The city of Boston has a population of six hundred thousand, and the
centre around which it clusters is the well-known Boston Common, set
apart in 1634, and always jealously reserved for public uses, the
surface rising upon its northern verge towards Beacon Hill. No matter
by what route approached, the city has the appearance of a broad cone
with a wide-spreading base, ascending gradually to the bulb-like apex
of the gilded State House dome. Occasionally a tall building looms
above the mass, or it is surmounted by church-spires and the fanciful
towers of modern construction, or by a high chimney pouring out black
smoke; but it is a symmetrical scene in the general view, though in
many parts the surface of the actual city is very uneven. The Common
rises towards the State House from the south and west by a graceful
plane interspersed with hillocks. It is crossed by many pleasant
walks, and has broad open spaces used for sports and military
displays. It is rich in noble old trees, and covers nearly fifty
acres, while to the westward is an additional level park of half the
size, known as the Public Garden, separated by a wide street
accommodating the cross-town traffic. This noted Boston Common was the
ancient Puritan pasture-ground, and it is rich in traditions. In the
colonial wars, the captured hostile Indians were put to death here,
their grinning heads impaled on stakes for a public warning. Murderers
were gibbeted, witches burnt and duels fought here. The impassioned
George Whitefield, in the middle of the eighteenth century, preached
here to a congregation of twenty thousand. An English traveller in the
late seventeenth century described the place as "a small but pleasant
Common where the gallants, a little before sunset, walk with their
marmalet-madams till the bell at nine o'clock rings them home."
Sometimes it was a fortified camp, and it was always a pleasure-ground,
while during the great fire of 1872, which destroyed the chief
business section with property valued at $70,000,000, enormous piles
of hastily saved goods filled the eastern portions next to Tremont
Street, bounding it on that side. Beacon Street is the northern border
and Boylston Street the southern, there being rows of stately elms
upon the walks along these streets and the pathways leading across the
Common in various directions.
Flagstaff Hill, the most prominent eminence, near the centre of the
Common, is surmounted by the Soldiers' Monument, rising ninety feet,
with a colossal statue of America on the apex, overlooking the city.
It was designed by Milmore, and is one of the most imposing memorials
of the Civil War in the country. Nearby stood the "Old Elm," which was
much older than the city, and was blown down in 1876. The adjacent
sheet of water is the noted "Frog Pond" of colonial memory, and dear
to the hearts of all old Bostonians. Near the northeastern boundary
the Brewer Fountain, famous for its magnificent bronzes, the
munificent gift of a prominent citizen, pours out its limpid waters. A
colossal equestrian statue of Washington adorns the Public Garden.
These attractive grounds are additionally embellished by tasteful
little lakes, statues and lovely floral displays. On the southern side
of the Common is the old Central Burying-Ground, which contains the
grave of Gilbert Stuart, the portrait painter, who died in 1828.
Beneath the edge of the Common on the southern and eastern sides is
the great Subway, which crosses Boston, giving needed relief to the
congested traffic, and was completed in 1898 at a cost of nearly
$5,000,000, a most commodious, airy and well-lighted tunnel,
accommodating many lines of electric cars, and providing speedy
transit across the crowded city.