Chapter 3

I do not intend, my friends, to trespass much upon your time, and certainly shall not presume to give any new information on the subject which has been presented. Owing, probably, to my long residence here, it has been thought, I suppose, that my _testimony_, in these days of calling for witnesses, may be of some importance. Of the financial bearings of this proposed enterprise, of course I cannot judge. These are to be considered and acted upon by men on whom the public responsibility rests, who will, doubtless, act considerately and wisely; but the desirableness of the thing itself is unquestionable. I have had opportunity, with some gentlemen here present, of wandering of a summer's day through the beautiful and extensive parks of Europe and of this country, and know how welcome and refreshing they are to the weary traveller. "Boston Common," of course, we praise everywhere; and when abroad, and thinking of dear home, say there is nothing like it the world over.

It is a good feature in the character of Bostonians to love their own city. There is something delightful in its old buildings, and even its crooked streets. We forget political and even religious differences in view of ancient landmarks. We cling to the Old South, and would gladly have kept Brattle Square with its cannon-ball, whatever might have been thought of its theology. We cherish the memory of our fathers, and wish to keep among us, as far as possible, signs of the good old days. This is right and noble; but equally right, and quite as unselfish, is it to think of those who shall come after us. HORACE BUSHNELL was a scholar, and wrote many elaborate works on metaphysics and divinity; but the Bushnell Park of Hartford will probably be that for which coming generations will thank him most. Certainly it will keep his memory fragrant and green forever.

Our good city is justly famous for its hospitals and physicians, as well as its churches and clergymen. I hope the contemplated parks may not supersede the sanctuary and the sermon, though, as they say, there are "sermons in stones, and good in every thing." But certain it is, that a ramble through green fields at any time, and along sparkling streams, is better than a sick-bed, or the apothecary's drugs and doses.

We are all of us, I suppose, more or less subject to the blues, business-men, clergymen, and even politicians. In such cases, it is of no use to shut one's self up in the house, and brood over trouble. The best remedy is a walk, a good long stretch into the country, fresh air, a hearty laugh with some friend; or an exhilarating ride, Brother MURRAY would say, probably, behind a "perfect horse." And these are some of the blessings it is proposed to secure for us. The very season now here speaks impressively for this enterprise. The glories of a June day, how they make us yearn for rural scenes! Nature everywhere is beckoning. "The mountains and the hills break forth before us into singing, and all the trees of the field clap their hands."

THE PRESIDENT. We have listened with much satisfaction and enjoyment to the address of one of the clergymen of the city of Boston: but all denominations of the Christian Church are included in this call; and I am now happy to introduce to you the Rev. Mr. BODFISH, Rector of the Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Cross of the city of Boston. [Applause.]

SPEECH OF THE REV. J. P. BODFISH.

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,--I am happy to stand here, where so many of my ancestors have stood, and to address my fellow-citizens on such a measure of public importance. When this matter was first brought to my attention through the papers, when the plan proposed in all its grandeur first came before my mind, I was reminded of a saying of a musical friend of mine. He belonged to a band. He came from the fatherland; and his great specialty was to play on the trombone. After a while, it became rather remarkable, these solos on the trombone; and some of the college boys wanted to put him down a little; so they commenced by applauding. That seemed to have no effect. So one night they thought they would try another plan. He was playing his best on the trombone; and one of the boys cried out, "Louder!" And so he began again on the trombone; and the boys said, "Louder!" And he tried again on the trombone; and the boys still cried, "Louder!" And they still kept on, "Louder!" until he almost burst every blood-vessel. And he put down his instrument in disgust and said, "It is very well to say, 'Louder!' but where is you going to get the vind?" [Laughter.]

Now when I thought of this system, and the immense expense it would be, I said to myself, Now, that is a grand system; it would be beautiful indeed; but where are you going to get the money? But then I took the Report of those able Commissioners, this pamphlet that is spoken of; and I read it myself carefully to see if it was a practicable and feasible plan, and was surprised to see the ability with which the whole matter had been treated. So thorough had been their investigations, that they had demonstrated it was perfectly clear that this grand and beautiful system of parks could be built at this time, now, with a very slight taxation upon the whole business community; and, furthermore, that by the improvement of property in the neighborhood of the parks, and by the advantage to the city in general, the money expended would soon return to the taxpayers of the city; and so that objection is disposed of at once.

There seems to be no difficulty. There are so many solid men here in Boston, that a work of this kind surely can be carried out with greater ease than it has been in other cities; and we know in other cities they have reaped great pecuniary benefit from the establishment and building-up of their system of parks. But you would hardly expect a clergyman here to talk on the financial question: that is a little out of order. But the physicians have considered the medical point of view, the sanitary point of view, how necessary it is to the health of the city; and the financiers have demonstrated that it is easy in a financial point of view; and it would be natural for me to speak here to-night, perhaps, on the moral necessity of such a system of parks.

Now, when I think of the conditions under which a great many of our poor people live, I am not very much surprised that they are goaded into desperation to commit some fearful crime; because we know very well, where a person lives in the country, and has the blue sky over his head, and the running brooks gurgling through the meadows, and the green trees and villages, and every thing cheerful and pleasant about him, why, he is removed from a great many temptations that are common to a large city; and we know, that, in a moral point of view, the people of a town or of a country district are removed from a great many temptations and incentives to crime: therefore every one who wishes well for the religious welfare of the people would be glad to have these parks established as a real moral agent in the community and to the people of this city. And, as my respected friend has suggested, perhaps the people would rather go out in the park than to stop and hear our dull sermons. But I would run even that risk; for the Lord's Day, you know, is a day of rest; and, after we pay our homage to our Creator, I think it would be pleasant even to Him to go and take your family, and take a stroll out into these pleasant parks that are proposed for your health. [Applause.]

And then there is another feature which pleases me very much. You know, in the olden time, the lords and nobles, and those who possessed the landed estates, they felt it their duty to provide for the welfare of the laboring classes, upon whom they depended really for their riches; for they tilled their lands, and brought them in their incomes and the returns from their estates: and so they watched over them with a kind of a paternal care; and, when they were sick, they provided for them hospitals, and they watched over them as a father would over his family. Now, we live in a little somewhat different order of society; but still there remains the same common duty for the men of wealth, for the men who possess capital, to look out and provide for the wants and necessities of the poor, on whom they depend to a great extent; for capital cannot be independent of labor. [Applause.]

Now I see around me, I may say, the nobility of this city. They may not have long, sounding titles; but they have the wealth, they have the philanthropy; and their presence here to-night shows you that they have those same generous impulses toward the whole of this city's population. They have come here as a unit: they are willing to pay whatever is required to build this magnificent system of parks, that all the people of every class may enjoy its benefits. I say they are acting the part of the nobles of old; and they are taking care of the people of this city as though they had a certain paternal influence and responsibility toward them [applause], and it rejoices my heart. And in another point of view, we know that the safety of any community and society depends upon the contentment and happiness of all classes of its people.

If there is one class that is ground down, and unhappy, and living under unworthy conditions, they are, of course, immediately a dangerous element. I say that it is a matter of good policy, as a stroke of political economy, to provide for the wants of all classes of people in this way, that they may live contented and happy, and have every thing that is necessary for the health and recreation of their families. [Applause.]

I cannot, of course, at this late hour, delay you with arguments. You have had sufficient already. That, as I understand it, is not the chief object of our meeting here. The arguments are at present before the authorities in this excellent Report of the Commissioners.

We meet here to encourage them to go forward, to speak out in such a positive manner, that they can hesitate no longer. It is our duty to cheer them and encourage them in their work, and we hardly realize what an influence this meeting will have in encouraging them to the great and arduous work which they have undertaken to accomplish. Why, it reminds me of a little incident that happened in New York not long ago, when one of those great buildings was on fire,--those nine-story tenement-houses. When the great crowd gathered there in the night, and they were surging there, the police were trying to keep order, and the firemen were working, and the hot flames shot up toward the sky, and the black smoke rolled forth, and all was din and confusion; and, in the noise and tumult of that dark and threatening night, there was one voice heard. It was a mother's voice above the noise; and she cried, "Save my child! Will no one save my child?" And they would hush her; but still she cried, "Oh, save my child!" And there was one of the brave firemen, when he learned that a little child was in the fourth story of that building, who thought of his little ones at home; and he said he would risk his life, he would dare any thing, rather than that child should be lost. And they brought the great ladders, and they spliced them together, and they swung them up against the burning building; and he commenced to ascend. And, when he was halfway up, he looked at the hot flames and the dense smoke rolling forth, and his heart trembled with fear: it seemed to be instant death. But some one in the crowd below, who knew the springs that govern the human heart, cried, "Cheer him!" "Cheer him!" And there went up from that great crowd the wild hurrah, and it cheered his heart like an electric thrill; and he rushed on, and disappeared in the smoke. All was suspense; they waited with breathless anxiety: and at last he returned with the child, and placed it in its mother's arms. [Tremendous applause.] So you see the power of a word of encouragement and cheer when any one has arduous work before him; and that is our duty here to-night, my fellow-citizens,--to speak out with one voice, and determined voice, and to cheer those who have undertaken this work, and to let them know that we are ready to support them, that now is the time, and that we are determined that this great work shall be accomplished. [Applause and cheers.]

THE PRESIDENT. I shall now have the pleasure of introducing to the audience Col. CHARLES W. WILDER. [Applause.]

SPEECH OF COL. CHARLES W. WILDER.

This large gathering of our citizens in Faneuil Hall is for some purpose: it is significant that the people want something. I do not understand that it is in any sense to re-affirm their conviction that their best interests will be served by adding to our public property a park or parks. That question has been fully discussed and decided by the people themselves for themselves: they settled that by their, with remarkable unanimity, voting to accept the act of the legislature, giving power to the city government to purchase or take land for that purpose. All classes seem to agree upon the necessity. The entire medical faculty with one voice say we want it for sanitary reasons, and have joined in the general petitions. Our capitalists and merchants have spoken for themselves unmistakably by their petitions to the city government, bearing more than seven thousand names, and representing, I am informed, more than two hundred millions of taxable property. An able Commission, after a year of careful study, and diligent devotion to their duty, have made their report. The people have examined, discussed, criticised, and finally approved and accepted it, and now come here in Faneuil Hall to speak direct to City Hall for its adoption. Mr. President, our professional men, our merchants and capitalists, have spoken for themselves by their petitions and voices here to-night. It remains only for me to speak for the more numerous class of our fellow-citizens who pay but two dollars poll-tax. Yet they are as good citizens, have and feel as deep interest in the growth, prosperity, and progress of our city, as their more fortunate neighbors; and in the name and behalf of the mechanics, the laborers, the great mass of men that build our cities, and whose labor contributes so much to our growth and prosperity, and whose employment is the one thing more than any other needed to-day to inaugurate the beginning of our old-time prosperity, I appeal to our city government to complete the work so opportunely and well begun. It is immediate action we ask for.

There being no difference of opinion as to the necessity and utility of parks, and their ultimate payment for their full cost, the only open question is the time to begin. We say that time is now,--now, while thousands of unwillingly idle hands are waiting for work, and money is cheap; cheap, because labor is unemployed. We say to you, gentlemen of the city government, respectfully but earnestly, Act upon this matter now.

Don't wait till your summer vacation; don't wait till next month; don't let any personal matter intervene to prevent the performance of this public duty the people now ask at your hands. The present truly great debt of our city, the bulk of which has been created in improvements, made enormously more costly by the failure of city governments in past times to comprehend the wants of a growing metropolis, admonishes you to act now, and secure the advantages the present favorable combination of circumstances offers. We confer on you the power to spend our money for the public good; and we ask you to act now, because we clearly see that delay means largely increased cost for what we must have in the near future.

THE PRESIDENT. The Act under which this Commission was appointed, and has discharged its duty, was supported, I think, by nearly every member of the Boston delegation; and I may be allowed a single moment to add a tribute of respect to that delegation. Boston has been well represented, with one exception, perhaps, during the last two years, in the State legislature; and I am very happy to know that you are now to be addressed by a member of that delegation, who, as I said, supported this Act when it was passed; who did not always vote with me on every occasion, but who never voted against his conscience, never supported any thing dishonest, or unjust, or unfair; and who will stand up, I have no doubt, to-night, and speak well his mind, as he did on every fit occasion in the State House, for what he deems just and right, and for the good of the people: Mr. JOSEPH F. PAUL, whom I am very happy to introduce to you. [Applause.]

SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH F. PAUL.

MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN,--I hardly know what reply to make to the remarks of the gentleman who has just taken his seat. In fact, I think I had better let them go, and allow you to judge for yourselves after I have said what I propose to say. I may say, in the first place, that this is my first appearance upon this stand as a speaker; and, when called upon to speak after such gentlemen as you have listened to to-night, I trust you will make all due allowance for any mistakes that I may make. But I claim the right as a citizen of Boston, as a tax-payer of Boston, to express my opinion upon this subject, as upon all others in which I take an interest. The necessity of parks has been made apparent to every gentleman here by those who are better qualified than I am to do so. I believe that there is no man here who does not believe that we are to have parks. I have not heard from such; and I do not believe that there is such a man, unless it is one who does not expect to enjoy them himself, and is unwilling that posterity should.

Taking it for granted that that question is settled, the only question which seems to be before the people is, whether this is the proper time; and I propose to address myself to the consideration of that question. I propose to speak of it as of a private enterprise, and as an individual business-man. It has been explained to you in regard to the condition of the labor-market, and I think that I may say fairly and squarely that labor of the character to be used about parks has not been so cheap for twenty years. Money is cheap; labor is required; parks are wanted; and it is better to keep the men at work, and retain them in the city, than to sustain them and their families at the public cost. It is not like sending out of the country to import something for which we must pay our money. All the money is to be paid to our own citizens; and, unless some show of enterprise is made, we shall lose business-men from this city. They will not stay here, and do nothing, unless the city government makes some show of enterprise. I have had some experience myself in the city government, having been a member of it, whether that is an honor or not; though I hold that the honor or dishonor of any society depends upon one's own conduct. There is always some doubt about making a move in the city government; and, in a matter like the park question, such a meeting as this will be a great encouragement to action. The public feeling on this question is so great, that the parks must be established. The project has been fought no harder than the Water Board was; and where would the city of Boston be, if the friends of that enterprise had not succeeded? Act here to-night, and then let the city government do its part. Objections may be made by some gentlemen, made conscientiously; but, five years from now, these gentlemen will not remember that they raised any objection.

This meeting is called for the purpose of giving the city government to understand that the business-men, the working-men, of the city, mean what they say, when they say that they want public parks; and there is no question that an impulse will be given to the action of the city government by this meeting. We are the city of Boston; and the members of the city government act for us.

Gentlemen, it is getting late, and there are those to follow who will entertain you better than I can. But I propose to close with a little story which I heard; and it was in church that I heard it, in an excellent sermon. Just after the war of 1812, our laboring men stood, as they stand to-day, idling about the wharves and public places. That was the case in a little town to the east of Boston. They had enterprising men, as we have now; and one day a gentleman stepped into a bank, and said to the president, "Mr. President, I am going to build a ship."--"What do you know about shipbuilding?" asked the president. "Nothing. But I can do the business; and there are men here who can do the work. We have the money, and there are the men. I will build the ship, and sell it; you will get your money back; and the profit will be divided among the men." The idea was a novel one; but the president wanted to set the wheels of business in motion; and so he said that he would give an answer the next day. The gentleman called promptly the next morning; and the president informed him that the directors had agreed to advance the money. The gentleman then went out among the idle men, and said, "I am going to build a ship, and I want you to do the work. I will pay you enough to live on; and, when the ship is built, we will divide the profit." So they went to work as co-partners, and built the ship, this gentleman generously attending to the business. The ship was built and launched and sold, the money was paid to the bank, and the profits divided. That was the first ship built on the Merrimack in Newburyport, which has since become one of the largest shipbuilding places in Massachusetts.

So we want something to set the wheels in motion. The city of Boston can borrow the money, and buy the land, for these parks, more cheaply now than ever again; and the men are ready to do the work. I know of nothing more that I can say. I am glad to see this hall filled to-night. There are men here to-night who have at heart the interests and prosperity of the city of Boston. That is what we are acting for; and I trust that that hundred men will go up to City Hall, and, if the city government will move in the matter, every true man will deem it his duty to stand behind and encourage them.

THE PRESIDENT. My friends, the best things and the most enthusiastic meetings must come to an end; but those who wait till the last generally get the best. I have now the pleasure of introducing to you the closing speaker, the Hon. P. A. COLLINS.

SPEECH OF THE HON. P. A. COLLINS.

I know that no word of mine can add to the force of this movement. I am neither great tax-payer nor eminent sanitarist. I cannot hope to equal others who have discussed the moral, aesthetic, sanitary, and economic phases of the question before us. But, happily, there is no need of such discussion now. The question of public parks has been submitted, in all its forms and probable effects, to the ablest, keenest, wisest, of our citizens; and there is but one answer. The answer is, that we need more out-door life than our sedentary race enjoys, and that public grounds, accessible to all, are not only desirable, but necessary to the moral and physical health of our crowded population.