is handsome enough to attract attention. It was designed in 1795 by
Charles Bulfinch, a famous architect. The front of the building to-day is
the historic Bulfinch front. But as Boston grew, so also did the State
House, and additions were made in 1853, in 1889, and in 1915, until now
we have the impressive building we are about to enter.
[Illustration: DRILLING ON THE COMMON]
But stop after climbing the main steps, turn around, and look at the
green field before you. This is Boston Common, the famous Boston Common
where the people of long ago used to pasture their cows; where the
British in the early days of the Revolution set up their fortified camps
during the siege of Boston; and where, at the present time, the admiring
relatives of the high-school boys assemble yearly to see them go through
their military drill. Situated as it is in the very heart of the city,
Boston Common is the resting place, the breathing place, for thousands.
It is the people's playground. Fireworks, band concerts, public speaking,
all prove that its public character has never been lost, and that it is
now as much of a Common as it was in 1649, when it was first laid out. By
a wise clause in the city charter, this Common cannot be sold or leased
without the consent of the citizens.
[Illustration: A CORNER OF THE COMMON, SHOWING THE SHAW MEMORIAL]
The Common contains many memorials erected by a grateful people. The most
conspicuous is the Army and Navy Monument, which reaches far above the
trees. Directly opposite the State House is the Shaw Memorial, a
wonderful bronze bas-relief by Saint Gaudens, showing the gallant Colonel
Shaw and his colored regiment.
The sight of Shaw's earnest young face amid his dusky followers prepares
us for entering Doric Hall in the State House, set apart as a memorial
for those who died in their country's cause. We look with awe and
reverence on the flags whose worn and tattered edges tell plainly of the
struggles of their bearers and defenders.
[Illustration: THE STATE-HOUSE CODFISH]
Let us peep into the Senate chamber and into the hall of the House of
Representatives with its historic codfish suspended from the ceiling, a
reminder of a most humble source of Massachusetts' wealth. We will then
climb to the dome and see Boston before a cold east wind sweeps suddenly
in, covering the city with fog and making all misty and uncertain. As we
reach the highest point, it really seems as if the fog had rolled in, but
it is only a fog of smoke from the many chimneys of the city's countless
factories.
[Illustration: THE STATE HOUSE]
As our eyes get accustomed to the view, the mist seems to roll away, and
the city lies before us. That blue line to the east is the harbor, and
between us and the harbor is the business section of Boston, the noisy,
throbbing heart of a big city. Directly back of us as we stand facing the
water is the West End, once a fashionable section where Boston's literary
men held court, now a district largely given over to tenements and
lodging-houses. To the north and south lie the North and South ends; the
former, the oldest of the city and the great foreign district of the
present time, where children from many lands have their homes.
[Illustration: BUNKER HILL MONUMENT]
That broad winding stream of water that we see is the Charles River. Just
beyond it to the north is Charlestown, its Bunker Hill Monument towering
up for all to see. The city of Cambridge is just across the Charles River
to the west, and next to it, skirting the southern bank of the river, is
the district of Brighton. South Boston, Roxbury, West Roxbury, Hyde Park,
and Dorchester lie toward the south. Among the many islands in the
harbor, East Boston is the most crowded and the closest to the city
proper. Towards the southwest, between us and the Charles, lies Back Bay,
once tidewater but now filled in and made into land. Look around you and
notice how the surrounding parts of Boston form a chain about their
parent, a chain broken only by Cambridge--the seat of Harvard
University--and Brookline,--Massachusetts' wealthiest town,--which
refuses to become a city or to join its larger neighbor.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON STREET]
As we leave the State House, a few minutes' walk brings us to the heart
of Boston's great shopping district and to Boston's leading business
street. You will be glad to know that this street is called neither Main
Street nor Broadway, but Washington Street. Originally, part was known
as Orange, part as Marlborough, and part as Newbury. But when, at the
close of the Revolution, Washington rode through the city at the head of
a triumphal procession, the people renamed the street along which he
passed, Washington, and so it is called to-day in all its ten miles of
length. Washington Street is very narrow in parts, and as it is lined on
both sides with some of Boston's largest and finest department stores, it
presents a very animated appearance on a week-day afternoon.
[Illustration: THE CITY OF BOSTON]
Stop for a moment on busy Newspaper Row. Here a bystander may read the
news of the world as it is posted hourly upon the great bulletin boards
of the various newspaper offices.
Parallel to Washington Street, and connected with it by many short
streets, is Tremont Street, another old historic road. Originally Tremont
Street was a path outlined by William Blackstone's cows on their way to
pasture; now it is second only to Washington Street in importance.
Washington Street is really the main dividing line between the retail and
wholesale parts of the city. The water front is the great wholesale
section. Here there is a constant odor of leather in the air, and great
heavy wagons laden with hides are continually passing to and from the
wharves and stations. When we stop and consider that Boston and the
neighboring cities of Brockton and Lynn are among the largest
shoe-manufacturing cities in the world, then we do not wonder at the
leather we see. It is no vain boast to say that in every quarter of the
world may be seen shoes that once, in the form of leather, were carted
through the streets of Boston.
[Illustration: BOSTON'S LAND AND WATER CONNECTIONS]
What is true of leather is also true of cotton and wool. Lowell, Fall
River, and New Bedford are calling for cotton to be made into cloth in
their busy mills, while Lawrence is the greatest wool-manufacturing city
in the country. Boston, with its harbor and great railroad terminals, is
constantly receiving these materials and distributing them to these
cities.
The finished cloths often return to Boston to be cut and made into
clothes, and an army of men and women cut and sew from day to day on
garments for people far distant from Boston as well as for those near
home.
One glance at the wharves along Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street and
our glimpse of busy Boston will be ended. Here are wharves and piers
jutting out into the harbor, where are boats of every kind from every
land. New York alone among American cities outranks Boston in the value
of her foreign commerce. From one large steamer thousands of green
bananas are being carried. They will be sold to the many fruit dealers,
from those whose show windows are visions of beauty, to the Greek or
Italian peddler who pushes his hand cart out into the suburbs.
Some of the steamers are already puffing with importance as if to hasten
the steps of travelers who are on their way to board ship for different
ports in the South, for Nova Scotia and other points north, or perhaps to
cross the Atlantic.
Two of the wharves--T Wharf and the new fishing pier--are devoted to the
fishing industry. From the banks of Newfoundland and the other splendid
fishing grounds along the coast from Cape Cod to Labrador, fishermen are
constantly bringing their catches to Boston, their chief market. In
addition, Gloucester and other fishing ports re-ship most of the fish
brought to them to the Boston market. Is it any wonder that Boston ranks
first of all the cities of the United States in the fish trade? In 1910
Boston received and marketed $10,500,000 worth of fish--more than any
other American city, and exceeded by only one other port in the world.
[Illustration: A FISHING FLEET]
In this neighborhood too is a tablet marking the site of Griffin's Wharf,
where the Boston Tea Party of the Revolution took place. We remember how
the people of Boston refused to pay the tax on tea; how the shiploads
of tea sent from England remained unloaded at the wharf; and how,
finally, after an indignation meeting had been held at the Old South
Meeting House, a band of men and boys, disguised as Indians, boarded the
vessels, ripped open the chests, and emptied all the cargo into the
harbor. It was rightly called the Boston Tea Party.
[Illustration: © Dadmun Co. Boston
BOSTON'S NEW CUSTOMHOUSE]
As we are so close to the North End, we may as well go there at once. The
North End is the oldest section of Boston. It was here that Samuel Adams,
John Hancock, Paul Revere, and other patriots had their headquarters
during the troublous times before the Revolution. Paul Revere, of whose
famous ride we have all read in Longfellow's poem, lived and carried on
his business in this very district. If we wish, we can see his home as
well as the famous Old North Church, where his friend hung the lanterns
warning him of the movements of the British.
[Illustration: OLD NORTH CHURCH]
But to-day there is little else to remind us of the past. As we cross
North Square and see the gesticulating, dark-skinned men, the stout,
gayly kerchiefed women in the doorways, and the hordes of dark-eyed
children on street and sidewalk, we wonder if by mistake we have not
entered some city in southern Europe. To-day the North End of Boston is
the great foreign section of the city. Here live the Jews, Italians, and
Russians. They tell us that more than one third of the entire population
of the city are foreigners.
[Illustration: THE NORTH END]
But when a group of boys rushes toward us, each begging to be our guide
to the Old North Church, to Paul Revere's house, or to the famous Copp's
Hill Burying Ground,--all for a nickel,--we are sure we are in America
and gladly follow our leader through the narrow, crooked streets.
From among the parents of these children come the fruit peddlers, the
clothing makers, the street musicians, and the great army of laborers
which helps to keep the city in repair.
[Illustration: PAUL REVERE'S HOUSE]
Are we tired of the noise and confusion of the crowded tenement district?
If so, let us go to the broad streets and beautiful parks of the Back
Bay, the abode of the wealthy. The Back Bay, as its name suggests, was
originally the Back Cove, and where these houses now stand, the waves
once danced in glee. But Boston filled in the marshes and coves and
laid out fine streets on the newly made land. Here is the famous
Beacon Street, and parallel to it is Boston's most beautiful
thoroughfare,--Commonwealth Avenue,--two hundred and twenty feet wide,
with a parkway running through the center. See the children with their
nurses, playing on the grass or roller skating on the broad sidewalks,
apparently no happier than the little ones of the North End.
But it is not merely its fine streets and homes that make the Back Bay
the handsomest part of the city. In this section are many of Boston's
finest public buildings. Come to Copley Square, the most beautiful in the
city. Here stands Trinity Church,--Phillips Brooks' church,--a
magnificent structure of granite with sandstone trimmings. Phillips
Brooks was for a brief year the Protestant Episcopal bishop of
Massachusetts. He was loved by those of all denominations. After his
death the citizens of Boston united in erecting a splendid memorial, in
token of their love for him and their gratitude for his services. The
statue is by Augustus Saint Gaudens and is considered one of the greatest
works of that great sculptor.
[Illustration: COMMONWEALTH AVENUE]
On Copley Square we see also the New Old South Church and the Boston
Public Library.
Boston is very proud of her public library, and rightly so, for it is not
only one of the finest buildings in Boston but also one of the finest
libraries in the country. Look at the magnificent marble staircase, the
curiously inlaid floor and ceiling of the entrance hall, the graceful
statues, the wonderful paintings, and the fine courtyard with its
sparkling fountain. On the floors above are the children's room with its
low tables and chairs and rows upon rows of interesting books; Bates
Hall, a most attractive reading room; Sargent's mystical paintings; and
Edwin A. Abbey's series of paintings, which are called "The Quest of the
Holy Grail."
[Illustration: PHILLIPS BROOKS' MEMORIAL]
Besides the main library there are branch libraries or reading rooms in
every section of the city. Altogether the Boston Public Library contains
over one million volumes, making it the largest circulating library in
the United States.
But there are other buildings in the Back Bay which rival those on Copley
Square. We should see the Christian Science church with its massive dome;
the Boston Opera House; and Symphony Hall, the home of the famous Boston
Symphony Orchestra, known the country over.
[Illustration: BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY]
The Boston Museum of Fine Arts stood originally on Copley Square, but in
1909 a new and magnificent building was opened, farther out in the Back
Bay. Not far from the new museum stands the Harvard Medical School, an
imposing group of five white-marble buildings.
But now we are tired of buildings, so come into the Public Garden--the
gateway to the Back Bay--and while you rest I will tell you about
Boston's parks. Sitting in the beautiful Public Garden, it will not be
hard for you to believe that the park system of Boston is the finest in
the country. The first park was, as we have seen, the Common. For many
years the Common was not a place of beauty. Edward Everett Hale spoke of
it as a "pasture for cows, a playground for children, a training ground
for the militia, a place for beating carpets." Many changes have taken
place on the Common since the old days, but two of the characteristics
still remain. Boston Common is still a playground for children, and
military drills are still to be seen there from time to time.
The Common is just across Charles Street from the Public Garden--the
second great park to be laid out in Boston. This Public Garden was
reclaimed from the marshes, and at present covers about twenty-four and a
half acres. It is truly a garden, and during the spring, summer, and fall
nearly every species of beautiful flower, plant, and shrub may here be
seen--a riot of color and beauty.
But the people of Boston did not stop even with the Public Garden. The
city of Boston has, besides, numerous small squares at intervals through
the city. She also has vast tracts of rural land, which, unlike the
Public Garden, are left to their own wild beauty. Owing to Boston's
expanse of water front, it is possible for her to have both inland and
ocean parks, where may be found all kinds of open-air sports and
recreations.
Some of the most important of these parks are Franklin Park, the Fens,
the Arnold Arboretum, Marine Park, and the Charles River Basin. In the
Arnold Arboretum, the property of Harvard College, are rare shrubs and
trees. Fortunate is the one who can visit it in lilac time, when scores
of varieties of lilacs, both white and many shades of violet, scent the
air with their delicate perfumes.
The best example of the ocean parkways is Marine Park. There one finds
extensive bathhouses, a good beach, lawns, and a long pier extending
several hundred feet out into the water. Connected with Marine Park by a
long bridge is Castle Island, the site of Fort Independence.
The Charles River Basin is a popular promenade. This river, until
recently, showed for many hours of the day the uncovered mud flats of low
tide. Now by means of a dam it has been turned into a great fresh-water
lake. Cambridge and Boston have laid out parkways on either side of the
river, and before long further improvements will make this basin even
more attractive.
Through the influence of Boston the surrounding cities and towns have
given certain large areas of great natural beauty to form the
Metropolitan Park System. This Metropolitan Park System consists of 3
forest reserves of 7000 acres of woodland, 30 miles of river park, 10
miles of seacoast, and 40 miles of connecting parkways.
Two great ocean parks in the system are Revere Beach and Nantasket, both
favorite summer resorts, while the most noted inland reservations are the
Blue Hills and the Middlesex Fells.
A Roman matron of long ago, when asked to show her jewels, pointed to her
sons with pride, saying, "These are my jewels." And so it is with Boston.
She is proud of her history, her fine public buildings, her busy
thoroughfares, her parks, her great centers of industry, and her
commerce; but most of all, she is proud of her more than ninety thousand
school children.
From the earliest times Boston's schools have ranked among the best in
the country. The first public school in America was established in
Dorchester, and some of the greatest educators, such as Horace Mann and
Charles W. Eliot, have been associated with Boston or its suburbs.
[Illustration: © Leon Dadmun, Boston, 1903
THE HARVARD YARD]
Boston is the home of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a famous
training college in applied sciences; Simmons College for women; the
Harvard Medical College; Boston College (Roman Catholic); Boston
University; the Normal Art School; the Conservatory of Music; the Emerson
School of Oratory; and other schools of high standing. Harvard, the
oldest and largest university in the country, has its home in Cambridge.
Radcliffe, a college for women, whose pupils receive the same courses of
instruction as the students in Harvard, is also in Cambridge. Tufts
College is in the neighboring city of Medford, while in the beautiful
hill town of Wellesley, a suburb of Boston, is Wellesley College, a
woman's college of high rank.
But now, if we hurry, we shall be just in time to see the children
flocking in crowds to one of their many playgrounds. Here they find
swings and other apparatus for sport; and here they may play tennis,
baseball, or football in the spring, summer, and fall. In the winter
months they may make use of the ice, which is kept in good condition for
the skater. In the various districts, also, are swimming pools and indoor
gymnasiums, where old and young meet for recreation as well as for
physical training.
Having seen Boston at work and at play, we now ask ourselves where the
food comes from to feed this vast multitude. Its meats, flour, and grain
of all kinds are brought into its huge freight stations from the West.
Its great ocean trade with the ports in the South as well as in Europe
and Asia supplies other food necessities and luxuries. New England is a
great dairy center, and much of the city's milk, butter, and other dairy
products comes to Boston each morning from New Hampshire, Vermont, and
western Massachusetts. The purity of the milk is carefully watched, and
it is impossible to buy even a pint of milk in anything but a sealed jar.
Boston's drinking-water is equally well guarded. The water, as well as
the sewage, is under the control of the Metropolitan Water and Sewage
Commission. There is a high-pressure distributing station at Chestnut
Hill, which gives power sufficient to force water to the highest of
Boston's buildings.
The sewage of the down-town sections of the city is collected in a main
drainage system, pumped through a tunnel under Dorchester Bay to Moon
Island, held in large reservoirs, and discharged into the water when the
tide is going out. The sewage of the outlying districts is conveyed to
various places in the harbor and discharged into the water at a depth of
thirty or forty feet, where it can be quickly carried out to sea.
Our stay in Boston is now at an end. Not only have we traveled over many
miles of her streets and visited her famous State House, her busy
wharves, and her interesting playgrounds, but we have reviewed many
events of her thrilling history. What of all we have seen or heard is it
most important for us to remember? First, that Boston is the fifth city
in size in the United States; second, that she is the capital city of
Massachusetts; third, that she is the chief trade center of New England;
and fourth, that among America's cities she ranks second only to New York
in foreign commerce. Then we must not forget the important place she
holds in the early history of our country.
As we traveled into Boston, so we will journey out again. And with the
last of the great city fading from our view, we call to mind the
large-hearted Blackstone and say to ourselves, "Quite a change from the
hermit's home on the sunny slope of Beacon Hill."
=BOSTON=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), nearly 700,000 (670,585).
Fifth in rank according to population.
Ranks first among American cities in fish and wool trades.
Chief trade center of New England.
Principal industries (as measured by value of products):
Printing and publishing; manufacture of boots and shoes, of
clothing, of foundry and machine-shop products.
Place of great historical interest.
One of the leading educational centers of the United States.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. Tell something of the settlement and the early history of Boston.
2. Tell of the Boston Tea Party.
3. Tell the story of the naming of Boston's leading business street.
4. Why is Boston's chief park called the Common?
5. Compare the North End during Revolutionary times with the same
district to-day.
6. What is there of interest in Back Bay? in Copley Square?
7. Describe some of the busy scenes which may be observed along the
wharves of the city.
8. Tell something about the street railways and other means of
transportation.
9. Give a brief description of the Boston Public Library.
10. Tell what you know of Harvard University. What other noted
schools are in or near Boston?
11. Name some of the advantages which Boston enjoys on account of her
splendid harbor.
12. Give some facts about the commercial importance of Boston.
13. In the manufacture of what three products does Boston, with her
neighboring cities, rank high?
14. Why is a codfish suspended in the hall of the House of
Representatives in the State House?
CLEVELAND
In the days that followed the Revolution, Connecticut claimed certain
lands south of Lake Erie. A large part of these she sold to the
Connecticut Land Company, who wanted to colonize the country and
establish New Connecticut.
It was in 1796 that the Connecticut Land Company sent General Moses
Cleaveland west, to survey the land and choose a site for a settlement.
After surveying about sixty miles, Cleaveland fixed on a plateau just
south of Lake Erie, where the Cuyahoga River runs into the lake. Soon the
settlement was laid out with a square and two main streets and was very
properly called Cleaveland. The name was spelled with an _a_, just as
Moses Cleaveland spelled his name. There is no _a_ in the city's name
to-day, the story being that the extra letter was dropped, and the new
spelling adopted, in 1831, through a newspaper's claiming that the _a_
would not fit conveniently into its headline.
At first the new settlement did not prosper. The soil was poor, and
commerce along the Ohio River attracted immigrants into the interior.
Those that stayed in Cleveland had a hard struggle with fever. The mouth
of the Cuyahoga River was frequently choked with sand, making the water
in the river's bed stagnant and furnishing a breeding place for
malaria-carrying mosquitoes. During the summer and autumn of 1798 affairs
were in a desperate condition. Every one in the settlement was miserable.
There was no flour, and for two months Nathaniel Doan's boy was the only
person strong enough to go to the house of one James Kingsbury, on the
highlands back of the town, for corn. This he carried to a gristmill at
Newburgh, six miles to the south, and had it ground into meal for the
sick.
Besides the suffering caused by fever, there was danger of Indian attacks
and the ever-present dread of the wolves and bears which prowled about
the settlement, so that no one dared go out at night unarmed, and no door
was left without a loaded musket to guard it.