Parks for the People / Proceedings of a Public Meeting held at Faneuil Hall, June 7, 1876

by Various

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.]