr. <span class="smcap">John Bell</span> of the same city says, "The restorative +effects of fresh air in cholera-infantum are strikingly evinced in the +relief procured by many hundreds of children every summer in +Philadelphia, by their simply crossing and recrossing the River Delaware +in steamboats once or twice a day. New life is restored to the little +beings, who, on leaving their homes in the city, seemed almost +exanimate, and in the last stage of incurable exhaustion." Dr. <span class="smcap">James +Stewart</span> of New York, in his treatise on the diseases of children, and +our own honored patriarch of the profession, the late Dr. <span class="smcap">James Jackson</span>, +in his letters to a young physician, speak in similar terms of the great +advantage of change of place and of air. The "aquatic jaunts" +recommended by Dr. <span class="smcap">Stewart</span>, and spoken of as so efficacious by Dr. <span class="smcap">Bell</span>, +are among the advantages to be secured by the plan proposed by our Park +Commissioners. I wish twenty tons of little children could be shipped +every fine summer day for a good sail.</p> + +<p>There is one particular region which I will mention as like to be +specially benefited by the plan referred to,—a region which would get +the advantages of the fresh air coming over the wide estuary of Charles +River without the expense and trouble of taking boats. The narrow and +crowded streets of the northern slope of Beacon Hill, and a wide region +extending northward from it, are inhabited by the very class most +exposed to cholera-infantum and diseases of that nature. Having lived +for many years in Charles Street, where I am no longer an owner, I had +occasion to learn the incomparable comfort and delight to be got in a +hot summer's day, when the wind is from the southwest, by turning the +corner of Charles and Cambridge Streets, and getting into the current of +air cooled by passing over the water. Some of the poor mothers with sick +children had found out where to bring them for relief; and I often +thought, if there were an open green filling up that corner, with shade +trees and seats, what a priceless <i>sanatorium</i> it would be to all that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>suffering quarter of the city! The proposed green margin, beginning at +Leverett Street, and extending along the river, will meet this very +want; and this is only one locality of many which will thus turn its +natural advantages to account.</p> + +<p>I have preferred to insist on a single point rather than to expatiate on +a larger number. But I trust that the eloquence of others will enforce +and illustrate the innumerable advantages our city will derive from the +only chain she would submit to,—a chain of pleasure-grounds all around +her. The Bostonian has looked up at the gilded dome of the State House, +and down at the reflection of his own features in the Frog Pond, long +enough. Our city has always been a centre; and it must not act as if it +considered itself a mere feeder. We must provide ourselves with the +complete equipment, not of a village community, not of a thriving town, +but of a true metropolis, large enough for a citizen of the world to +live in without feeling himself provincialized, and not too large for +one honest mayor like our own to handle. The marrow-bones of the past +are pretty well cleared out, or will be before the Centennial year is +over, and we must not be content to live on them for another century. +The Old Elm got enough of it,—grew discontented, and started on its +travels for wider quarters, but, unfortunately, stumbled and fell. Let +us take the hint, and plant a thousand acres with young elms and all +other trees of the forest, where the hillsides are not already clad in +foliage; so that the children of coming generations may bless our +memory, not only for all the happiness they have had in their shadow, +but for saving more lives to the country than were lost in any one of +the battles which scarred and crippled their fathers. [Applause.]</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The President.</span> Gentlemen, you have been addressed by two of the learned +professions. It follows, as a matter of course, that you will now be +addressed by one from the third, the most important and most respected +of all. I am happy to introduce to you the Rev. Dr. <span class="smcap">Neale</span>, the oldest +settled pastor of the city of Boston. [Applause.]</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_THE_REV_ROLLIN_H_NEALE_DD" id="SPEECH_OF_THE_REV_ROLLIN_H_NEALE_DD"></a>SPEECH OF THE REV. ROLLIN H. NEALE, D.D.</h2> + +<p>I do not intend, my friends, to trespass much upon your time, and +certainly shall not presume to give any new information on the subject +which has been presented. Owing, probably, to my long residence here, it +has been thought, I suppose, that my <i>testimony</i>, in these days of +calling for witnesses, may be of some importance. Of the financial +bearings of this proposed enterprise, of course I cannot judge. These +are to be considered and acted upon by men on whom the public +responsibility rests, who will, doubtless, act considerately and wisely; +but the desirableness of the thing itself is unquestionable. I have had +opportunity, with some gentlemen here present, of wandering of a +summer's day through the beautiful and extensive parks of Europe and of +this country, and know how welcome and refreshing they are to the weary +traveller. "Boston Common," of course, we praise everywhere; and when +abroad, and thinking of dear home, say there is nothing like it the +world over.</p> + +<p>It is a good feature in the character of Bostonians to love their own +city. There is something delightful in its old buildings, and even its +crooked streets. We forget political and even religious differences in +view of ancient landmarks. We cling to the Old South, and would gladly +have kept Brattle Square with its cannon-ball, whatever might have been +thought of its theology. We cherish the memory of our fathers, and wish +to keep among us, as far as possible, signs of the good old days. This +is right and noble; but equally right, and quite as unselfish, is it to +think of those who shall come after us. <span class="smcap">Horace Bushnell</span> was a scholar, +and wrote many elaborate works on metaphysics and divinity; but the +Bushnell Park of Hartford will probably be that for which coming +generations will thank him most. Certainly it will keep his memory +fragrant and green forever.</p> + +<p>Our good city is justly famous for its hospitals and physicians, as well +as its churches and clergymen. I hope the contemplated parks may not +supersede the sanctuary and the sermon, though, as they say, there are +"sermons in stones, and good in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> every thing." But certain it is, that a +ramble through green fields at any time, and along sparkling streams, is +better than a sick-bed, or the apothecary's drugs and doses.</p> + +<p>We are all of us, I suppose, more or less subject to the blues, +business-men, clergymen, and even politicians. In such cases, it is of +no use to shut one's self up in the house, and brood over trouble. The +best remedy is a walk, a good long stretch into the country, fresh air, +a hearty laugh with some friend; or an exhilarating ride, Brother <span class="smcap">Murray</span> +would say, probably, behind a "perfect horse." And these are some of the +blessings it is proposed to secure for us. The very season now here +speaks impressively for this enterprise. The glories of a June day, how +they make us yearn for rural scenes! Nature everywhere is beckoning. +"The mountains and the hills break forth before us into singing, and all +the trees of the field clap their hands."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The President.</span> We have listened with much satisfaction and enjoyment to +the address of one of the clergymen of the city of Boston: but all +denominations of the Christian Church are included in this call; and I +am now happy to introduce to you the Rev. Mr. <span class="smcap">Bodfish</span>, Rector of the +Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Cross of the city of Boston. [Applause.]</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_THE_REV_J_P_BODFISH" id="SPEECH_OF_THE_REV_J_P_BODFISH"></a>SPEECH OF THE REV. J. P. BODFISH.</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. President and Gentlemen</span>,—I am happy to stand here, where so many of +my ancestors have stood, and to address my fellow-citizens on such a +measure of public importance. When this matter was first brought to my +attention through the papers, when the plan proposed in all its grandeur +first came before my mind, I was reminded of a saying of a musical +friend of mine. He belonged to a band. He came from the fatherland; and +his great specialty was to play on the trombone. After a while, it +became rather remarkable, these solos on the trombone; and some of the +college boys wanted to put him down a little; so they commenced by +applauding. That seemed to have no effect. So one night they thought +they would try<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> another plan. He was playing his best on the trombone; +and one of the boys cried out, "Louder!" And so he began again on the +trombone; and the boys said, "Louder!" And he tried again on the +trombone; and the boys still cried, "Louder!" And they still kept on, +"Louder!" until he almost burst every blood-vessel. And he put down his +instrument in disgust and said, "It is very well to say, 'Louder!' but +where is you going to get the vind?" [Laughter.]</p> + +<p>Now when I thought of this system, and the immense expense it would be, +I said to myself, Now, that is a grand system; it would be beautiful +indeed; but where are you going to get the money? But then I took the +Report of those able Commissioners, this pamphlet that is spoken of; and +I read it myself carefully to see if it was a practicable and feasible +plan, and was surprised to see the ability with which the whole matter +had been treated. So thorough had been their investigations, that they +had demonstrated it was perfectly clear that this grand and beautiful +system of parks could be built at this time, now, with a very slight +taxation upon the whole business community; and, furthermore, that by +the improvement of property in the neighborhood of the parks, and by the +advantage to the city in general, the money expended would soon return +to the taxpayers of the city; and so that objection is disposed of at +once.</p> + +<p>There seems to be no difficulty. There are so many solid men here in +Boston, that a work of this kind surely can be carried out with greater +ease than it has been in other cities; and we know in other cities they +have reaped great pecuniary benefit from the establishment and +building-up of their system of parks. But you would hardly expect a +clergyman here to talk on the financial question: that is a little out +of order. But the physicians have considered the medical point of view, +the sanitary point of view, how necessary it is to the health of the +city; and the financiers have demonstrated that it is easy in a +financial point of view; and it would be natural for me to speak here +to-night, perhaps, on the moral necessity of such a system of parks.</p> + +<p>Now, when I think of the conditions under which a great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> many of our +poor people live, I am not very much surprised that they are goaded into +desperation to commit some fearful crime; because we know very well, +where a person lives in the country, and has the blue sky over his head, +and the running brooks gurgling through the meadows, and the green trees +and villages, and every thing cheerful and pleasant about him, why, he +is removed from a great many temptations that are common to a large +city; and we know, that, in a moral point of view, the people of a town +or of a country district are removed from a great many temptations and +incentives to crime: therefore every one who wishes well for the +religious welfare of the people would be glad to have these parks +established as a real moral agent in the community and to the people of +this city. And, as my respected friend has suggested, perhaps the people +would rather go out in the park than to stop and hear our dull sermons. +But I would run even that risk; for the Lord's Day, you know, is a day +of rest; and, after we pay our homage to our Creator, I think it would +be pleasant even to Him to go and take your family, and take a stroll +out into these pleasant parks that are proposed for your health. +[Applause.]</p> + +<p>And then there is another feature which pleases me very much. You know, +in the olden time, the lords and nobles, and those who possessed the +landed estates, they felt it their duty to provide for the welfare of +the laboring classes, upon whom they depended really for their riches; +for they tilled their lands, and brought them in their incomes and the +returns from their estates: and so they watched over them with a kind of +a paternal care; and, when they were sick, they provided for them +hospitals, and they watched over them as a father would over his family. +Now, we live in a little somewhat different order of society; but still +there remains the same common duty for the men of wealth, for the men +who possess capital, to look out and provide for the wants and +necessities of the poor, on whom they depend to a great extent; for +capital cannot be independent of labor. [Applause.]</p> + +<p>Now I see around me, I may say, the nobility of this city. They may not +have long, sounding titles; but they have the wealth, they have the +philanthropy; and their presence here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> to-night shows you that they have +those same generous impulses toward the whole of this city's population. +They have come here as a unit: they are willing to pay whatever is +required to build this magnificent system of parks, that all the people +of every class may enjoy its benefits. I say they are acting the part of +the nobles of old; and they are taking care of the people of this city +as though they had a certain paternal influence and responsibility +toward them [applause], and it rejoices my heart. And in another point +of view, we know that the safety of any community and society depends +upon the contentment and happiness of all classes of its people.</p> + +<p>If there is one class that is ground down, and unhappy, and living under +unworthy conditions, they are, of course, immediately a dangerous +element. I say that it is a matter of good policy, as a stroke of +political economy, to provide for the wants of all classes of people in +this way, that they may live contented and happy, and have every thing +that is necessary for the health and recreation of their families. +[Applause.]</p> + +<p>I cannot, of course, at this late hour, delay you with arguments. You +have had sufficient already. That, as I understand it, is not the chief +object of our meeting here. The arguments are at present before the +authorities in this excellent Report of the Commissioners.</p> + +<p>We meet here to encourage them to go forward, to speak out in such a +positive manner, that they can hesitate no longer. It is our duty to +cheer them and encourage them in their work, and we hardly realize what +an influence this meeting will have in encouraging them to the great and +arduous work which they have undertaken to accomplish. Why, it reminds +me of a little incident that happened in New York not long ago, when one +of those great buildings was on fire,—those nine-story tenement-houses. +When the great crowd gathered there in the night, and they were surging +there, the police were trying to keep order, and the firemen were +working, and the hot flames shot up toward the sky, and the black smoke +rolled forth, and all was din and confusion; and, in the noise and +tumult of that dark and threatening night, there was one voice heard. It +was a mother's voice above the noise; and she cried, "Save my child!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +Will no one save my child?" And they would hush her; but still she +cried, "Oh, save my child!" And there was one of the brave firemen, when +he learned that a little child was in the fourth story of that building, +who thought of his little ones at home; and he said he would risk his +life, he would dare any thing, rather than that child should be lost. +And they brought the great ladders, and they spliced them together, and +they swung them up against the burning building; and he commenced to +ascend. And, when he was halfway up, he looked at the hot flames and the +dense smoke rolling forth, and his heart trembled with fear: it seemed +to be instant death. But some one in the crowd below, who knew the +springs that govern the human heart, cried, "Cheer him!" "Cheer him!" +And there went up from that great crowd the wild hurrah, and it cheered +his heart like an electric thrill; and he rushed on, and disappeared in +the smoke. All was suspense; they waited with breathless anxiety: and at +last he returned with the child, and placed it in its mother's arms. +[Tremendous applause.] So you see the power of a word of encouragement +and cheer when any one has arduous work before him; and that is our duty +here to-night, my fellow-citizens,—to speak out with one voice, and +determined voice, and to cheer those who have undertaken this work, and +to let them know that we are ready to support them, that now is the +time, and that we are determined that this great work shall be +accomplished. [Applause and cheers.]</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The President.</span> I shall now have the pleasure of introducing to the +audience Col. <span class="smcap">Charles W. Wilder</span>. [Applause.]</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_COL_CHARLES_W_WILDER" id="SPEECH_OF_COL_CHARLES_W_WILDER"></a>SPEECH OF COL. CHARLES W. WILDER.</h2> + +<p>This large gathering of our citizens in Faneuil Hall is for some +purpose: it is significant that the people want something. I do not +understand that it is in any sense to re-affirm their conviction that +their best interests will be served by adding to our public property a +park or parks. That question has been fully discussed and decided by the +people themselves for themselves:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> they settled that by their, with +remarkable unanimity, voting to accept the act of the legislature, +giving power to the city government to purchase or take land for that +purpose. All classes seem to agree upon the necessity. The entire +medical faculty with one voice say we want it for sanitary reasons, and +have joined in the general petitions. Our capitalists and merchants have +spoken for themselves unmistakably by their petitions to the city +government, bearing more than seven thousand names, and representing, I +am informed, more than two hundred millions of taxable property. An able +Commission, after a year of careful study, and diligent devotion to +their duty, have made their report. The people have examined, discussed, +criticised, and finally approved and accepted it, and now come here in +Faneuil Hall to speak direct to City Hall for its adoption. Mr. +President, our professional men, our merchants and capitalists, have +spoken for themselves by their petitions and voices here to-night. It +remains only for me to speak for the more numerous class of our +fellow-citizens who pay but two dollars poll-tax. Yet they are as good +citizens, have and feel as deep interest in the growth, prosperity, and +progress of our city, as their more fortunate neighbors; and in the name +and behalf of the mechanics, the laborers, the great mass of men that +build our cities, and whose labor contributes so much to our growth and +prosperity, and whose employment is the one thing more than any other +needed to-day to inaugurate the beginning of our old-time prosperity, I +appeal to our city government to complete the work so opportunely and +well begun. It is immediate action we ask for.</p> + +<p>There being no difference of opinion as to the necessity and utility of +parks, and their ultimate payment for their full cost, the only open +question is the time to begin. We say that time is now,—now, while +thousands of unwillingly idle hands are waiting for work, and money is +cheap; cheap, because labor is unemployed. We say to you, gentlemen of +the city government, respectfully but earnestly, Act upon this matter +now.</p> + +<p>Don't wait till your summer vacation; don't wait till next month; don't +let any personal matter intervene to prevent the performance of this +public duty the people now ask at your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> hands. The present truly great +debt of our city, the bulk of which has been created in improvements, +made enormously more costly by the failure of city governments in past +times to comprehend the wants of a growing metropolis, admonishes you to +act now, and secure the advantages the present favorable combination of +circumstances offers. We confer on you the power to spend our money for +the public good; and we ask you to act now, because we clearly see that +delay means largely increased cost for what we must have in the near +future.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The President.</span> The Act under which this Commission was appointed, and +has discharged its duty, was supported, I think, by nearly every member +of the Boston delegation; and I may be allowed a single moment to add a +tribute of respect to that delegation. Boston has been well represented, +with one exception, perhaps, during the last two years, in the State +legislature; and I am very happy to know that you are now to be +addressed by a member of that delegation, who, as I said, supported this +Act when it was passed; who did not always vote with me on every +occasion, but who never voted against his conscience, never supported +any thing dishonest, or unjust, or unfair; and who will stand up, I have +no doubt, to-night, and speak well his mind, as he did on every fit +occasion in the State House, for what he deems just and right, and for +the good of the people: Mr. <span class="smcap">Joseph F. Paul</span>, whom I am very happy to +introduce to you. [Applause.]</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_MR_JOSEPH_F_PAUL" id="SPEECH_OF_MR_JOSEPH_F_PAUL"></a>SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH F. PAUL.</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen</span>,—I hardly know what reply to make to the +remarks of the gentleman who has just taken his seat. In fact, I think I +had better let them go, and allow you to judge for yourselves after I +have said what I propose to say. I may say, in the first place, that +this is my first appearance upon this stand as a speaker; and, when +called upon to speak after such gentlemen as you have listened to +to-night, I trust you will make all due allowance for any mistakes that +I may make. But I claim the right as a citizen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> of Boston, as a +tax-payer of Boston, to express my opinion upon this subject, as upon +all others in which I take an interest. The necessity of parks has been +made apparent to every gentleman here by those who are better qualified +than I am to do so. I believe that there is no man here who does not +believe that we are to have parks. I have not heard from such; and I do +not believe that there is such a man, unless it is one who does not +expect to enjoy them himself, and is unwilling that posterity should.</p> + +<p>Taking it for granted that that question is settled, the only question +which seems to be before the people is, whether this is the proper time; +and I propose to address myself to the consideration of that question. I +propose to speak of it as of a private enterprise, and as an individual +business-man. It has been explained to you in regard to the condition of +the labor-market, and I think that I may say fairly and squarely that +labor of the character to be used about parks has not been so cheap for +twenty years. Money is cheap; labor is required; parks are wanted; and +it is better to keep the men at work, and retain them in the city, than +to sustain them and their families at the public cost. It is not like +sending out of the country to import something for which we must pay our +money. All the money is to be paid to our own citizens; and, unless some +show of enterprise is made, we shall lose business-men from this city. +They will not stay here, and do nothing, unless the city government +makes some show of enterprise. I have had some experience myself in the +city government, having been a member of it, whether that is an honor or +not; though I hold that the honor or dishonor of any society depends +upon one's own conduct. There is always some doubt about making a move +in the city government; and, in a matter like the park question, such a +meeting as this will be a great encouragement to action. The public +feeling on this question is so great, that the parks must be +established. The project has been fought no harder than the Water Board +was; and where would the city of Boston be, if the friends of that +enterprise had not succeeded? Act here to-night, and then let the city +government do its part. Objections may be made by some gentlemen, made +conscientiously; but, five years from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> now, these gentlemen will not +remember that they raised any objection.</p> + +<p>This meeting is called for the purpose of giving the city government to +understand that the business-men, the working-men, of the city, mean +what they say, when they say that they want public parks; and there is +no question that an impulse will be given to the action of the city +government by this meeting. We are the city of Boston; and the members +of the city government act for us.</p> + +<p>Gentlemen, it is getting late, and there are those to follow who will +entertain you better than I can. But I propose to close with a little +story which I heard; and it was in church that I heard it, in an +excellent sermon. Just after the war of 1812, our laboring men stood, as +they stand to-day, idling about the wharves and public places. That was +the case in a little town to the east of Boston. They had enterprising +men, as we have now; and one day a gentleman stepped into a bank, and +said to the president, "Mr. President, I am going to build a +ship."—"What do you know about shipbuilding?" asked the president. +"Nothing. But I can do the business; and there are men here who can do +the work. We have the money, and there are the men. I will build the +ship, and sell it; you will get your money back; and the profit will be +divided among the men." The idea was a novel one; but the president +wanted to set the wheels of business in motion; and so he said that he +would give an answer the next day. The gentleman called promptly the +next morning; and the president informed him that the directors had +agreed to advance the money. The gentleman then went out among the idle +men, and said, "I am going to build a ship, and I want you to do the +work. I will pay you enough to live on; and, when the ship is built, we +will divide the profit." So they went to work as co-partners, and built +the ship, this gentleman generously attending to the business. The ship +was built and launched and sold, the money was paid to the bank, and the +profits divided. That was the first ship built on the Merrimack in +Newburyport, which has since become one of the largest shipbuilding +places in Massachusetts.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p><p>So we want something to set the wheels in motion. The city of Boston +can borrow the money, and buy the land, for these parks, more cheaply +now than ever again; and the men are ready to do the work. I know of +nothing more that I can say. I am glad to see this hall filled to-night. +There are men here to-night who have at heart the interests and +prosperity of the city of Boston. That is what we are acting for; and I +trust that that hundred men will go up to City Hall, and, if the city +government will move in the matter, every true man will deem it his duty +to stand behind and encourage them.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The President.</span> My friends, the best things and the most enthusiastic +meetings must come to an end; but those who wait till the last generally +get the best. I have now the pleasure of introducing to you the closing +speaker, the Hon. <span class="smcap">P. A. Collins</span>.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="SPEECH_OF_THE_HON_P_A_COLLINS" id="SPEECH_OF_THE_HON_P_A_COLLINS"></a>SPEECH OF THE HON. P. A. COLLINS.</h2> + +<p>I know that no word of mine can add to the force of this movement. I am +neither great tax-payer nor eminent sanitarist. I cannot hope to equal +others who have discussed the moral, æsthetic, sanitary, and economic +phases of the question before us. But, happily, there is no need of such +discussion now. The question of public parks has been submitted, in all +its forms and probable effects, to the ablest, keenest, wisest, of our +citizens; and there is but one answer. The answer is, that we need more +out-door life than our sedentary race enjoys, and that public grounds, +accessible to all, are not only desirable, but necessary to the moral +and physical health of our crowded population.</p> + +<p>This is the verdict; and, granted this, there remain but two +questions,—"Is this the time?" "Can we afford it?" To some, the present +is never the time for any thing. Their motto seems to be, "Don't do +to-day what you can put off till to-morrow, because you may not live +till to-morrow, and then you won't have to do it at all." This principle +has been acted upon by short-sighted Boston too long; and the result is +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>melancholy looking-back to the time when improvements could have been +made for a tenth or a fifteenth of the present cost. We are told of our +beautiful suburbs, as if they can be suburbs forever. Even now, they are +but for the rich. Beware of trespassing in the fields and woods: they +are private property. The roads seem to belong to blood-horses and their +owners. If you wish to know the future, look at the past. Look back, you +aged men, to the fields and gardens of Tremont and Boylston Streets. +Look back, you younger men, to rambles through South Boston farms, and +land at "South End" sold by the acre. Always comes the old conservative +admonition, "Wait!"—yes, wait till the great sea-wall makes City Point +of Castle Island,—wait till the now extended arms of Boston clasp +Brookline to the bosom of the metropolis,—wait till private avarice and +easy legislation, acting intermittently, deface the shore and basin of +Charles River,—wait till the dense and ever growing population, +bursting from its narrow bounds, spreads itself in streets laid out at +random, over what you are pleased to call our suburbs,—wait, in short, +till the inevitable happens, and where are your public parks? You may +have them, even then, I grant you; but you will have them where <i>the +people</i> cannot reach them, and where the cost will be too great. +Remember that our city growth is like the growth of all cities in the +New World and the Old; and, if we want green places in the future +Boston, we must seize them now.</p> + +<p>Can we afford the expense? Rather, let us ask, Can Boston afford to be +less comfortable to live in, less attractive, less healthy, than sister +cities? We can afford police, paved streets, light, sewers, scavengers, +a fire department, a board of health, and a score of other agencies, not +because they give salaries and employment to certain men, but because +the public health and safety require it; we can afford schools, +maintained at enormous cost, though it may be conceded that we could +live without education; we can afford pure water in abundance, be the +expense never so great, because we need it; and, if we need pure air, we +can afford to pay for it, to seize the means of having it, and keeping +it forever.</p> + +<p>And suffer me, with due modesty, to say, that we in this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +meeting—representing as we do the commerce, industries, and professions +of this goodly town—have a right to demand that what we ask shall be +given us, and that Boston shall take and hold for the use of its people +this needed reservation, while yet there is time. I trust our city +fathers will need no further admonition than this meeting gives; but, if +they should, we are enlisted for the war.</p> + +<p>As Cromwell, grimly looking down on the fair fields and shining streams +of the land he came to conquer, said, "This is a land worth fighting +for," so let us, as we survey the magnificent area of shore and hill and +glade which fortune now permits us to dedicate to public use, exclaim, +"This, indeed, is worth our effort;" and let us strive for it till the +battle is won.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The President.</span> I have been requested to state that the well-known +physician, Dr. <span class="smcap">Edward H. Clarke</span>, who is too ill to be present here +to-night, has written a long and interesting letter on the subject of +this meeting, which will be published in the morning papers; and I +desire that every citizen present will make a point of reading that +letter.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="LETTER_OF_DR_EDWARD_H_CLARKE" id="LETTER_OF_DR_EDWARD_H_CLARKE"></a>LETTER OF DR. EDWARD H. CLARKE.</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hamilton A. Hill, Esq., Secretary, &c.</span></p> + +<p><i>Dear Sir</i>,—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of +the 2d inst., requesting me, in the name of the committee who have +called a public meeting on the park question, to address to them a +letter which shall contain my views upon "the necessity existing at the +present time for action on this subject, and upon the Report of the Park +Commissioners."</p> + +<p>If my views are of any value to the community on this question, or if I +could exert any influence, however little, in bringing about a result so +necessary to the comfort, prosperity, and health of all the citizens of +Boston, as the establishment of a public park within the limits of the +city, I should esteem it not less a privilege than a duty to present +those views, and exert that influence.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p><p>Among the many and weighty considerations that might be appropriately +urged in favor of the establishment of a park in this city, three stand +out so prominently, that their importance can scarcely be overestimated. +These are, first, the sanitary, second, the educational, and, third, the +economic aspects of the question. Let me call your attention briefly to +these three points.</p> + +<p>The first is the sanitary aspect of the park. The discussion of sewerage +and drainage, and of the ventilation of sewers, drains, and houses, with +which our community have latterly been made familiar, has impressed upon +our citizens, to some extent, the importance of introducing pure air +into our houses, and of keeping foul air out of them. The importance of +such ventilation cannot be overstated. But we are in danger of +forgetting that the importance of ventilating a city is as great as that +of ventilating all the houses in it, with this difference, that if a +city is not well ventilated, so as to bring fresh air into it, and to +keep foul air and poisonous gases out of it, the ventilation of +individual dwellings will be of little avail.</p> + +<p>The foul air of the streets will not only envelop those who pass through +them, but will penetrate the houses that line them, visiting alike the +sick and the well, increasing the danger of disease to the former, and +diminishing the health and strength of the latter. In proportion as a +city increases in size, large open spaces should be reserved. Parks are +the lungs of the city. They are more than this: they are reservoirs of +oxygen and fresh air. They produce atmospheric currents, which sweep +through and purify the streets. Parks not only offer oxygen to all who +visit them, but distribute a large amount of this prime necessity of +life everywhere in their neighborhood. Without open spaces appropriately +placed, it is impossible, in a large city, to have well ventilated +streets, and to keep the air of the houses sweet and clean. Let us +remember, moreover, that bad ventilation means poisoned air, and that +poisoned air is sure to be followed by a ghastly train of diseases, with +an occasional pestilence to remind the inhabitants what a terrible thing +it is to disregard sanitary laws.</p> + +<p>Improved ventilation is by no means the only sanitary good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> that parks +yield to a city wise enough to possess them. A fraction, and only a +small fraction, of our population, are able to leave the city during the +hot months of the year, for the country. When these favored ones reach +Nahant, Swampscott, or Newport, or some modest farmhouse, or comfortable +dwelling by the side of the many railroads that lead from the foulness +of the city to the purity of the country, or of the mountains, how +gladly and enthusiastically they speak of their escape from heat, +discomfort, and disease, to coolness, comfort, and health! But the mass +of the community,—the artisans and work-people, whose necessities +compel them to remain within the limits of the city,—their families, +children, sick ones and all, have at present no such escape from close +and impure air.</p> + +<p>The carrying of little children who are pinched by cholera-infantum, or +spotted by scarlet-fever, or of those who are paralyzed by diphtheria, +or distorted by scrofula, or emaciated by consumption, for a few hours a +day into the pure air and bright sunlight of an open square, has saved +many a life. Many a needless death has occurred, because the city +afforded no such opportunity for escape. A few hours' exposure of a +child on a mother's lap, or in a basket or carriage, to the freshness of +a park, will produce a sleep that never follows opium, chloral, or +ether, and will yield a chance for health that no drug can give. For the +last few years, Philadelphia has shown a diminished death-rate. Dr. +<span class="smcap">William Pepper</span>, who has lately investigated the sanitary condition of +that city, commenting upon the gratifying fact just stated, says, "While +thus showing an average rate of mortality more favorable than that found +in any other city containing over 500,000 inhabitants, Philadelphia has +recently (1874) attained a degree of healthfulness almost unparalleled; +namely, with a population at that time of 775,000, the number of deaths +was but 14,966, giving a death-rate of only 19.3 per thousand. These +very favorable results are largely due to the abundant and cheap +water-supply, and to the opportunities given, even to the poorest +citizens, for the enjoyment of pure country air in the great Fairmount +Park, which contains 2,991 acres. The extent to which this is valued by +the citizens may be inferred from the fact, that, during the year 1875, +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> park was visited by over eleven million persons." There is no +reason why a park in Boston should not yield as good a sanitary result +as one in Philadelphia.</p> + +<p>While looking at the sanitary aspects of this subject, let us not forget +that a park laid out in accordance with the plan of the Park +Commissioners will utilize localities that would otherwise become +plague-spots, and nurseries of disease. The low lands along the banks of +Charles River, portions of the Back Bay, and other sections that might +be mentioned, are sure to become unhealthy localities,—stations for +distributing the germs of disease throughout their neighborhood and at a +distance from them,—unless they are reserved, and left unoccupied. The +most extravagant way of disposing of such localities is for the city to +permit them to be built over, "improved" is the phrase, I believe, and +then suffer the consequences, in the way of increase of disease and +taxes, which follow such sort of improvements.</p> + +<p>Let us now pass from the sanitary to the educational aspect of our +subject. The educational value of a park to the community of a large +city is second only to its sanitary value. We are too apt to think that +education is the exclusive function of the school, and that books and +school-teachers are the only educators. This is a grievous mistake. The +education of the home and street, of the workshop and store, of the +church and theatre, of the base-ball club and the evening party, of the +rum-shop and dance-hall, and of the numerous other influences of a great +city, is more potent than that of the school. The evil of all evil +agencies is intensified, and the good of the good ones diminished, by +uncleanness and impure air. Clean hands and a pure heart go together. +Foul air prompts to vice, and oxygen to virtue, as surely as sunlight +paints the flowers, and ripens the fruits, of our gardens. The tired +workman, who, after a day's labor, needs the repose and relaxation of +home, is apt to be driven from it by the close atmosphere of the street +and house in which he lives. He would, if he could, get into the fresh +air of the country; but, as he cannot do this, he seeks the relief which +drink or other excitement yields. If there were a park accessible to +him, he with his family would seek it as instinctively as a plant +stretches towards the light. The varied <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>opportunities of a park would +educate him and his family into the enjoyment of innocent amusements and +open-air pleasures. Deprived of these, he and his are educated into the +ways of disease and vice by the character of their surroundings. Who +that has watched the groups of families, neighbors, and friends, that +bivouac by hundreds and thousands on the parks which cluster around, +adorn, and invigorate the great cities of Europe, can have failed to +notice the innocent amusements and enjoyment of these crowds of young +and old, or to be impressed with the fact that the influence of the +natural scenes around them, of the trees and plants and flowers, of the +pure air and bright skies, is a humanizing and elevating one? It is +difficult to compute the value of such an influence in dollars and +cents, or to measure it by any scale that the market acknowledges; but +it is, nevertheless, a real, substantial, and potent one. If our large +cities are the pride and boast of the republic, they also contain the +greatest elements of danger to the state and the nation. Ignorance and +vice, disease and crime, crowd themselves into cities. There they find +their best hiding-places, their surest protection, and their most +defenceless victims. It makes one tremble to think of the thousands of +youth in our cities whom the school and the church do not reach, and who +are moulded by these influences into the worst and lowest forms of +humanity. They can not and will not go out into the country themselves, +except upon some errand of violence and crime. The city should therefore +bring the country to them, and give them a chance, at least, to +experience its humanizing and blessed influence.</p> + +<p>A park, or a series of parks, with its trees and running waters, its +grass and plants and flowers, its variegated surface and changing views, +and all the beauty with which such scenes are flooded, supplements the +labor of the church and school in educating, refining, and elevating the +community. There will be less gambling, drinking, and quarrelling in +Boston, when the mass of its inhabitants shall be allowed to partake of +the blessing and beauty of a public park.</p> + +<p>These considerations naturally bring us to the third point which has +been mentioned, viz., the economic aspect of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> matter. Few will deny +the truth of the above statements; but the admission of their truth is +apt to be coupled with the reply, "The park will cost so much, we cannot +afford it." It is true that it will cost a good deal, but not so much to +each household as the inevitable cost of the sickness, vice, and death, +which the opportunities that a park provides would prevent. Are human +life and health and virtue so cheap, that we can afford to count the +cost of procuring and maintaining them? Are vice, crime, and disease so +unimportant, that we can afford to let them thrive, and propagate +themselves indefinitely? We cannot repeat too often, or ponder too +seriously, the statement made in the first report of the Park +Commissioners: "Nothing is so costly as sickness and disease: nothing so +cheap as health. Whatever promotes the former is the worst sort of +extravagance: whatever fosters the latter is the truest economy." The +truth is, it will cost the city of Boston more to get on without a park +than to incur the expense of buying and taking care of one. We pay at +present an enormous sum yearly for the maintenance of hospitals, +prisons, jails, and workhouses. It is not asserted that the +establishment of a park will depopulate these institutions, or render +them unnecessary; but no sanitarian will deny that one result, and a +most important one, of the establishment of a park, would be to diminish +the number of those who are compelled to resort to these institutions. A +greater economy than all this would be found to accrue to each household +in the increased comfort, diminished sickness, more vigorous health, and +ample enjoyment, that would be added to all its members.</p> + +<p>Boston has been long and justly celebrated for its health, beauty, and +wealth. If it loses the two first of these distinctions, how long will +it retain the last? Business and population will turn away from an +unhealthy and unattractive town. Defective sewerage and imperfect +drainage are sapping the health; and the occupation of the suburbs by +houses, manufactories, workshops, and stores, is destroying the beauty +of the city. Will the merchants of Boston, whose reputation for +intelligence, sagacity, and enterprise has gone out to the ends of the +world, permit a false economy to blind them to the importance of this +whole matter?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p><p>Of the details of the financial question, I am not qualified to speak; +but I will venture a single remark. It seems only a piece of common +sense to one unfamiliar with the intricate problems of finance to say, +that, if the present time is one of great depression of values, it is +precisely the time when a wealthy corporation like the city of Boston +can purchase the land for a park at the lowest price, and therefore +should do it.</p> + +<p>Permit me to add a single word with regard to the plan proposed by the +Commissioners. It offers more advantages, and fewer disadvantages, than +any other that has been proposed. This might be expected, when we +reflect that it was prepared in accordance with the advice of Mr. +<span class="smcap">Olmstead</span>, than whom no one is better qualified to advise in such +matters. It may be safely asserted, that if Boston should accept this +plan, and authorize it to be carried out, the city would possess a park +unique in its character, of unrivalled beauty, and one which all our +citizens, young and old, rich and poor, would greatly enjoy, and of +which, if they once obtained it, they would never be bribed to +dispossess themselves.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Dr. <span class="smcap">Ellis</span>, in his recent eloquent address at the centennial +anniversary of the evacuation of Boston, used the following language, +"As I read the history of our fathers in all their generations, their +toil and virtue seem to me to have been the noblest, in their steady +regard for the welfare and happiness of their posterity. And as I firmly +believe that no single individual can follow the highest pattern of an +earthly life, unless his hope and faith link on to a future, so I find +it proved in all biographies and annals, that all unselfish, noble, and +heroic lives are those which parents lead for their children and their +children's children. We have such lives among us in city, state, and +nation, private and public, high and humble." May we be true to the +reputation and tradition of our fathers, and provide as intelligently +for the well-being of ourselves and our posterity as they provided for +themselves and for us!</p> + +<p class="center">I am, with great respect, very truly yours,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Edw. H. Clarke.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Arlington Street, Boston</span>, June 6, 1876.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p><p>The President, in calling for a vote on the resolutions, said, I merely +wish to say that old Faneuil Hall can stand a great deal of noise; but +still I would recommend, for the benefit of future audiences, that you +should not take off the roof, nor burst the windows, nor put out the +gas. [Laughter.]</p> + +<p>The resolutions were unanimously agreed to; and the following committee +of a hundred, to present the result of the meeting to the city +government, was appointed; the assembly dispersing shortly after ten +o'clock.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2><a name="COMMITTEE_OF_ONE_HUNDRED" id="COMMITTEE_OF_ONE_HUNDRED"></a>COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED.</h2> + +<table summary="COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED"> + <tr> + <td>Joseph S. Ropes</td> + <td>William P. Hunt</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Marshall P. Wilder</td> + <td>Hamilton A. Hill</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Oliver W. Holmes, M.D.</td> + <td>Joseph F. Paul</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Richard Frothingham</td> + <td>Charles W. Wilder</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Samuel Cabot, M.D.</td> + <td>M. F. Dickinson, jun.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>J. Baxter Upham, M.D.</td> + <td>P. A. Collins</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Thomas J. Gargan</td> + <td>Albert Bowker</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>George C. Richardson </td> + <td>John C. Pratt</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>John P. Reynolds, M.D.</td> + <td>Jerome Jones</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>John W. Candler</td> + <td>H. H. A. Beach, M.D.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>George B. Chase</td> + <td>S. J. Langmaid, M.D.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>William E. Coffin</td> + <td>Joseph H. Chadwick</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Francis A. Osborn</td> + <td>Benjamin Deane</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ralph Crooker</td> + <td>J. J. McNutt</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Robert Seaver</td> + <td>Nath. Adams</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>J. Mitchell Galvin</td> + <td>B. F. Nourse</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>W. W. Morland, M.D.</td> + <td>Martin Griffin</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Richard Olney</td> + <td>John J. May</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Joseph W. Balch</td> + <td>M. Doherty</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>C. Allen Richards</td> + <td>Thomas B. Curtis, M.D.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Charles L. Thayer</td> + <td>Thomas Gogin</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>William E. Perkins</td> + <td>Royal E. Robbins</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>James Edwards</td> + <td>William W. Clapp</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>J. Tisdale Bradlee</td> + <td>E. B. Haskell</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Jonas Fitch</td> + <td>C. F. Donnelly</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>James Sturgis</td> + <td>T. Quincy Browne</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>J. N. Borland, M.D.</td> + <td>F. E. Goodrich</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Charles W. Slack</td> + <td>Charles W. Morris</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Clement H. Hill</td> + <td>D. N. Skillings</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>William V. Hutchings</td> + <td>Hales W. Suter</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>William T. Hart</td> + <td>Henry Smith</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>Robert Johnson</td> + <td>William Atherton</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Asa P. Potter</td> + <td>Charles J. Bishop</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>William J. R. Evans</td> + <td>Aaron D. Williams</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Charles Nowell</td> + <td>Henry C. Morse</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Jacob Pfaff</td> + <td>S. Parkman Dexter</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Eben D. Jordan</td> + <td>George P. King</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>George Woods Rice</td> + <td>Albert Thompson</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Thomas Mack</td> + <td>Joseph Dix</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Lewis Coleman</td> + <td>H. M. Bearce</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Charles F. Choate</td> + <td>William B. Bacon</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Roland Worthington</td> + <td>George O. Carpenter</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>M. B. Leonard, M.D.</td> + <td>Henry J. Nazro</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A. H. Lewis</td> + <td>J. Kent Crowley</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>George G. Crocker</td> + <td>James N. Spillane</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Charles L. Haley</td> + <td>W. H. Forbes</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Waldo Adams</td> + <td>J. B. Dacey</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>John F. Payson</td> + <td>James F. Gray</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Hollis Hunnewell</td> + <td>John Bigelow</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Martin Hayes</td> + <td>A. Claxton Cary</td> + </tr> +</table> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Parks for the People, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE *** + +***** This file should be named 26084-h.htm or 26084-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/8/26084/ + +Produced by Betsie Bush, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan's Making of America collection.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Parks for the People + Proceedings of a Public Meeting held at Faneuil Hall, June 7, 1876 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: July 17, 2008 [EBook #26084] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE *** + + + + +Produced by Betsie Bush, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan's Making of America collection.) + + + + + + +PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. + +PROCEEDINGS OF A PUBLIC MEETING +HELD AT FANEUIL HALL, + +JUNE 7, 1876. + +BOSTON: +FRANKLIN PRESS: RAND, AVERY, & CO. +1876. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +ORGANIZATION OF MEETING 5 + +SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH S. ROPES 7 + + " " MR. GEORGE B. CHASE 10 + + " " MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUN. 11 + + " " DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 20 + + " " REV. ROLLIN H. NEALE, D.D. 26 + + " " REV. J. P. BODFISH 27 + + " " COL. CHARLES W. WILDER 31 + + " " MR. JOSEPH F. PAUL 33 + + " " HON. P. A. COLLINS 36 + +LETTER OF DR. EDWARD H. CLARKE 38 + +COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED 45 + + + + +FANEUIL HALL MEETING IN FAVOR OF PUBLIC PARKS. + + +Pursuant to a call published in all the daily papers, and signed by a +large number of prominent citizens and tax-payers of Boston, a public +meeting was convened in Faneuil Hall on the evening of Wednesday, the +7th of June, 1876, to take action on the recommendations contained in +the Report of the Park Commissioners. The hall was crowded by an +intelligent and enthusiastic audience; and the proceedings as reported +_verbatim_ in the columns of the "Boston Morning Journal," were as +follows:-- + +The meeting was called to order at eight o'clock by Mr. JOHN W. CANDLER, +who said,-- + +GENTLEMEN,--As Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, I have been +requested to call this meeting to order. It is usually the case, that, +when a mass meeting of citizens is to be held, a great deal of labor has +to be performed in preparing for and organizing the meeting. But I am +glad to say, that, on this occasion, the important advantage of having a +public almost entirely in our favor was enjoyed by the Committee. We +found a strong and intelligent and deep-seated sentiment almost +unanimous throughout the community, in favor of having the City +Government take prompt and favorable action upon the report of the Park +Commissioners. [Applause.] We found the community earnest and +enthusiastic in the desire that a system of parks should be projected +for the city of Boston, to insure the health, and to make certain and +positive the prosperity, of our citizens in the future. The Committee +had only to present the call or address through the press, which some +of you have read, to find hundreds ready to indorse it; and the +authorities had only to open wide the doors of Faneuil Hall to have the +people throng here, as they have to-night, to manifest the sentiment +which they feel so generally. + +Gentlemen, we have with us to-night men of science, philanthropists, the +representatives of the learned professions. We have the capitalist; we +have the merchant; we have the mechanic; and we have the daily laborer, +who toils from the rising to the setting sun,--we have them all here, to +give out a voice to-night, expressing the opinions of the people, which +can neither be misrepresented nor misunderstood. [Applause.] + +It is not my duty, gentlemen, to make a speech. You have here this +evening to address you, the representatives of every class, the best +that can be afforded in any city, the leading men of the city of Boston +in the different professions. It is only necessary, in the discharge of +my duty, that I should read to you the names of the gentlemen whom you +will be asked to elect as the officers of this meeting. They are as +follows:-- + + + PRESIDENT. + + THE HON. JOSEPH S. ROPES. + + VICE-PRESIDENTS. + + CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, WILLIAM AMORY, RICHARD FROTHINGHAM, PETER C. + BROOKS, MARTIN BRIMMER, GEORGE C. RICHARDSON, BENJAMIN F. THOMAS, + EDWARD S. RAND, HENRY P. KIDDER, THOMAS J. GARGAN, EBEN D. JORDAN, + C. A. RICHARDS, JOHN C. CROWLEY, WILLIAM B. BACON, AARON D. + WILLIAMS, CHARLES F. DONNELLY, WM. W. CLAPP, BENJAMIN DEANE, + RICHARD OLNEY, WILLIAM ATHERTON, THOMAS GOBIN, WILLIAM ENDICOTT, + JUN., ALBERT BOWKER, DANIEL J. SWEENEY, PATRICK T. JACKSON, R. M. + PULSIFER, ROLAND WORTHINGTON, JOHN G. BLAKE, M.D., J. H. CHADWICK, + LEWIS COLEMAN. + + SECRETARIES. + + HAMILTON A. HILL. WILLIAM E. PERKINS. + + +The list of names was unanimously approved; and the announcement of the +election of the gentlemen named therein was received with applause. + +Mr. CANDLER continued, I have the honor of introducing to you JOSEPH S. +ROPES, Esq., a merchant of Boston, who has been called to fill a great +many places of trust, and who has always been found able in the +discharge of every duty, and faithful in every trust committed to him. + + + + +SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH S. ROPES. + + +FELLOW-CITIZENS,--I thank you for the honor you have done me in inviting +me to preside on this auspicious occasion. You have come together +to-night, not to quarrel with one another's politics, not to abuse one +another's rival candidates, but to hold a friendly consultation upon one +of the most important and interesting and agreeable subjects which can +engage your attention,--the subject of public parks for the city of +Boston. [Applause.] + +Gentlemen, I was born in Boston; and I well remember the time when our +cows were pastured on Boston Common, when the Back Bay was not a myth, +but a reality, and when at least a portion of the summit of Beacon Hill +was covered with green fields, on which were seen sometimes "raree +shows" and travelling menageries. Since that time, our city has grown +and swelled, and stretched itself north and south, and east and west, +striding over one arm of the sea, filling up another, swallowing the +neighboring towns one by one, taking two mouthfuls for Roxbury, and one +for Dorchester, and one for Charlestown and Brighton together, until it +has expanded its population sevenfold, and its area almost seventy times +seven, within fifty years. Yet there stands Boston Common just where and +just what it was--no larger, and thank heaven! as yet no smaller [loud +applause]--than it was fifty years ago. + +Where are the breathing-places for this enlarged metropolis? Where are +the places of common resort for quiet and healthful enjoyment and +peaceful recreation for this expanded population? Where are the noble +parks and the wide-spreading groves? Where are the places fit for public +entertainment, which we find in every other large city in the civilized +world?--such as we see in London and Paris and Berlin and Vienna and +Florence and Rome and Naples--yes, even for the few brief months of +summer, in the northern capitals of Stockholm and St. Petersburg? And +echo answers, "Where?" [Laughter and applause.] + + + "Gone like a vision!" + + +My friends, I need not tell you that this matter has excited the +interest of our philanthropic and public-spirited citizens, and +especially of the medical faculty, to whom it is, in its sanitary +aspect, a matter of most important practical interest. And, through +their representations to the city government and to the state +legislature, a bill was brought before the legislature, which I had the +honor myself to report in the House of Representatives a little more +than a year ago, and which was passed by large majorities in both +houses, authorizing the city of Boston to purchase and to take lands +within its own limits for laying out public parks, and to co-operate +with adjacent towns in laying out conterminous parks for the common +benefit and advantage of citizens on both sides of the line. + +This measure was opposed (as all such measures are opposed) on the +ground that "it would lead to jobbery and extravagance." And the answer +was ready at hand, that all public enterprises are liable "to lead to +jobbery and extravagance," but that the abuse of a good thing is no +argument against its valid use [applause]; that it is for the citizens +themselves, and for the government of the city of Boston, to see that +their trust is rightly and honestly carried out. + +Again: it was argued that the people of Boston possess already, in their +beautiful suburbs, all that is required in pure air and beautiful +scenery. And this, again, is most true as regards those who live in +those suburbs, and those whose wealth enables them to pass to and fro in +their carriages, and regale their senses with the luxury of what they +there find. But what application has this, my friends, to the +working-man, to the masses of our population, whose sole idea of the +suburbs consists of an hour's rattling drive in a crowded street-car, +and an hour's seat by the side of a dusty thoroughfare? + +Again: it was argued that the city of Boston could not afford this +expensive luxury of parks. And to this again it was easy to reply, that +so long as the city of Boston could afford prisons and jails, and any +number of millions spent for liquor and for hurtful indulgences, and for +the repression of vice and crime, it could afford to spend money for +this peaceful and healthful and elevating enjoyment for the people. + +In a word, gentlemen, this bill became a law; and, in pursuance of that +law, a Commission was appointed by the city of Boston, the names of the +gentlemen composing which Commission I need not repeat to you; for they +are in all your hearts, as well as on all your lips. The Report of that +Commission is now, and has been for weeks, in your hands; and it is the +object of this meeting to indorse that Report, and to stimulate and +incite the government of the city of Boston to act in accordance with +its suggestions. We cannot expect that all its details will be approved +by every one; nor are we to suppose that all its details will be carried +out in action by the government. But it is not too much to say that it +is so well digested, so full and complete, and in every way so +satisfactory to the city and the citizens, that we cannot do better than +recommend it as a whole to the municipal authorities. [Applause.] + +Now, my friends, it is not for me to do what will be so much better done +by those who succeed me on this platform,--to give you the reasons, and +enforce the arguments, for your action at this time. But as a +representative of the city of Boston, as an almost constant resident +within it for nearly thirty years past, as in my humble sphere a +representative of the merchants of Boston, as a taxpayer of Boston, and +in every way identified with the best interests and all the highest and +best aims of our city, I call upon you to-night to adopt and to indorse +and to commend this admirable system to our city government. [Applause.] +I have now the pleasure of introducing Mr. GEORGE B. CHASE, who will +present the resolutions. + + + + +SPEECH OF MR. GEORGE B. CHASE. + + +MR. PRESIDENT,--On behalf of the committee who have had in charge the +arrangements for this meeting, I have the honor to offer for its +acceptance several resolutions which have been prepared for it by a +gentleman, than whom none is more versed in all that relates to the +business questions and interests of the city of Boston, and who, during +long and faithful service as secretary of the Board of Trade, became +familiar with all subjects relating to the development and prosperity of +the city. It is hardly necessary, Mr. Chairman, in such a connection, to +mention the name of Mr. HAMILTON A. HILL. [Applause.] + +Mr. CHASE then read the resolutions as follows:-- + +_Resolved_, That this meeting would hereby emphatically re-affirm the +opinion which has been expressed, at the polls and elsewhere, by the +citizens and tax-payers of Boston, that the time has arrived when this +city should be provided with a park or parks similar to those which have +been projected by the other great cities of the United States, adapted +to the wants of our large and steadily increasing population, and on a +scale commensurate with the growing commercial importance and +metropolitan influence of the city. + +_Resolved_, That the plan for a system of parks and parkways, prepared +and recommended by the Park Commissioners, commends itself to this +meeting as broad and comprehensive in its general features, fair to all +sections of the city in its details, admirably suited to meet all the +necessities of the case, and promising, when carried out, to make Boston +one of the most healthful, attractive, and beautiful cities in the +world. + +_Resolved_, That the pressing need which exists for a radical +improvement of the sewerage in some parts of the city, the present +cheapness and abundance of labor, the diminished value of land, and the +exceptionally favorable terms on which the city can now negotiate for +money, render it of the first importance that there should be no delay +on the part of the city government in the acceptance of the proposed +plan, and in the adoption of decided and vigorous measure for carrying +it into execution. + +_Resolved_, That this meeting would therefore respectfully and +earnestly ask for immediate and favorable official action upon the +Report of the Commissioners, and that the chairman and secretaries are +hereby authorized and requested to communicate a copy of these +resolutions, properly authenticated, to his Honor the Mayor, and to each +branch of the City Council. + +_Resolved_, That a committee of one hundred be appointed by the Chair, +to represent this meeting before the city government, and to secure the +desired action by it without loss of time. + + +THE CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen, you have heard the resolutions, which evidently +meet with your unanimous approbation. You will now be addressed in +behalf of those resolutions by one who needs no introduction from me, +Mr. RICHARD H. DANA, Jun. [Prolonged applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUN. + + +FELLOW-CITIZENS,--I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this very +kind welcome I have received at your hands to-night on coming upon the +platform. I assure you, gentlemen, if I felt at liberty to waste the +precious hours of this evening upon any thing relating to myself, I +could say much more than I do to thank you for your great kindness. + +But, gentlemen, we are met here on public business. You have heard what +we are asked to do. We are asked to petition the city government, and +send a committee of force to the city government (not as if the +government were at all reluctant, but that they may know the feeling of +the people of Boston), and ask the city government to go to work at +once, and see that Boston has, as soon as possible, these necessities +for her honor, her health, and her beauty. [Applause.] + +In thinking of this subject, Mr. President and gentlemen, it occurred to +me that it was a very singular fact, and not altogether to the credit of +human nature, that great numbers of persons cannot live together without +extreme inconvenience. Now, Robinson Crusoe, when he lived on the Island +of Juan Fernandez alone, was not troubled with any question of public +parks, or drainage, or health. Things took care of themselves. But when +you get two or three or four hundred thousand Robinson Crusoes in a few +square miles, you find the whole state of things is reversed, that you +require all the patience, all the science, a large part of the money, +and a large part of the industry, of the population, that you may live +at all, and on any terms. The lower parts of our nature, the animal +parts, tend to produce certain results which the intellectual parts are +expected to meet and control. If they do not that, men become savages; +if they do, they are enlightened. + +Now, in this great and enlightened city of Boston, the pride of us all, +the "Athens of America," as we all know we are [laughter], and, as our +friend Dr. HOLMES there has told us, the "Hub of the Universe" +[laughter], it would hardly be respectful to say that one of the +questions before us was, Which of those two roads we were going to +take,--whether we were going to let the intellectual and moral parts +have the upper hand, or whether we were going to sink beneath the +material part. And yet, gentlemen, that is a good deal the question that +is before us to-night. + +Why, look at the progress which is inevitably made where you get great +numbers of human beings together. You must have drainage, you must look +to the health of the population, and then you must look to their +recreation and their amusements (for they will have them); and, if they +are not good and creditable and honorable, they will not cease to exist, +but they will come before us in the most shameful and unwholesome form. +We used to be told, gentlemen, that Boston had natural parks all about +her, and she did not need any artificial parks. Well, now, I am not in +favor of any artificial parks. All I ask is, that the beauty of the +environs of Boston may be preserved. [Applause.] + +We are on the defensive. We are defending the wholesomeness and the +beauty of our beloved city against this encroachment of population. Why, +the time was--Mr. ROPES will tell you when the time was--when the Back +Bay was a beautiful sheet of water, filled at high tide, carrying the +healthful air through the whole city. But then the necessity of +population called for its filling up, and it is now piled in upon, and +we have there now what Dr. CLARKE called "a natural cesspool." + +We changed the Back Bay from a beautiful bay, where the wholesome tides +of the ocean swept in, to a natural cesspool. + +Well, now, look at the lanes and roads in the suburbs of +Boston--beautiful. As you ride over them, there are trees hanging over +them, and there are bushes on each side: you say it is charming. Well, +go out there the next year. The selectmen if it is a town, the city +government if it is a city, have changed all that. They have made a +straight line right through it, and widened the streets sixty feet; cut +down every tree, and made it one of the most disagreeable and painful +spectacles that the eyes could rest upon. It is their duty so to do: it +is a necessity. And so you go on destroying the beauties of the city, +destroying its wholesomeness, destroying its charm; and now we have got +to meet that tendency, and we have the power to meet it. We have the +intellect, we have the money, we have the will, and we have the taste; +and we would be incensed if any one should suggest that we do not. And +yet we have allowed every city in the United States to get in advance of +us. [A voice, "That's so."] Chicago has three thousand acres of parks; +Philadelphia, five thousand; New York, one great park of about one +thousand acres; and almost every city in Europe has better, more +handsome and attractive accommodations than the city of Boston. I am +ashamed to say it; but it is so. I trust, however, gentlemen, that, +before I ever have the honor of addressing you again, we shall have +taken the first step to remove this odium from the city of Boston. +[Applause.] + +Some six years ago, I think it was, the people got greatly in earnest +that this park should be undertaken. They saw that the progress of the +manufactories was fast destroying the beauties of Boston; that they were +taking up the land in the suburbs rapidly: and, when I said that your +green lands were destroyed, with their beautiful curved lines, I forgot +to mention that your beautiful sheets of water are in the same danger. +Why, look at Fresh Pond, look at Jamaica Pond! They are beautiful +objects to gaze upon: but when manufactories begin to surround them, +when there are soap manufactories and tanneries, and I do not know what, +draining into the pond, the result is, that the water is unwholesome, +that the fish die, the water cannot be drunk, and then physicians begin +to tell their patients, "You had better move out of that neighborhood." +Are you aware, gentlemen, that that is coming upon us, that we must meet +it, and avert it? + +Some years ago, the people of Boston were earnestly in favor of a park, +or system of parks. The legislature, for some reason or other, required +that the project should receive a vote of two-thirds of the people. That +was extraordinary and hard. But it did receive a vote of two-thirds of +the people of Boston proper, and more than two-thirds; but from the +accident of a newly added portion of the city, for some reason or other, +taking a slant in a certain direction, they voted very largely against +it, and it fell through. We must take warning from that; for land that +would have made then a handsome park, which we could have had, we cannot +have now at all. It would cost altogether too much to take +dwelling-houses and factories and railroad beds, if we could, for a +park. + +Well, after six years of restlessness, at last we went before the +legislature again; and we got an act passed, authorizing the appointing +of commissioners with powers. That act passed, helped by our most able +fellow-citizen, MR. ROPES, chairman of this meeting; and it was +submitted to the votes of the people of Boston; and the park project was +carried by the votes of this entire population,--Boston, East Boston, +Charlestown, South Boston, Dorchester, Brighton, which make, all +together, a very large and most decisive majority. And therefore, +gentlemen, the question is not, Shall we have parks? you have decided +that; but the question is, Whether, having determined to have them, we +shall rest content with saying so? whether we will have our paper parks, +as we have our paper money, with nothing to rest upon [laughter], or +whether we shall have genuine parks, with life and trees, and have +sheets of water? Now we are here to-night to say it is the latter that +we want. [Applause.] + +Fellow-citizens, that statute authorized the appointment by the MAYOR, +subject to approval, of three commissioners. Well, that was wise. It +was not nine, seven, nor five; but it was three. Well, his Honor the +Mayor, who has presided with so much dignity, wisdom, and integrity +[applause] over the city of Boston for two years,--and we would be glad +to get him for a third year, if his health would permit it +[applause],--his Honor the Mayor appointed three gentlemen as +commissioners, in whom this community have entire confidence. There are +no politics among the Board of Commissioners; there is no jobbery in the +Board of Commissioners; and I will venture to predict, gentlemen, that, +when they finish their task, there will be no investigation. [Great +applause.] + +I was amazed on looking over their charge. Why, I found an item of +coach-hire for the whole period of their service, nine dollars. Why, it +would not have been enough to take three common councilmen from Parker's +or Young's. [Laughter.] But it is all they have charged; and how, on +that sum, they succeeded in riding around Boston, I do not know. Their +experience with persons who let carriages must have been much more +favorable than mine has been. But not only have they done honorably, +economically, and frugally, they have put into their work an amount of +brain-labor, an amount of patient investigation and of good judgment, +which no one can have an adequate opinion of who has not read their +book; but, if he has not, I hope he will. And at least this I may be +allowed to say, I do not think any citizen of Boston has the right to +object to those parks, or to be silent or indifferent on the subject, +unless he has read the report of the Commission, and knows what is +proposed, and has been done. [Applause.] They have consulted the best +authorities. They have consulted Mr. FREDERICK LAW OLMSTEAD, who laid +out Central Park in New York, and he is the highest authority on the +construction of parks in the country; and he has been all over this +neighborhood, viewing the localities, and they have taken every thing +into consideration; and, gentlemen, what is the result? They do not +propose to us one great park of a thousand acres, at an almost +unattainable distance; they do not propose a great park that nobody can +get to, unless he gives a day to it, and a good deal of money: but they +have adopted a system based upon the natural characteristics of the +neighborhood of Boston. And what better could they do? At East Boston, +they have given them a park upon the water-side, where they will always +have the fresh breezes of the sea. At South Boston, they have given them +a park upon the water-side, one directly opposite Fort Independence, and +then another one, called the South Park, larger; and Chester Park, which +you are all familiar with, is already extended, and nearly ready to be +used as far as Beacon Street; and thence it is to go over to Cambridge, +and be the quickest means of access to the University. That same avenue +is to be extended easterly till it strikes the farthest of the South +Boston parks, opposite Fort Independence; and, when that is done, you +will be able to drive or walk, according to your powers of walking, from +the park opposite Fort independence, into the city, and across it, to +Harvard University. + +Now that is a good deal; but they have taken another step. They propose +to take the water-front of the Charles River basin; and there is nothing +in Nature so beautiful, so well adapted to the needs of a city, as a +park, or boulevard, or promenade, directly on a water-front, especially +if that water is sea-water,--if it is brought in and carried out by two +daily tides. What more beautiful, what more wholesome, what more +invigorating, during the hot season of the year, than to have an open +boulevard, where you can sit, or walk, or ride,--a place for the fresh +sea-water of the ocean brought in pure to you every day! Well, they mean +to preserve that, and give us about two hundred feet for a driveway, a +saddle-horse way (a saddle-pad, I think they call it), and footpath, a +place for flowers and trees, as it extends along the water-side, +beginning by Leverett Street, and going out as far as Brighton. Then +from there they mean to take this great Back Bay, which Dr. CLARKE +properly called a natural cesspool, and keep a large part of it under +water, the ocean to be let in and let out at our option, so that it can +be always kept pure; and yet such a quantity of it, that it will be a +sort of inland sea, where we can have regattas, and where every +gentleman may keep his boat, and every boy may keep his scull; and +perhaps it is just as well a boy's skull should be there as anywhere +else a large part of the time. [Laughter.] + +Then, gentlemen, they are going to take Jamaica Pond, and have a park +or driveway around the pond; then the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, that has +a parkway one hundred feet in width, where you can drive or walk at your +pleasure. In West Roxbury they are to have a mountain-park, which will +be the largest (about five hundred acres); and it is well called a +providence, because it is high, it is rocky, it has a thoroughly sylvan +look, like a forest. You would feel as if you were fifty miles from +Boston, if you were where you could not see the city. At the same time, +it is beautiful for a park. There are very few houses there; and it is +difficult to make it salable for residences. But they have selected this +spot; and they are going to give us the best park of the city, and then +have all these parks connected by parkways, thus making them so +convenient of access, that every poor man in Boston can take his child +by his hand, and for five cents a head can be carried out to any one of +those parks by the railroads. [Applause.] + +And, when he gets there, he can show this poor boy or girl, who has +passed all the winter, and all the opening spring, in an alleyway,--he +can show them, by a wholesome ascent of two hundred feet only, slow, +gradual, one of the noblest prospects in the world,--the ocean pouring +up into these great bays, and floating the great ships that come and go, +the Bunker Hill Monument and the Navy Yard, the University, and the +great series of cities that surround us. And, more than that, he can +show him or her Wachuset Mountain, and over the top of Mount Monadnock +in New Hampshire. + +Now I ask you, fellow-citizens, if it is not worth while for the city of +Boston to improve these opportunities. We have been most fortunate in +our Commissioners,--in their wisdom, in their frugality, in their +intelligence, and their public spirit; and I hope, gentlemen, you will +study their Report. It is easy reading, pleasant reading; and if, when +you get home, you find your boy or girl engaged over some novel, +especially if it is a yellow covered one, take it right out of his or +her hand, and ask them to read that Report. + +You may think it absurd; but, ten to one, it will interest the children +more than the novel would. It will certainly give them more valuable +instruction; and I venture to say it will interest them more. I felt +quite carried away by it. It seemed to me it must be a fancy; but, when +I turned to their accounts (and they are all mercantile men), I was +amazed to see at what small cost it could all be done. And, gentlemen, I +want to detain you a moment longer on statistics, and show that it has +increased the value of property in every city that has had a park, by +bringing houses all about the parks, and by detaining as inhabitants of +the city, to be taxed in the city, those men who skulk in small towns to +throw the burden of the expense of their own city on those who stay +behind. [Applause.] All we want to do to-night is to say to the city +government that we are in earnest about this matter, and that we want +the work done now. [Applause.] + +I tell you, gentlemen, it is very doubtful, if this fails, whether you +will have another Board of Commissioners to compare with the present. I +tell you it is doubtful, whether there will be a state of things in +Boston which will be any thing like as favorable as the state of things +we are in now. But I can tell you one thing that is certain; and that +is, if you postpone it, you cannot have the parks that they propose. The +growth of population will be crowding over it; speculators will buy it; +the ponds will become injured; and the expense will be so great, that +you will shudder at the thought of it. And, more than that, the parks +that you ask for in another ten years will be four or five miles from +the centre of population now, and I confess that one great argument with +me for instant action is, that I want the parks to be as accessible as +possible to all those persons especially who do not own their private +carriages, and cannot give a day to it. [Applause.] + +And last of all, Mr. President and gentlemen, it should be done for +economical reasons, as has been stated very well by the address and in +the resolutions, because there never was a time, and I hope there never +will be a time again, when the land was so cheap as it is now; and, when +we take this land for parks, we take it at its present price. There has +not been a time for many years, and I hope there never will be a time +again, when the price of labor is as low as it is now [applause]; and +that labor we would employ at once, and the laborers are begging for +employment. Why, there is not one of you who has not often and often, +within the last two years, perhaps it is not extravagant to say, felt +his heart bleed when he has been stopped in the way by evidently honest +men, who would say, "We can't find any thing to do. We have looked +everywhere; and there is no work for us." [A voice, "That's so."] Yes, +that is so. Now, some philanthropists, and some political economists, +have told us that the government ought always to find employment for +everybody; it is the duty of the city to see that everybody has work: +but, though I do not advocate any such doctrine as that, I advocate this +doctrine,--that whenever the community has any thing it ought to do, and +which will employ laborers (and this is a hard time on the laborers), +then is the time that they ought to do it. [Applause.] So that it is not +only good economy, but it is humanity, that dictates an instant advance +upon this work. To save the land that we can get now in a low market, +and to employ laborers who are paid low wages, but are glad to get even +that, and to prevent the entire failure of this scheme so carefully and +beneficially made, we shall ask the city government to work at once. + +Now, there are others much more able to speak of the finances of the +city government than I am; but we always do find, that, when a thing +ought to be done, there is a way of doing it; and we sometimes find, +that, when things ought not to be done, there is a way of doing them. I +wish to say one word more, before I take my seat, on the report and +scheme of these Park Commissioners; and that is its entire equitableness +in its attention to localities. It has left no part of the city that is +not benefited. Charlestown cannot have a park, because it is built over, +and there is no room for one. If there was room, they would have one. +They must annex; and then they can have a park. [Laughter.] East Boston +has a park; South Boston has a park; then comes the great West Roxbury +Park; then comes the Bussey Farm, which I omitted to mention; and then +comes Jamaica Pond and Chestnut Hill Reservoir Park, and the park roads +connecting them all, and uniting them; and then the water-front on all +that part of the city of Boston where the water-fronts are not needed +for commerce. + +I say, therefore, this plan is equitably divided among the citizens +according to their residence; and it is accessible to all, and the plan +is economical, and the time is auspicious. Therefore I hope that you +will with unanimity adopt the resolutions, and call upon the city +government to proceed at once. [Applause.] + + +THE PRESIDENT. Allusion has been made to the "Hub of the Universe;" and +you will all understand, that, when any thing is the matter with that +Hub, the diagnosis must be made not only by an able physician, but by an +able spokesman. [Laughter and applause.] I have great pleasure in +introducing to you one who combines both, and a hundred other qualities, +Dr. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. + +You will not ask for rhetoric or eloquence in the few remarks upon a +vital subject to be offered you by a member of the silent profession. +What could be so eloquent as the hollow voice which announces the Boston +annual death-rate as being 26.18 against 23.7, that of the great paved +nation of London; against 19.3, that of Philadelphia; and approaching +that of our two unhealthiest cities, New York and New Orleans? This high +death-rate has been shown to be largely due to the excessive mortality +among infants and children under five years of age. The most fatal of +the diseases which assail them is that destruction which wasteth at +noonday, to which our American practitioners give the name of +cholera-infantum. And this disease prevails chiefly, almost entirely, +from June to October, the season when all out-of-door influences are +most tempting and most needed. The weekly record of August and September +is that of a pestilence. The destroying angel carries off the firstborn, +and, oftener still, the last-born, out of almost every household in +certain districts, as in the heaviest curse laid on Egypt. Thousands +have fled the city, as they deserted London in the season of the +plague; but thousands are left to follow in the funeral procession of +those who were the hope of their households. + +A considerable part of this mortality, it may be feared, is unavoidable. +Our climatic influences are permanent factors, and must always count in +the bills of mortality. But there are certain agencies which we can, to +a great extent, control. We can and do submit the dwellings of our +citizens to inspection and sanitary regulation; we can and shall provide +our city with proper drainage; we can and do inspect the food in our +market, and condemn it if unfit for use; we can and must secure for our +citizens the influences of unroofed and unwalled Nature,--air, light, +space for exercise and recreation, the natural birthright of mankind. + +Of the uses of these larger breathing-spaces, which we call parks,--for +the relief of the imprisoned dwellers in crowded streets, for the +recreation of poor and rich alike, for the health of mind and body which +they offer to all,--it seems almost needless to speak from the medical +point of view; for all know what cities would be without open areas, +where children can play in the shade, and old people warm themselves in +the sun. I wish to call your attention to a single point intimately +connected with the alarming fact of the excessive death-rate of which I +have spoken. That point is the influence of the air they breathe on the +health of children, with the bearing of this on the question before us. + +If a child is found to have been starved to death in a cellar or an +attic, a cry of horror is raised over it. If two or three wandering +boys, as it happened the other day at Lowell, come upon some noxious +roots, and, in obedience to their omnivorous instinct, devour them, and +pay the forfeit, the whole country hears of it. If a family or two get +hold of some ill-conditioned meat, and suffer for it, the groans of +their colics are echoed all over the land. If a milkman misrepresents +his honest cows by falsifying their product, the chemist detects him, +and the press puts him in the pillory. If the Cochituate or Mystic water +is too much like an obsolete chowder, up go all noses, and out come all +manner of newspaper paragraphs from "Senex," "Tax-payer," and the rest. +But air-poisoning kills a hundred where food-poisoning kills one. Let me +relate a circumstance which happened in Ireland, to which circumstance, +in all probability, I owe the pleasure of being listened to at this +moment by some among our hard-working, adopted citizens who are before +me. + +When I say to you, meaning to speak the words of sober truth, that a +single physician, by a single and simple measure, saved more lives than +were lost at Waterloo by the British army and all its allies, leaving +out the Prussians, you will suspect me of exaggeration, not very +uncommon in public speakers. I will therefore intrench myself behind +certain details which I have often before cited, but not in the presence +of a gathering of this kind. + +Dr. ROBERT COLLINS was Master, as it is called, of the great Dublin +Lying-in Hospital, where the annual rate of births was between two and +three thousand, from the year 1826 to 1833. A work of his, containing +the results of his practice during his seven years of service, was +published in Boston in 1841, by order of the Massachusetts Medical +Society, for the use of its members. I consider him vouched for as +authority, therefore, by men in whom you can put confidence. Dr. COLLINS +makes the following statement:-- + +When his predecessor, Dr. JOSEPH CLARKE, was in office, in the year +1784, he found that seventeen children in the hundred, nearly one in +six, died within the first fortnight after birth, nineteen-twentieths of +these of one particular disease peculiar to very early infancy. Looking +for the cause of this frightful mortality, he thought he found it in a +foul and vitiated state of the air of the hospital. So he had some +openings of considerable size made in the ceiling of each ward, and +three holes, of an inch in diameter, through each window at top: the +doors, too, were perforated with numerous holes. In this way, a free +circulation was secured, and so arranged, that the nurses could not +control it; for some of the old-fashioned nurses would not have opened a +window in the Black Hole at Calcutta, for fear the inmates should catch +a cold. + +What was the result of this simple proceeding? Why, the mortality fell, +from seventeen in a hundred, down to between five and six; and Dr. +Collins gives us the result up to his time in these words, "Thus, by his +valuable suggestions, 16,371 lives have been saved, as, had the +mortality of infants continued one in six to this day (1833), the number +of children dying of the 131,227 (which is the total number born in the +hospital) would be 21,871, as the hospital registry now shows." In the +battle of Waterloo, the British and their allies lost 16,186 men; that +is, 185 less than the great army of very light infantry saved from death +by letting out the smoke of the battle of life, and letting in the sweet +air of heaven, through the walls of the Dublin hospital. + +So much for what air alone can do for children. Now, it is not the +"nine-day fits" of that hospital in its unventilated condition which +kills our poor children in the hot months, but that other disease of +infancy, which to name is like sounding a funeral knell in the ears of +many a parent. This one malady, more than any other, gives Boston its +place on the black list of unhealthy towns. All parents having young +children leave the city during the worst part of the sickly season, if +they have the means of so doing. Our best streets look as DEFOE tells us +London streets looked during the Great Plague. But thousands of families +must remain; and we are bound to do what we can for them in their +dearest interests,--the lives of their children. + +With regard to cholera-infantum,--the deadly scourge of which I have +spoken,--the testimony of experience shows that change of air, even +temporary, often effects the cure of which the apothecary, who "pestles +a poisoned poison behind his crimson lights," cannot bring about with +his drugs, though the wisest of physicians had written the prescription. +This point is so important, and bears so directly, not only on the +necessity of park-spaces, but upon their distribution so as to bring +them within reach of all the crowded and unhealthy districts as far as +possible, that I shall borrow a few sentences, enforcing it, from +writers recognized as authorities on the diseases of children. + +"Even in cases in which a removal to a healthy and airy situation in the +country is impracticable," says Dr. CONDIE of Philadelphia, long and +well known by his writings, "much benefit may be derived from carrying +the patient frequently into the open air in a carriage, or in the arms, +or, when its residence is near a large river, sailing it daily in an +open boat." And Dr. JOHN BELL of the same city says, "The restorative +effects of fresh air in cholera-infantum are strikingly evinced in the +relief procured by many hundreds of children every summer in +Philadelphia, by their simply crossing and recrossing the River Delaware +in steamboats once or twice a day. New life is restored to the little +beings, who, on leaving their homes in the city, seemed almost +exanimate, and in the last stage of incurable exhaustion." Dr. JAMES +STEWART of New York, in his treatise on the diseases of children, and +our own honored patriarch of the profession, the late Dr. JAMES JACKSON, +in his letters to a young physician, speak in similar terms of the great +advantage of change of place and of air. The "aquatic jaunts" +recommended by Dr. STEWART, and spoken of as so efficacious by Dr. BELL, +are among the advantages to be secured by the plan proposed by our Park +Commissioners. I wish twenty tons of little children could be shipped +every fine summer day for a good sail. + +There is one particular region which I will mention as like to be +specially benefited by the plan referred to,--a region which would get +the advantages of the fresh air coming over the wide estuary of Charles +River without the expense and trouble of taking boats. The narrow and +crowded streets of the northern slope of Beacon Hill, and a wide region +extending northward from it, are inhabited by the very class most +exposed to cholera-infantum and diseases of that nature. Having lived +for many years in Charles Street, where I am no longer an owner, I had +occasion to learn the incomparable comfort and delight to be got in a +hot summer's day, when the wind is from the southwest, by turning the +corner of Charles and Cambridge Streets, and getting into the current of +air cooled by passing over the water. Some of the poor mothers with sick +children had found out where to bring them for relief; and I often +thought, if there were an open green filling up that corner, with shade +trees and seats, what a priceless _sanatorium_ it would be to all that +suffering quarter of the city! The proposed green margin, beginning at +Leverett Street, and extending along the river, will meet this very +want; and this is only one locality of many which will thus turn its +natural advantages to account. + +I have preferred to insist on a single point rather than to expatiate on +a larger number. But I trust that the eloquence of others will enforce +and illustrate the innumerable advantages our city will derive from the +only chain she would submit to,--a chain of pleasure-grounds all around +her. The Bostonian has looked up at the gilded dome of the State House, +and down at the reflection of his own features in the Frog Pond, long +enough. Our city has always been a centre; and it must not act as if it +considered itself a mere feeder. We must provide ourselves with the +complete equipment, not of a village community, not of a thriving town, +but of a true metropolis, large enough for a citizen of the world to +live in without feeling himself provincialized, and not too large for +one honest mayor like our own to handle. The marrow-bones of the past +are pretty well cleared out, or will be before the Centennial year is +over, and we must not be content to live on them for another century. +The Old Elm got enough of it,--grew discontented, and started on its +travels for wider quarters, but, unfortunately, stumbled and fell. Let +us take the hint, and plant a thousand acres with young elms and all +other trees of the forest, where the hillsides are not already clad in +foliage; so that the children of coming generations may bless our +memory, not only for all the happiness they have had in their shadow, +but for saving more lives to the country than were lost in any one of +the battles which scarred and crippled their fathers. [Applause.] + + +THE PRESIDENT. Gentlemen, you have been addressed by two of the learned +professions. It follows, as a matter of course, that you will now be +addressed by one from the third, the most important and most respected +of all. I am happy to introduce to you the Rev. Dr. NEALE, the oldest +settled pastor of the city of Boston. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF THE REV. ROLLIN H. NEALE, D.D. + + +I do not intend, my friends, to trespass much upon your time, and +certainly shall not presume to give any new information on the subject +which has been presented. Owing, probably, to my long residence here, it +has been thought, I suppose, that my _testimony_, in these days of +calling for witnesses, may be of some importance. Of the financial +bearings of this proposed enterprise, of course I cannot judge. These +are to be considered and acted upon by men on whom the public +responsibility rests, who will, doubtless, act considerately and wisely; +but the desirableness of the thing itself is unquestionable. I have had +opportunity, with some gentlemen here present, of wandering of a +summer's day through the beautiful and extensive parks of Europe and of +this country, and know how welcome and refreshing they are to the weary +traveller. "Boston Common," of course, we praise everywhere; and when +abroad, and thinking of dear home, say there is nothing like it the +world over. + +It is a good feature in the character of Bostonians to love their own +city. There is something delightful in its old buildings, and even its +crooked streets. We forget political and even religious differences in +view of ancient landmarks. We cling to the Old South, and would gladly +have kept Brattle Square with its cannon-ball, whatever might have been +thought of its theology. We cherish the memory of our fathers, and wish +to keep among us, as far as possible, signs of the good old days. This +is right and noble; but equally right, and quite as unselfish, is it to +think of those who shall come after us. HORACE BUSHNELL was a scholar, +and wrote many elaborate works on metaphysics and divinity; but the +Bushnell Park of Hartford will probably be that for which coming +generations will thank him most. Certainly it will keep his memory +fragrant and green forever. + +Our good city is justly famous for its hospitals and physicians, as well +as its churches and clergymen. I hope the contemplated parks may not +supersede the sanctuary and the sermon, though, as they say, there are +"sermons in stones, and good in every thing." But certain it is, that a +ramble through green fields at any time, and along sparkling streams, is +better than a sick-bed, or the apothecary's drugs and doses. + +We are all of us, I suppose, more or less subject to the blues, +business-men, clergymen, and even politicians. In such cases, it is of +no use to shut one's self up in the house, and brood over trouble. The +best remedy is a walk, a good long stretch into the country, fresh air, +a hearty laugh with some friend; or an exhilarating ride, Brother MURRAY +would say, probably, behind a "perfect horse." And these are some of the +blessings it is proposed to secure for us. The very season now here +speaks impressively for this enterprise. The glories of a June day, how +they make us yearn for rural scenes! Nature everywhere is beckoning. +"The mountains and the hills break forth before us into singing, and all +the trees of the field clap their hands." + + +THE PRESIDENT. We have listened with much satisfaction and enjoyment to +the address of one of the clergymen of the city of Boston: but all +denominations of the Christian Church are included in this call; and I +am now happy to introduce to you the Rev. Mr. BODFISH, Rector of the +Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Cross of the city of Boston. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF THE REV. J. P. BODFISH. + + +MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,--I am happy to stand here, where so many of +my ancestors have stood, and to address my fellow-citizens on such a +measure of public importance. When this matter was first brought to my +attention through the papers, when the plan proposed in all its grandeur +first came before my mind, I was reminded of a saying of a musical +friend of mine. He belonged to a band. He came from the fatherland; and +his great specialty was to play on the trombone. After a while, it +became rather remarkable, these solos on the trombone; and some of the +college boys wanted to put him down a little; so they commenced by +applauding. That seemed to have no effect. So one night they thought +they would try another plan. He was playing his best on the trombone; +and one of the boys cried out, "Louder!" And so he began again on the +trombone; and the boys said, "Louder!" And he tried again on the +trombone; and the boys still cried, "Louder!" And they still kept on, +"Louder!" until he almost burst every blood-vessel. And he put down his +instrument in disgust and said, "It is very well to say, 'Louder!' but +where is you going to get the vind?" [Laughter.] + +Now when I thought of this system, and the immense expense it would be, +I said to myself, Now, that is a grand system; it would be beautiful +indeed; but where are you going to get the money? But then I took the +Report of those able Commissioners, this pamphlet that is spoken of; and +I read it myself carefully to see if it was a practicable and feasible +plan, and was surprised to see the ability with which the whole matter +had been treated. So thorough had been their investigations, that they +had demonstrated it was perfectly clear that this grand and beautiful +system of parks could be built at this time, now, with a very slight +taxation upon the whole business community; and, furthermore, that by +the improvement of property in the neighborhood of the parks, and by the +advantage to the city in general, the money expended would soon return +to the taxpayers of the city; and so that objection is disposed of at +once. + +There seems to be no difficulty. There are so many solid men here in +Boston, that a work of this kind surely can be carried out with greater +ease than it has been in other cities; and we know in other cities they +have reaped great pecuniary benefit from the establishment and +building-up of their system of parks. But you would hardly expect a +clergyman here to talk on the financial question: that is a little out +of order. But the physicians have considered the medical point of view, +the sanitary point of view, how necessary it is to the health of the +city; and the financiers have demonstrated that it is easy in a +financial point of view; and it would be natural for me to speak here +to-night, perhaps, on the moral necessity of such a system of parks. + +Now, when I think of the conditions under which a great many of our +poor people live, I am not very much surprised that they are goaded into +desperation to commit some fearful crime; because we know very well, +where a person lives in the country, and has the blue sky over his head, +and the running brooks gurgling through the meadows, and the green trees +and villages, and every thing cheerful and pleasant about him, why, he +is removed from a great many temptations that are common to a large +city; and we know, that, in a moral point of view, the people of a town +or of a country district are removed from a great many temptations and +incentives to crime: therefore every one who wishes well for the +religious welfare of the people would be glad to have these parks +established as a real moral agent in the community and to the people of +this city. And, as my respected friend has suggested, perhaps the people +would rather go out in the park than to stop and hear our dull sermons. +But I would run even that risk; for the Lord's Day, you know, is a day +of rest; and, after we pay our homage to our Creator, I think it would +be pleasant even to Him to go and take your family, and take a stroll +out into these pleasant parks that are proposed for your health. +[Applause.] + +And then there is another feature which pleases me very much. You know, +in the olden time, the lords and nobles, and those who possessed the +landed estates, they felt it their duty to provide for the welfare of +the laboring classes, upon whom they depended really for their riches; +for they tilled their lands, and brought them in their incomes and the +returns from their estates: and so they watched over them with a kind of +a paternal care; and, when they were sick, they provided for them +hospitals, and they watched over them as a father would over his family. +Now, we live in a little somewhat different order of society; but still +there remains the same common duty for the men of wealth, for the men +who possess capital, to look out and provide for the wants and +necessities of the poor, on whom they depend to a great extent; for +capital cannot be independent of labor. [Applause.] + +Now I see around me, I may say, the nobility of this city. They may not +have long, sounding titles; but they have the wealth, they have the +philanthropy; and their presence here to-night shows you that they have +those same generous impulses toward the whole of this city's population. +They have come here as a unit: they are willing to pay whatever is +required to build this magnificent system of parks, that all the people +of every class may enjoy its benefits. I say they are acting the part of +the nobles of old; and they are taking care of the people of this city +as though they had a certain paternal influence and responsibility +toward them [applause], and it rejoices my heart. And in another point +of view, we know that the safety of any community and society depends +upon the contentment and happiness of all classes of its people. + +If there is one class that is ground down, and unhappy, and living under +unworthy conditions, they are, of course, immediately a dangerous +element. I say that it is a matter of good policy, as a stroke of +political economy, to provide for the wants of all classes of people in +this way, that they may live contented and happy, and have every thing +that is necessary for the health and recreation of their families. +[Applause.] + +I cannot, of course, at this late hour, delay you with arguments. You +have had sufficient already. That, as I understand it, is not the chief +object of our meeting here. The arguments are at present before the +authorities in this excellent Report of the Commissioners. + +We meet here to encourage them to go forward, to speak out in such a +positive manner, that they can hesitate no longer. It is our duty to +cheer them and encourage them in their work, and we hardly realize what +an influence this meeting will have in encouraging them to the great and +arduous work which they have undertaken to accomplish. Why, it reminds +me of a little incident that happened in New York not long ago, when one +of those great buildings was on fire,--those nine-story tenement-houses. +When the great crowd gathered there in the night, and they were surging +there, the police were trying to keep order, and the firemen were +working, and the hot flames shot up toward the sky, and the black smoke +rolled forth, and all was din and confusion; and, in the noise and +tumult of that dark and threatening night, there was one voice heard. It +was a mother's voice above the noise; and she cried, "Save my child! +Will no one save my child?" And they would hush her; but still she +cried, "Oh, save my child!" And there was one of the brave firemen, when +he learned that a little child was in the fourth story of that building, +who thought of his little ones at home; and he said he would risk his +life, he would dare any thing, rather than that child should be lost. +And they brought the great ladders, and they spliced them together, and +they swung them up against the burning building; and he commenced to +ascend. And, when he was halfway up, he looked at the hot flames and the +dense smoke rolling forth, and his heart trembled with fear: it seemed +to be instant death. But some one in the crowd below, who knew the +springs that govern the human heart, cried, "Cheer him!" "Cheer him!" +And there went up from that great crowd the wild hurrah, and it cheered +his heart like an electric thrill; and he rushed on, and disappeared in +the smoke. All was suspense; they waited with breathless anxiety: and at +last he returned with the child, and placed it in its mother's arms. +[Tremendous applause.] So you see the power of a word of encouragement +and cheer when any one has arduous work before him; and that is our duty +here to-night, my fellow-citizens,--to speak out with one voice, and +determined voice, and to cheer those who have undertaken this work, and +to let them know that we are ready to support them, that now is the +time, and that we are determined that this great work shall be +accomplished. [Applause and cheers.] + + +THE PRESIDENT. I shall now have the pleasure of introducing to the +audience Col. CHARLES W. WILDER. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF COL. CHARLES W. WILDER. + + +This large gathering of our citizens in Faneuil Hall is for some +purpose: it is significant that the people want something. I do not +understand that it is in any sense to re-affirm their conviction that +their best interests will be served by adding to our public property a +park or parks. That question has been fully discussed and decided by the +people themselves for themselves: they settled that by their, with +remarkable unanimity, voting to accept the act of the legislature, +giving power to the city government to purchase or take land for that +purpose. All classes seem to agree upon the necessity. The entire +medical faculty with one voice say we want it for sanitary reasons, and +have joined in the general petitions. Our capitalists and merchants have +spoken for themselves unmistakably by their petitions to the city +government, bearing more than seven thousand names, and representing, I +am informed, more than two hundred millions of taxable property. An able +Commission, after a year of careful study, and diligent devotion to +their duty, have made their report. The people have examined, discussed, +criticised, and finally approved and accepted it, and now come here in +Faneuil Hall to speak direct to City Hall for its adoption. Mr. +President, our professional men, our merchants and capitalists, have +spoken for themselves by their petitions and voices here to-night. It +remains only for me to speak for the more numerous class of our +fellow-citizens who pay but two dollars poll-tax. Yet they are as good +citizens, have and feel as deep interest in the growth, prosperity, and +progress of our city, as their more fortunate neighbors; and in the name +and behalf of the mechanics, the laborers, the great mass of men that +build our cities, and whose labor contributes so much to our growth and +prosperity, and whose employment is the one thing more than any other +needed to-day to inaugurate the beginning of our old-time prosperity, I +appeal to our city government to complete the work so opportunely and +well begun. It is immediate action we ask for. + +There being no difference of opinion as to the necessity and utility of +parks, and their ultimate payment for their full cost, the only open +question is the time to begin. We say that time is now,--now, while +thousands of unwillingly idle hands are waiting for work, and money is +cheap; cheap, because labor is unemployed. We say to you, gentlemen of +the city government, respectfully but earnestly, Act upon this matter +now. + +Don't wait till your summer vacation; don't wait till next month; don't +let any personal matter intervene to prevent the performance of this +public duty the people now ask at your hands. The present truly great +debt of our city, the bulk of which has been created in improvements, +made enormously more costly by the failure of city governments in past +times to comprehend the wants of a growing metropolis, admonishes you to +act now, and secure the advantages the present favorable combination of +circumstances offers. We confer on you the power to spend our money for +the public good; and we ask you to act now, because we clearly see that +delay means largely increased cost for what we must have in the near +future. + + +THE PRESIDENT. The Act under which this Commission was appointed, and +has discharged its duty, was supported, I think, by nearly every member +of the Boston delegation; and I may be allowed a single moment to add a +tribute of respect to that delegation. Boston has been well represented, +with one exception, perhaps, during the last two years, in the State +legislature; and I am very happy to know that you are now to be +addressed by a member of that delegation, who, as I said, supported this +Act when it was passed; who did not always vote with me on every +occasion, but who never voted against his conscience, never supported +any thing dishonest, or unjust, or unfair; and who will stand up, I have +no doubt, to-night, and speak well his mind, as he did on every fit +occasion in the State House, for what he deems just and right, and for +the good of the people: Mr. JOSEPH F. PAUL, whom I am very happy to +introduce to you. [Applause.] + + + + +SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH F. PAUL. + + +MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN,--I hardly know what reply to make to the +remarks of the gentleman who has just taken his seat. In fact, I think I +had better let them go, and allow you to judge for yourselves after I +have said what I propose to say. I may say, in the first place, that +this is my first appearance upon this stand as a speaker; and, when +called upon to speak after such gentlemen as you have listened to +to-night, I trust you will make all due allowance for any mistakes that +I may make. But I claim the right as a citizen of Boston, as a +tax-payer of Boston, to express my opinion upon this subject, as upon +all others in which I take an interest. The necessity of parks has been +made apparent to every gentleman here by those who are better qualified +than I am to do so. I believe that there is no man here who does not +believe that we are to have parks. I have not heard from such; and I do +not believe that there is such a man, unless it is one who does not +expect to enjoy them himself, and is unwilling that posterity should. + +Taking it for granted that that question is settled, the only question +which seems to be before the people is, whether this is the proper time; +and I propose to address myself to the consideration of that question. I +propose to speak of it as of a private enterprise, and as an individual +business-man. It has been explained to you in regard to the condition of +the labor-market, and I think that I may say fairly and squarely that +labor of the character to be used about parks has not been so cheap for +twenty years. Money is cheap; labor is required; parks are wanted; and +it is better to keep the men at work, and retain them in the city, than +to sustain them and their families at the public cost. It is not like +sending out of the country to import something for which we must pay our +money. All the money is to be paid to our own citizens; and, unless some +show of enterprise is made, we shall lose business-men from this city. +They will not stay here, and do nothing, unless the city government +makes some show of enterprise. I have had some experience myself in the +city government, having been a member of it, whether that is an honor or +not; though I hold that the honor or dishonor of any society depends +upon one's own conduct. There is always some doubt about making a move +in the city government; and, in a matter like the park question, such a +meeting as this will be a great encouragement to action. The public +feeling on this question is so great, that the parks must be +established. The project has been fought no harder than the Water Board +was; and where would the city of Boston be, if the friends of that +enterprise had not succeeded? Act here to-night, and then let the city +government do its part. Objections may be made by some gentlemen, made +conscientiously; but, five years from now, these gentlemen will not +remember that they raised any objection. + +This meeting is called for the purpose of giving the city government to +understand that the business-men, the working-men, of the city, mean +what they say, when they say that they want public parks; and there is +no question that an impulse will be given to the action of the city +government by this meeting. We are the city of Boston; and the members +of the city government act for us. + +Gentlemen, it is getting late, and there are those to follow who will +entertain you better than I can. But I propose to close with a little +story which I heard; and it was in church that I heard it, in an +excellent sermon. Just after the war of 1812, our laboring men stood, as +they stand to-day, idling about the wharves and public places. That was +the case in a little town to the east of Boston. They had enterprising +men, as we have now; and one day a gentleman stepped into a bank, and +said to the president, "Mr. President, I am going to build a +ship."--"What do you know about shipbuilding?" asked the president. +"Nothing. But I can do the business; and there are men here who can do +the work. We have the money, and there are the men. I will build the +ship, and sell it; you will get your money back; and the profit will be +divided among the men." The idea was a novel one; but the president +wanted to set the wheels of business in motion; and so he said that he +would give an answer the next day. The gentleman called promptly the +next morning; and the president informed him that the directors had +agreed to advance the money. The gentleman then went out among the idle +men, and said, "I am going to build a ship, and I want you to do the +work. I will pay you enough to live on; and, when the ship is built, we +will divide the profit." So they went to work as co-partners, and built +the ship, this gentleman generously attending to the business. The ship +was built and launched and sold, the money was paid to the bank, and the +profits divided. That was the first ship built on the Merrimack in +Newburyport, which has since become one of the largest shipbuilding +places in Massachusetts. + +So we want something to set the wheels in motion. The city of Boston +can borrow the money, and buy the land, for these parks, more cheaply +now than ever again; and the men are ready to do the work. I know of +nothing more that I can say. I am glad to see this hall filled to-night. +There are men here to-night who have at heart the interests and +prosperity of the city of Boston. That is what we are acting for; and I +trust that that hundred men will go up to City Hall, and, if the city +government will move in the matter, every true man will deem it his duty +to stand behind and encourage them. + + +THE PRESIDENT. My friends, the best things and the most enthusiastic +meetings must come to an end; but those who wait till the last generally +get the best. I have now the pleasure of introducing to you the closing +speaker, the Hon. P. A. COLLINS. + + + + +SPEECH OF THE HON. P. A. COLLINS. + + +I know that no word of mine can add to the force of this movement. I am +neither great tax-payer nor eminent sanitarist. I cannot hope to equal +others who have discussed the moral, aesthetic, sanitary, and economic +phases of the question before us. But, happily, there is no need of such +discussion now. The question of public parks has been submitted, in all +its forms and probable effects, to the ablest, keenest, wisest, of our +citizens; and there is but one answer. The answer is, that we need more +out-door life than our sedentary race enjoys, and that public grounds, +accessible to all, are not only desirable, but necessary to the moral +and physical health of our crowded population. + +This is the verdict; and, granted this, there remain but two +questions,--"Is this the time?" "Can we afford it?" To some, the present +is never the time for any thing. Their motto seems to be, "Don't do +to-day what you can put off till to-morrow, because you may not live +till to-morrow, and then you won't have to do it at all." This principle +has been acted upon by short-sighted Boston too long; and the result is +a melancholy looking-back to the time when improvements could have been +made for a tenth or a fifteenth of the present cost. We are told of our +beautiful suburbs, as if they can be suburbs forever. Even now, they are +but for the rich. Beware of trespassing in the fields and woods: they +are private property. The roads seem to belong to blood-horses and their +owners. If you wish to know the future, look at the past. Look back, you +aged men, to the fields and gardens of Tremont and Boylston Streets. +Look back, you younger men, to rambles through South Boston farms, and +land at "South End" sold by the acre. Always comes the old conservative +admonition, "Wait!"--yes, wait till the great sea-wall makes City Point +of Castle Island,--wait till the now extended arms of Boston clasp +Brookline to the bosom of the metropolis,--wait till private avarice and +easy legislation, acting intermittently, deface the shore and basin of +Charles River,--wait till the dense and ever growing population, +bursting from its narrow bounds, spreads itself in streets laid out at +random, over what you are pleased to call our suburbs,--wait, in short, +till the inevitable happens, and where are your public parks? You may +have them, even then, I grant you; but you will have them where _the +people_ cannot reach them, and where the cost will be too great. +Remember that our city growth is like the growth of all cities in the +New World and the Old; and, if we want green places in the future +Boston, we must seize them now. + +Can we afford the expense? Rather, let us ask, Can Boston afford to be +less comfortable to live in, less attractive, less healthy, than sister +cities? We can afford police, paved streets, light, sewers, scavengers, +a fire department, a board of health, and a score of other agencies, not +because they give salaries and employment to certain men, but because +the public health and safety require it; we can afford schools, +maintained at enormous cost, though it may be conceded that we could +live without education; we can afford pure water in abundance, be the +expense never so great, because we need it; and, if we need pure air, we +can afford to pay for it, to seize the means of having it, and keeping +it forever. + +And suffer me, with due modesty, to say, that we in this +meeting--representing as we do the commerce, industries, and professions +of this goodly town--have a right to demand that what we ask shall be +given us, and that Boston shall take and hold for the use of its people +this needed reservation, while yet there is time. I trust our city +fathers will need no further admonition than this meeting gives; but, if +they should, we are enlisted for the war. + +As Cromwell, grimly looking down on the fair fields and shining streams +of the land he came to conquer, said, "This is a land worth fighting +for," so let us, as we survey the magnificent area of shore and hill and +glade which fortune now permits us to dedicate to public use, exclaim, +"This, indeed, is worth our effort;" and let us strive for it till the +battle is won. + + +THE PRESIDENT. I have been requested to state that the well-known +physician, Dr. EDWARD H. CLARKE, who is too ill to be present here +to-night, has written a long and interesting letter on the subject of +this meeting, which will be published in the morning papers; and I +desire that every citizen present will make a point of reading that +letter. + + + + +LETTER OF DR. EDWARD H. CLARKE. + + +HAMILTON A. HILL, ESQ., SECRETARY, &C. + +_Dear Sir_,--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of +the 2d inst., requesting me, in the name of the committee who have +called a public meeting on the park question, to address to them a +letter which shall contain my views upon "the necessity existing at the +present time for action on this subject, and upon the Report of the Park +Commissioners." + +If my views are of any value to the community on this question, or if I +could exert any influence, however little, in bringing about a result so +necessary to the comfort, prosperity, and health of all the citizens of +Boston, as the establishment of a public park within the limits of the +city, I should esteem it not less a privilege than a duty to present +those views, and exert that influence. + +Among the many and weighty considerations that might be appropriately +urged in favor of the establishment of a park in this city, three stand +out so prominently, that their importance can scarcely be overestimated. +These are, first, the sanitary, second, the educational, and, third, the +economic aspects of the question. Let me call your attention briefly to +these three points. + +The first is the sanitary aspect of the park. The discussion of sewerage +and drainage, and of the ventilation of sewers, drains, and houses, with +which our community have latterly been made familiar, has impressed upon +our citizens, to some extent, the importance of introducing pure air +into our houses, and of keeping foul air out of them. The importance of +such ventilation cannot be overstated. But we are in danger of +forgetting that the importance of ventilating a city is as great as that +of ventilating all the houses in it, with this difference, that if a +city is not well ventilated, so as to bring fresh air into it, and to +keep foul air and poisonous gases out of it, the ventilation of +individual dwellings will be of little avail. + +The foul air of the streets will not only envelop those who pass through +them, but will penetrate the houses that line them, visiting alike the +sick and the well, increasing the danger of disease to the former, and +diminishing the health and strength of the latter. In proportion as a +city increases in size, large open spaces should be reserved. Parks are +the lungs of the city. They are more than this: they are reservoirs of +oxygen and fresh air. They produce atmospheric currents, which sweep +through and purify the streets. Parks not only offer oxygen to all who +visit them, but distribute a large amount of this prime necessity of +life everywhere in their neighborhood. Without open spaces appropriately +placed, it is impossible, in a large city, to have well ventilated +streets, and to keep the air of the houses sweet and clean. Let us +remember, moreover, that bad ventilation means poisoned air, and that +poisoned air is sure to be followed by a ghastly train of diseases, with +an occasional pestilence to remind the inhabitants what a terrible thing +it is to disregard sanitary laws. + +Improved ventilation is by no means the only sanitary good that parks +yield to a city wise enough to possess them. A fraction, and only a +small fraction, of our population, are able to leave the city during the +hot months of the year, for the country. When these favored ones reach +Nahant, Swampscott, or Newport, or some modest farmhouse, or comfortable +dwelling by the side of the many railroads that lead from the foulness +of the city to the purity of the country, or of the mountains, how +gladly and enthusiastically they speak of their escape from heat, +discomfort, and disease, to coolness, comfort, and health! But the mass +of the community,--the artisans and work-people, whose necessities +compel them to remain within the limits of the city,--their families, +children, sick ones and all, have at present no such escape from close +and impure air. + +The carrying of little children who are pinched by cholera-infantum, or +spotted by scarlet-fever, or of those who are paralyzed by diphtheria, +or distorted by scrofula, or emaciated by consumption, for a few hours a +day into the pure air and bright sunlight of an open square, has saved +many a life. Many a needless death has occurred, because the city +afforded no such opportunity for escape. A few hours' exposure of a +child on a mother's lap, or in a basket or carriage, to the freshness of +a park, will produce a sleep that never follows opium, chloral, or +ether, and will yield a chance for health that no drug can give. For the +last few years, Philadelphia has shown a diminished death-rate. Dr. +WILLIAM PEPPER, who has lately investigated the sanitary condition of +that city, commenting upon the gratifying fact just stated, says, "While +thus showing an average rate of mortality more favorable than that found +in any other city containing over 500,000 inhabitants, Philadelphia has +recently (1874) attained a degree of healthfulness almost unparalleled; +namely, with a population at that time of 775,000, the number of deaths +was but 14,966, giving a death-rate of only 19.3 per thousand. These +very favorable results are largely due to the abundant and cheap +water-supply, and to the opportunities given, even to the poorest +citizens, for the enjoyment of pure country air in the great Fairmount +Park, which contains 2,991 acres. The extent to which this is valued by +the citizens may be inferred from the fact, that, during the year 1875, +the park was visited by over eleven million persons." There is no +reason why a park in Boston should not yield as good a sanitary result +as one in Philadelphia. + +While looking at the sanitary aspects of this subject, let us not forget +that a park laid out in accordance with the plan of the Park +Commissioners will utilize localities that would otherwise become +plague-spots, and nurseries of disease. The low lands along the banks of +Charles River, portions of the Back Bay, and other sections that might +be mentioned, are sure to become unhealthy localities,--stations for +distributing the germs of disease throughout their neighborhood and at a +distance from them,--unless they are reserved, and left unoccupied. The +most extravagant way of disposing of such localities is for the city to +permit them to be built over, "improved" is the phrase, I believe, and +then suffer the consequences, in the way of increase of disease and +taxes, which follow such sort of improvements. + +Let us now pass from the sanitary to the educational aspect of our +subject. The educational value of a park to the community of a large +city is second only to its sanitary value. We are too apt to think that +education is the exclusive function of the school, and that books and +school-teachers are the only educators. This is a grievous mistake. The +education of the home and street, of the workshop and store, of the +church and theatre, of the base-ball club and the evening party, of the +rum-shop and dance-hall, and of the numerous other influences of a great +city, is more potent than that of the school. The evil of all evil +agencies is intensified, and the good of the good ones diminished, by +uncleanness and impure air. Clean hands and a pure heart go together. +Foul air prompts to vice, and oxygen to virtue, as surely as sunlight +paints the flowers, and ripens the fruits, of our gardens. The tired +workman, who, after a day's labor, needs the repose and relaxation of +home, is apt to be driven from it by the close atmosphere of the street +and house in which he lives. He would, if he could, get into the fresh +air of the country; but, as he cannot do this, he seeks the relief which +drink or other excitement yields. If there were a park accessible to +him, he with his family would seek it as instinctively as a plant +stretches towards the light. The varied opportunities of a park would +educate him and his family into the enjoyment of innocent amusements and +open-air pleasures. Deprived of these, he and his are educated into the +ways of disease and vice by the character of their surroundings. Who +that has watched the groups of families, neighbors, and friends, that +bivouac by hundreds and thousands on the parks which cluster around, +adorn, and invigorate the great cities of Europe, can have failed to +notice the innocent amusements and enjoyment of these crowds of young +and old, or to be impressed with the fact that the influence of the +natural scenes around them, of the trees and plants and flowers, of the +pure air and bright skies, is a humanizing and elevating one? It is +difficult to compute the value of such an influence in dollars and +cents, or to measure it by any scale that the market acknowledges; but +it is, nevertheless, a real, substantial, and potent one. If our large +cities are the pride and boast of the republic, they also contain the +greatest elements of danger to the state and the nation. Ignorance and +vice, disease and crime, crowd themselves into cities. There they find +their best hiding-places, their surest protection, and their most +defenceless victims. It makes one tremble to think of the thousands of +youth in our cities whom the school and the church do not reach, and who +are moulded by these influences into the worst and lowest forms of +humanity. They can not and will not go out into the country themselves, +except upon some errand of violence and crime. The city should therefore +bring the country to them, and give them a chance, at least, to +experience its humanizing and blessed influence. + +A park, or a series of parks, with its trees and running waters, its +grass and plants and flowers, its variegated surface and changing views, +and all the beauty with which such scenes are flooded, supplements the +labor of the church and school in educating, refining, and elevating the +community. There will be less gambling, drinking, and quarrelling in +Boston, when the mass of its inhabitants shall be allowed to partake of +the blessing and beauty of a public park. + +These considerations naturally bring us to the third point which has +been mentioned, viz., the economic aspect of the matter. Few will deny +the truth of the above statements; but the admission of their truth is +apt to be coupled with the reply, "The park will cost so much, we cannot +afford it." It is true that it will cost a good deal, but not so much to +each household as the inevitable cost of the sickness, vice, and death, +which the opportunities that a park provides would prevent. Are human +life and health and virtue so cheap, that we can afford to count the +cost of procuring and maintaining them? Are vice, crime, and disease so +unimportant, that we can afford to let them thrive, and propagate +themselves indefinitely? We cannot repeat too often, or ponder too +seriously, the statement made in the first report of the Park +Commissioners: "Nothing is so costly as sickness and disease: nothing so +cheap as health. Whatever promotes the former is the worst sort of +extravagance: whatever fosters the latter is the truest economy." The +truth is, it will cost the city of Boston more to get on without a park +than to incur the expense of buying and taking care of one. We pay at +present an enormous sum yearly for the maintenance of hospitals, +prisons, jails, and workhouses. It is not asserted that the +establishment of a park will depopulate these institutions, or render +them unnecessary; but no sanitarian will deny that one result, and a +most important one, of the establishment of a park, would be to diminish +the number of those who are compelled to resort to these institutions. A +greater economy than all this would be found to accrue to each household +in the increased comfort, diminished sickness, more vigorous health, and +ample enjoyment, that would be added to all its members. + +Boston has been long and justly celebrated for its health, beauty, and +wealth. If it loses the two first of these distinctions, how long will +it retain the last? Business and population will turn away from an +unhealthy and unattractive town. Defective sewerage and imperfect +drainage are sapping the health; and the occupation of the suburbs by +houses, manufactories, workshops, and stores, is destroying the beauty +of the city. Will the merchants of Boston, whose reputation for +intelligence, sagacity, and enterprise has gone out to the ends of the +world, permit a false economy to blind them to the importance of this +whole matter? + +Of the details of the financial question, I am not qualified to speak; +but I will venture a single remark. It seems only a piece of common +sense to one unfamiliar with the intricate problems of finance to say, +that, if the present time is one of great depression of values, it is +precisely the time when a wealthy corporation like the city of Boston +can purchase the land for a park at the lowest price, and therefore +should do it. + +Permit me to add a single word with regard to the plan proposed by the +Commissioners. It offers more advantages, and fewer disadvantages, than +any other that has been proposed. This might be expected, when we +reflect that it was prepared in accordance with the advice of Mr. +OLMSTEAD, than whom no one is better qualified to advise in such +matters. It may be safely asserted, that if Boston should accept this +plan, and authorize it to be carried out, the city would possess a park +unique in its character, of unrivalled beauty, and one which all our +citizens, young and old, rich and poor, would greatly enjoy, and of +which, if they once obtained it, they would never be bribed to +dispossess themselves. + +The Rev. Dr. ELLIS, in his recent eloquent address at the centennial +anniversary of the evacuation of Boston, used the following language, +"As I read the history of our fathers in all their generations, their +toil and virtue seem to me to have been the noblest, in their steady +regard for the welfare and happiness of their posterity. And as I firmly +believe that no single individual can follow the highest pattern of an +earthly life, unless his hope and faith link on to a future, so I find +it proved in all biographies and annals, that all unselfish, noble, and +heroic lives are those which parents lead for their children and their +children's children. We have such lives among us in city, state, and +nation, private and public, high and humble." May we be true to the +reputation and tradition of our fathers, and provide as intelligently +for the well-being of ourselves and our posterity as they provided for +themselves and for us! + + I am, with great respect, very truly yours, + + EDW. H. CLARKE. + +ARLINGTON STREET, BOSTON, June 6, 1876. + + +The President, in calling for a vote on the resolutions, said, I merely +wish to say that old Faneuil Hall can stand a great deal of noise; but +still I would recommend, for the benefit of future audiences, that you +should not take off the roof, nor burst the windows, nor put out the +gas. [Laughter.] + +The resolutions were unanimously agreed to; and the following committee +of a hundred, to present the result of the meeting to the city +government, was appointed; the assembly dispersing shortly after ten +o'clock. + + + + +COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED. + + +Joseph S. Ropes William P. Hunt +Marshall P. Wilder Hamilton A. Hill +Oliver W. Holmes, M.D. Joseph F. Paul +Richard Frothingham Charles W. Wilder +Samuel Cabot, M.D. M. F. Dickinson, jun. +J. Baxter Upham, M.D. P. A. Collins +Thomas J. Gargan Albert Bowker +George C. Richardson John C. Pratt +John P. Reynolds, M.D. Jerome Jones +John W. Candler H. H. A. Beach, M.D. +George B. Chase S. J. Langmaid, M.D. +William E. Coffin Joseph H. Chadwick +Francis A. Osborn Benjamin Deane +Ralph Crooker J. J. McNutt +Robert Seaver Nath. Adams +J. Mitchell Galvin B. F. Nourse +W. W. Morland, M.D. Martin Griffin +Richard Olney John J. May +Joseph W. Balch M. Doherty +C. Allen Richards Thomas B. Curtis, M.D. +Charles L. Thayer Thomas Gogin +William E. Perkins Royal E. Robbins +James Edwards William W. Clapp +J. Tisdale Bradlee E. B. Haskell +Jonas Fitch C. F. Donnelly +James Sturgis T. Quincy Browne +J. N. Borland, M.D. F. E. Goodrich +Charles W. Slack Charles W. Morris +Clement H. Hill D. N. Skillings +William V. Hutchings Hales W. Suter +William T. Hart Henry Smith +Robert Johnson William Atherton +Asa P. Potter Charles J. Bishop +William J. R. Evans Aaron D. Williams +Charles Nowell Henry C. Morse +Jacob Pfaff S. Parkman Dexter +Eben D. Jordan George P. King +George Woods Rice Albert Thompson +Thomas Mack Joseph Dix +Lewis Coleman H. M. Bearce +Charles F. Choate William B. Bacon +Roland Worthington George O. Carpenter +M. B. Leonard, M.D. Henry J. Nazro +A. H. Lewis J. Kent Crowley +George G. Crocker James N. Spillane +Charles L. Haley W. H. Forbes +Waldo Adams J. B. Dacey +John F. Payson James F. Gray +Hollis Hunnewell John Bigelow +Martin Hayes A. Claxton Cary + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Parks for the People, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE *** + +***** This file should be named 26084.txt or 26084.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/8/26084/ + +Produced by Betsie Bush, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain works at the +University of Michigan's Making of America collection.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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