» 
 
PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OF A 
 
 PUBLIC MEETING 
 
 HELD AT 
 
 FANEUIL HALL, 
 
 JUNE 7, 1876. 
 BOSTON : 
 
 FRANKLIN PRESS: RANI), AVERY, & CO. 
 187G. 
 
58 
 
PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OF A 
 
 PUBLIC MEETING 
 
 HELD AT 
 
 FANEUIL HALL, 
 
 June 7, 1876. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 FRANKLIN PRESS : RAND, AVERY, & CO. 
 187G. 
 
BO 
 
61 
 
 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 
 
62 
 
63 
 
 FANEUIL HALL MEETING 
 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 Arrange- 
 ments, 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 prosper- 
 ity, of our citizens in the future. The Committee had only to 
 
6 
 
 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 present the call or address through the press, which some of 
 you have read, to find hundreds read)' 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, philan- 
 thropists, the representatives of the learned professions. We 
 have the capitalist ; we have the merchant ; we have the me- 
 chanic ; 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 Amort, 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 Gogin, William Endicott, jcn., Albert Bow- 
 ker, Daniel J. Sweeney, Patrick T. Jackson, R. ML Pulsifer, Roland 
 Worthington, J ohn G. Blake, M.D. J. H. Chadwick, Lewis Coleman. 
 
 SECRET AR FES. 
 HAMILTON A. HILL. WILLIAM E. PERKINS. 
 
 The list of names was unanimously approved ; and the an- 
 nouncement of the election of the gentlemen named therein 
 was received with applause. 
 
65 
 
 SPEECn OF MR. JOSEPH S. ROrES. 7 
 
 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 impor- 
 tant 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 trav- 
 elling 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 seven- 
 fold, 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 
 
()(; 
 
 8 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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. Peters- 
 burg ? And echo answers, " Where?" [Laughter and ap- 
 plause.] 
 
 " 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 legisla- 
 ture, 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 extrava- 
 gance." 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 ? 
 
SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH S. ROPES. 
 
 9 
 
 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 pursu- 
 ance of that law, a Commission was appointed by the city of 
 Boston, the names of the gentlemen composing which Commis- 
 sion 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 Bos- 
 ton, 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 com- 
 mend this admirable system to our city government. [Applause.] 
 I have now the pleasure of introducing Mr. George B. Chase, 
 who will present the resolutions. 
 
68 
 
 10 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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 sub- 
 jects relating to the development and prosperity of the city. It 
 is hardly necessary, Mr. Chairman, in such a connection, to men- 
 tion 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 commen- 
 surate with the growing commercial importance and metropoli- 
 tan influence of the city. 
 
 Resolved, That the plan for a system of parks and parkways, 
 prepared and recommended by the Park Commissioners, com- 
 mends 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 measures for carrying it into execution. 
 
SPEECH OF MR. RICHARD U. DANA, JUX. 
 
 11 
 
 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 sec- 
 retaries 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 resolu- 
 tions, which evidently meet with your unanimous approbation. 
 You will now be addressed in behalf of these resolutions 
 by one who needs no introduction from me, Mr. Richard H. 
 Dana, Jun. [Prolonged applause.] 
 
 SPEECH OF MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUN. 
 
 Fellow-Citizexs, — 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 
 
70 
 
 12 PARKS FOR TEE PEOPLE. 
 
 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 Robin- 
 son 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 indus- 
 try, 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 amuse- 
 ments (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 an)' 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 wholesome- 
 ness and the beauty of our beloved city against this encroach- 
 ment 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 
 
SPEECH OF MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUN. 
 
 13 
 
 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 Bos- 
 ton — beautiful. As you ride over them, there are trees hang- 
 ing 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 neces- 
 sity. 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 accommoda- 
 tions 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 beau- 
 ties of Boston ; that they were taking up the land in the suburbs 
 apidly : 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 
 
14 
 
 PARES FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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, tak- 
 ing a slant in a certain direction, they voted very largely against 
 it, and it fell through. We must jtake 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 much to take dwelling-houses and fac- 
 tories 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, 
 
73 
 
 SPEECH OF MR. RICHARD 27. DANA, JUN. 15 
 
 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, gentle- 
 men, that, when they finish there task, there will be no investi- 
 gation. [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 character- 
 
74 
 
 16 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 istics 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 invigo- 
 rating, 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 
 da} r ! 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 arid 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.] 
 
SPEECH OF MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUN. 
 
 7 
 
 17 
 
 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 con- 
 venient 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 even 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 
 
76 
 
 IS PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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 favora- 
 ble 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, w T hen 
 the price of labor is as low as it is now [applause] ; and that 
 
77 
 
 SPEECH OF MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUJST. 19 
 
 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 econo- 
 mists, 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 waj r 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 Com- 
 missioners ; 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 Bus- 
 sey 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 
 
TS 
 
 20 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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. There- 
 fore I hope that you will with unanimity adopt the resolutions, 
 and call upon the city government to proceed at once. [Ap- 
 plause.] 
 
 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 exces- 
 sive mortality among infants and children under five years of 
 a <T e. 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 dis- 
 ease 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 first- 
 born, and, oftener still, the last-born, out of almost every house- 
 hold in certain districts, as in the heaviest curse laid on Egypt. 
 Thousands have fled the city, as they deserted London in the 
 
79 
 
 SPEECH OF DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 21 
 
 season of the plague ; but thousands are left to follow in the 
 funeral procession of those who were the hope of their house- 
 holds. 
 
 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 birth- 
 right 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 need- 
 less 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 ques- 
 tion 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," 
 
so 
 
 22 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 " 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 sus- 
 pect me of exaggeration, not very uncommon in public speakers. 
 I will therefore intrench myself behind certain details which T 
 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. Col- 
 lins 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 con- 
 siderable 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 
 
81 
 
 f/ 
 
 SPEECH OF DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 23 
 
 mortality fell, from seventeen in a hundred, clown to between five 
 and six ; and Dr. Collins gives us the result np to his time in 
 these words, " Tims, 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 Avails 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 
 
82 
 
 24 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Philadelphia, long and well known by his writings, u 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 Phila- 
 delphia, 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" recom- 
 mended 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 south- 
 west, 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 suffer- 
 
83 
 
 I 
 
 SPEECH OF DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 25 
 
 ing 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 advan- 
 tages 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 com- 
 munity, not of a thriving town, but of a true metropolis, large 
 enough for a citizen of the world to live in without feeling him- 
 self 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 memorv, not only for all the happi- 
 ness 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 intro- 
 duce to you the Rev. Dr. Neale, the oldest settled pastor of 
 the city of Boston. [Applause,] 
 
84 
 
 26 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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 enter- 
 prise, 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 refresh- 
 ing 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 build- 
 ings, 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 memoiy 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 unself- 
 ish, 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 contem- 
 plated parks may not supersede the sanctuary and the sermon, 
 though, as they say, there are "sermons in stones, and good in 
 
85 
 
 2f 
 
 SPEECH OF THE REV. J. P. BODFISII. 27 
 
 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 u 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. 44 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. 
 
 Mb. 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 father- 
 land ; 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 
 
SG 
 
 2S PARKS FOR. THE PEOPLE. 
 
 another plan. He was playing his best on the trombone ; and 
 one of the boys cried out, 44 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, 44 Louder ! " 
 And they still kept on, 44 Louder ! " until he almost burst every 
 blood-vessel. And he put down his instrument in disgust and 
 said, 44 It is very well to say, 4 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 Commission- 
 ers, this pamphlet that is spoken of ; and I read it myself care- 
 fully 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 commu- 
 nity ; 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 car- 
 ried out with greater ease than it has been in other cities ; and 
 we know in other cities they have reaped great pecuniary ben- 
 efit 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 sani- 
 tary 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 
 
87 
 
 SPEECH OF THE REV. J. P. B ODFISH. 29 
 
 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 liye 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. [Ap- 
 plause.] 
 
 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 
 
30 
 
 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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, immedi- 
 ately 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 srreat and arduous work which 
 they have undertaken to accomplish. Why, it reminds me of a 
 little incident that happened in Xew York not long ago, when 
 one of those great buildings was on fire, — those nine-story tene- 
 ment-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 ni^ht, there was one voice heard. It was a 
 mother's voice above the noise ; and she cried, " Save my child ! 
 
SPEECH OF COL. CHARLES W. WILDER. 
 
 Will no one save my child ? " And they would hush her ; but 
 still she cried, 44 Oh, save ray 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 ardu- 
 ous 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 introdu- 
 cing 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 con- 
 viction 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 : 
 
90 
 
 32 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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 mer- 
 chants have spoken for themselves unmistakably by their peti- 
 tions 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 Fan- 
 euil 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 fortu- 
 nate 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 govern- 
 ment, 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 
 
SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH F. PAUL. 
 
 V 
 
 S3 
 
 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 com- 
 prehend the wants of a growing metropolis, admonishes you to 
 act now, and secure the advantages the present favorable com- 
 bination 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 excep- 
 tion, 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 pro- 
 pose 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 
 
92 
 
 34 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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 consid- 
 eration of that question. I propose to speak of it as of a private 
 enterprise, and as an individual business-man. It has been ex- 
 plained 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 
 
93 
 
 1* 
 
 SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH F. PAUL. 35 
 
 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 gen- 
 tleman 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 busi- 
 ness. 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 Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
94 
 
 36 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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 pop- 
 ulation. 
 
 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 melan- 
 
95 
 
 SPEECH OF THE HON. P. A. COLLINS. 37 
 
 choh* 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 Boyl- 
 ston 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 t 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 hav- 
 ing it, and keeping it forever. 
 
 And suffer me, with due modesty, to say, that we in this 
 
<)(', 
 
 38 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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, 44 This is 
 a land worth fighting for," so let us, as we survey the magnifi- 
 cent area of shore and hill and glade which fortune now permits 
 us to dedicate to public use, exclaim, 44 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 ques- 
 tion, to address to them a letter which shall contain my views 
 upon 44 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 ques- 
 tion, 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. 
 
97 
 
 n 
 
 LETTER OF DR. EDWARD H. CLARKE. 39 
 
 Among the many and weighty considerations that might be 
 appropriately urged in favor of the establishment of a park in 
 this city, three stand ont 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 ven- 
 tilation 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 venti- 
 lation means* poisoned air, and that poisoned air is sure to be 
 followed by a ghastly train of diseases, with an occasional pes- 
 tilence to remind the inhabitants what a terrible thing it is to 
 disregard sanitary laws. 
 
 Improved ventilation is by no means the only sanitary good 
 
98 
 
 40 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 that parks yield to a city wise enough to possess them. A frac- 
 tion, 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 New- 
 port, 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 para- 
 lyzed 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 Peppee, who has lately investigated 
 the sanitary condition of that city, commenting upon the grati- 
 fying 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 un- 
 paralleled ; 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 opportu- 
 nities given, even to the poorest citizens, for the enjoyment of 
 pure country air in the great Fairmount Park, which contains 
 ^,991 acres. The extent to which this is valued by the citizens 
 may be inferred from the fact, that, during the year 1875, the 
 
5)9 
 
 ff 
 
 LETTER OF DR. EDWARD B, CLARKE. 41 
 
 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 other- 
 wise 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 dis- 
 tance 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 com- 
 munity 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 instinc- 
 tively as a plant stretches towards the light. The varied op- 
 
100 
 
 42 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 portunities 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 them- 
 selves 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 w T ill 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 bless- 
 ing 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 
 
101 
 
 /Of 
 
 LETTER OF DR. EDWARD H. CLARKE. 43 
 
 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 extrava- 
 gance : whatever fosters the latter is the truest economy." 
 The truth is, it will cost the city of Boston more to get on with- 
 out 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 dis- 
 tinctions, how long will it retain the last ? Business and popu- 
 lation 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, manu- 
 factories, 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 im- 
 portance of this whole matter ? 
 
102 
 
 44 PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 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 prob- 
 lems 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 pro- 
 posed 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 au- 
 thorize 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 cen- 
 tennial anniversary of the evacuation of Boston, used the fol- 
 lowing language, 44 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 indi- 
 vidual 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 chil- 
 dren'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, 
 
 Edvy\ H. Clakke. 
 
 Arlington Street, Boston, June 6, 1876. 
 
103 
 
 COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED. 45 
 
 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 fol- 
 lowing 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 
 
 >> Hliam i . Hunt 
 
 iviarsuaii i . >> uuer 
 
 rr„ „ : i f ... \ tt: i 1 
 
 Hamilton A. mil 
 
 \Jll\GT >v . noimts. jM.U. 
 
 jo?epn x . jraui 
 
 Richard Frothincrham 
 
 L/narie> vv . >> uoer 
 
 Samuel Cabot, M D. 
 
 M. F. Dickinson, jun. 
 
 o. xsaxter Lpnam, 31. L). 
 
 Jr. A. Loinns 
 
 Thomas J. Gargan 
 
 Albert Bowker 
 
 George C. Richardson 
 
 John C. Pratt 
 
 John Jr. Keynolus, M. D. 
 
 Jerome Jones 
 
 *Tr iVi n W f" 1 ^ n rl lc*t« 
 uuiui m , v*<iiiuici 
 
 11. 11. .rY. UctlCLI, JH. JL/. 
 
 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 
 
 Xath; 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. X. 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 
 
PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Robert Johnson 
 Asa P. Potter 
 "William J. R. Evans 
 Charles .So well 
 Jacob P&ff 
 Eben D. Jordan 
 George Woods Rice 
 Thomas Mack 
 Lewis Coleman 
 Charles F, Choate 
 Roland Worthinaton 
 M. B. Leonard, M.D. 
 A. H. Lewis 
 George G. Crocker 
 Charles L. Haley 
 Waldo Adams 
 John F. Pa} son 
 Ilollis Hunnewell 
 Martin Hayes 
 
 William Atherton 
 Charles J. Bishop 
 Aaron D. Williams 
 Henry C. Morse 
 S. Park man Dexter 
 George P. King 
 Albert Thompson 
 Joseph Dix 
 EL M. Bearce 
 Wiliam B. Bacon 
 George O. Carpenter 
 Henry J. Nazro 
 J. Kent Crowley 
 James N. Spillane 
 W. H. Forbes 
 J. B. Dacey 
 James F. Gray 
 John Bigelow 
 A. Claxton Cary 
 
103 
 
 I of 
 
10(5 
 
 I 
 
107 
 
 m 
 
3 9031 033 43015 8 
 SJUOTPLE VOLUMES SOUND wfwpp 
 
 *