Parks for the People

their recreation and their amusements (for they will have them); and, if they are not good and creditable and honorable, they will not cease to exist, but they will come before us in the most shameful and unwholesome form. We used to be told, gentlemen, that Boston had natural parks all about her, and she did not need any artificial parks. Well, now, I am not in favor of any artificial parks. All I ask is, that the beauty of the environs of Boston may be preserved. [Applause.]

We are on the defensive. We are defending the wholesomeness and the beauty of our beloved city against this encroachment of population. Why, the time was--Mr. ROPES will tell you when the time was--when the Back Bay was a beautiful sheet of water, filled at high tide, carrying the healthful air through the whole city. But then the necessity of population called for its filling up, and it is now piled in upon, and we have there now what Dr. CLARKE called "a natural cesspool."

We changed the Back Bay from a beautiful bay, w