Boston City (part 22 of 67)

Fifty years ago the supply of fruits in our market, excepting apples, was limited to a few varieties and to a few weeks of use; now our markets abound with fruits for all seasons of the year. Then almost the only straw¬ berry in our market was the wild strawberry of the field, and that limited to a short season ; now we have in variety this delicious fruit, by the facili¬ ties of transportation, for two or three months, receiving from the South in a single day five thousand bushels, and from our own town of Dighton ten thousand bushels in a year. Then not a single hybridized fruit of the straw¬ berry had been produced, so far as we know, in our land ; now so great has been the increase that my register contains the names of nearly four hun¬ dred kinds of strawberries which have been under cultivation in my day. Then there were no American grapes cultivated in our gardens except here and there a vine of the Catawba and Isabella; now there are more than a hundred varieties of American grapes in cultivation. Then the cultivation of the pear was limited to a few varieties ; now we have in our collection more than eight hundred varieties of this noble fruit. Then no exports of fruit of any note had been made ; now Boston itself has shipped over six hundred thousand barrels of apples in a year, and the export of fruits from this country alone has amounted to nearly three millions of dollars in a year.

By George Silsbee Hale

" There is a City in the World where every House hath a Box hanging in a Chain, on which is Written, Think on the Poor." - Bonifacius, or Essays to do Good, by Cotton Mather, Boston, 1710, p. 145.1 pHE charities of Boston cannot be adequately described or recorded in the space here allotted to the subject. The beneficence, public and private, which has filled and adorned more than two centuries of municipal existence; which has sent warmth, life, and healing to every quarter of the globe, among strangers and kindred, enemies and friends, - must yield a large part of the space which might be well employed for its story to his¬ tories of wars with savages, persecutions of fanatics, and resistance to misgovernment. It is not possible, indeed, to tell this story with completeness. It is possible to enumerate the societies, institutions, and foundations which have successively sprung up for religious, educational, and charitable pur¬ poses and to meet varied forms of weakness, want, and suffering in a com¬ munity constantly increasing in numbers and wealth. It is possible to add up the figures which express part of the wealth which has been freely scattered or liberally accumulated to meet sudden calamities or constant want. It is possible to describe the means and appliances by which the highest professional skill is bestowed, as freely as light and air, upon the suffering, by which feeble infancy, prostrate manhood, and " unregarded age " are sought out and protected ; but the purest, the most abundant, and the most effective streams of charity flow through secret channels, and leave no material for history or statistics.

There is, there can be, no record of the work and gifts of generous stewards of the abundance which has rewarded lives of labor; of men whom the living recall, the steady stream of whose annual beneficence was a king's ransom ; of those whom the living know, whose annual gifts are an ample

1 " There was also a book of Defoe's, called some of the principal future events of my life." an Essay on Projects, and another of Dr. Mather's - Sparks, Life of Franklin (Autobiography), called An Essay to do Good, which perhaps gave vol. i. p. 15. Perhaps Boston thus owes, indi¬ me a turn of thinking that had an influence on rectly, the Franklin Fund to Cotton Mather.

fortune; or of the " honorable women," whose lives are full of good deeds and almsgiving. It seems only an injustice to the living and the dead of a community, which has had and still has such men and women among its members, to attempt a record necessarily so imperfect.1

It is more than one hundred and fifty years since Increase Mather said : " For charity, he might indeed speak it without flattery, this town hath not many equals on the face of the earth." 2

This charity, indeed, fitly began at the old home in the care of matters of public concern ; for, before leaving England, at " a genrall court holden at Mr Goffs house, on Wensday, the 10th of Febr., 1629-30" -

" Forasmuch as the furtherance of the plantacon will necessarylie require a great & continual! charge wch cannot wth convenyence bee defrayed out of the ioint stock of the Comp wth is ordained for the maintenance of the trade, wthout endangering the same to bee wasted & exhausted, it was therfore p'pounded that a cofhon stock should bee raysed from such as beare good affecion to the plantacon and the p'pagacon therof, and the same to bee employed only in defraym' of publique charges, as maintenance of ministers, transportacon of poor famylyes, building of churches & ffortyfycacons, and all other publique & necessary occasions of the plantacon." 3

1 " Taking the amount of his property at vari¬ ous times as noted by himself from the year 1807 to 1829, a period of twenty-two years, with his known habits of liberality and habits of sys¬ tematic charity, it would be safe to assert that during his life he expended some seven hundred thousand dollars for the benefit of his fellowmen. Many persons have done more ; but few, perhaps, have done as much in proportion to the means which they had to bestow." - Diary and Correspondence of Amos Laivrence, etc., p. 312. It is hardly necessary to add that this sum was much greater in value then than now, and that large fortunes are both larger and more numer¬ ous ; but it may be added that the living rival this munificence and exceed it in amount. We are forbidden to name the living, and it is impos¬ sible to name all those who are entitled to honor as examples of charity among the dead. But the names of Perkins and Lawrence, whose auto¬ graphs adorn our pages, will be recognized as fit representatives of many.

The Charities Of Boston, Etc

Gifts to George Munnings for the loss of his eye; to Robert Cutler for his lameness , the foundation of a school or college, to be called " Harvard Colledge; a gratuity to "Mr. Elliot, in respect of his greate pains and charge in instructing ye Indians ; " legacies to the poor ; and the establishment of almshouses and granaries, - help to fill the early records of the orderly foundation of the State which has grown from this " plantation." But neither the city nor the citizen, even in those early years, confined their benevolence within the peninsula. Mr. Peters, who displayed his charity in buying up provisions and distributing them to all the towns ; and the gifts of the early colonists to redeem captives in Canada and in the hands of Barbary pirates, - though the first recorded evidences, were not prob¬ ably the first actual efforts of a charity which did not end at home.

The charities of a nation, a state, or a city, so far as they are openly manifested, are displayed: (1) In the provision it makes by law, or as a municipal organization, for those who need protection and care, to be found in its legal enactments and corporate action ; in the public contributions of its citizens for the special and varied needs of the same classes, - intrusted (2) to public officers or (3) to private organizations, whose action and his¬ tory are preserved in the records and reports which these modes of action suggest and require for the guidance and instruction of persons who are contributions of individuals for the relief of persons near them, or " in other parts, who are suffering from sudden and great calamities or strug¬ gles. Of the latter there is no competent and satisfactory record. They must be sought with patient labor from scattered sources, and mainly from the files of public journals.

before and largely developed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by which parishes or other municipal divisions were charged with their support, and certain officers of those localities with their care.

Within ten years after the settlement of Boston, in 1639, it was ordered, " by this Court and the authority thereof, that any shire court, or any two magistrates out of court, shall have power to determine all differences about lawful settling and providing for poor persons; and shall have power to dispose of all unsettled persons into such towns as they shall judge to be most fit for the maintenance and employment of such persons and families, for the ease of this country." 1

At first, in a small or thinly settled community, no public establishments , or special provisions were necessary. Some of the poor received allot¬ ments for cultivation or pasturage from the common lands. Their out¬ door relief came from the treasury or property of the town, and their fuel from its wood-lots. Some were maintained and lodged in the houses of

In 1660, Mr. Henry Webb,2 having " bequeathed ^100 to ye Towne to bee improoved for yc use of ye poore according to his will, &c., to be re¬ served to yl end from time to time; it was ordered yf ye sd pfioo bee im¬ proved by ye select men for yc end aforesd in some building fitt for yl end &c.," and " y' y: selectmen shall have power to make use of a piece of ground in ye coition for ye erecting an almeshouse upon wth suitable accom¬ modations, or to exchange a piece of the Towne's Land for a place more convenient." In 1662, "Itt is ordered that Mr. Petter Olliver is to joine with the deacons of the church of Boston in receiving of Cap't Kean's legacye of one hundred and twenty pounds given to the poore; and fur¬ ther hereby ordered to receive Mr. Webb's legacie of one hundred pounds, with severall other gifts that are given for the erecting of an Allmshouse ; " and the selectmen were authorized to agree for its erection.3

Workehouse," it was "propounded to the Towne " and voted, "That there be a workehouse provided in some convenient place in this towne, with convenience of Lodging such Psons as shall stand in need of Aimes, and be sent thither to work." A rate was levied for this building and approved by the President and Council. We find that it was still unfinished in 1686; but a bill against the town for supplies for the almshouse, still preserved by the Overseers of the Poor, shows that it was lighted in 1703 by candles supplied by the father of Benjamin Franklin.1

A system prevailed at an early period of providing grain at the cost of the town, for sale at a small advance to those of its citizens whose con¬ dition required it. As early as March, 1713-14, it was voted that the town will make provis¬ ion for laying in a stock of grain.

In 1715 the selectmen were directed to provide a storehouse for grain; and in 1721 it was voted that the granary be continued to be hired. Soon after, the erection of a build¬ ing was considered; and in 1728 it was "voted that a grainery be built on the comon, near the Almshouse, and that the sum of not exceeding 1100 pounds, to be paid out of the money to be raised in the general town¬ meeting, be appropriated for this purpose."2

In 1692, by a colonial act,3 the care of the poor was committed to " over¬ seers of the poor; " or, if no persons were particularly chosen to that office, to the selectmen acting in that capacity.4

"The ordinary functions of overseers of the poor" were "defined by the statute of 1793 (c. 59), which repealed certain former laws . . . and left the general legislation on this subject substantially as it has since remained. This statute begins with declaring that every town and district ' shall be holden to relieve and support all poor and indigent persons lawfully settled therein, whenever they shall stand in need thereof;' and to that end au¬ thorizes each town and district to vote and raise moneys therefor, and at its annual meeting to choose not exceeding twelve suitable persons dwelling therein to be Overseers of the Poor, and when such are not chosen, the Selectmen shall be Overseers. The second section further provides, ' That said Overseers shall have the care and oversight of all such poor and indi¬ gent persons so settled in their respective towns and districts ; and shall see that they are suitably relieved, supported, and employed, either in the workhouse or other tenements belonging to such towns or districts, or in such other way and manner as they, at any legal meeting, shall direct, or otherwise at the discretion of said Overseers, at the cost of such town or district.' The act gives the overseers authority to bind out poor children, and also to set to work or to bind out to service, not exceeding one year at a time, such perspns, upwards of twenty-one years of age, residing and law¬ fully settled in the town or district, or who have no settlement in the Com¬ monwealth, whether married or unmarried, ' as are able of body, but have the town, made such provision for the poor as auction." - Report on Organization of the Overthey deemed best; and in small towns the poor seers of the Poor , City Doc. No. 70, 1864, P- 4 - no visible means of support; who live idly, and use and exercise no ordi¬ nary or daily lawful trade or business to get their living by; and also all persons who are liable by any law to be sent to the House of Correction.' They are further authorized to take proceedings against houses of ill-fame; to provide for the immediate comfort and relief of distressed strangers, and, if they die, for their burial; and also for the removal, to their legal settle¬ ment, of persons likely to become chargeable to the town.

" In the legislation of the seventy [now over eighty-seven] years since this statute was passed, some new powers have been conferred upon the over¬ seers ; but their main duties and their principal powers remained enacted in the General Statutes, c. 70, in the same words as in the Statute of 1793. They still have ' the care and oversight of all such poor and indigent per¬ sons; ' and it is still their duty to ' see that they are suitably relieved, sup¬ ported, and employed, either in the workhouse or almshouse, or in such other manner as the city or town directs, or otherwise at the discretion of said overseers.' They have still to provide for the immediate relief of strangers; for their removal to their places of settlement; for their burial, if they die; and for binding out poor children. But the power to bind out idle adults has been superseded by provisions more suitable to a populous country;"1 and in Boston some of these duties and powers are assigned to other officers.

Overseers of the Poor, however, seem to have existed in Boston, before the Act of 1692, since it appears by its records that on March 9, 1690-91, the townsmen voted " that Mr. Nathaniell Williams, Mr. Benjamine Walker, Mr. William Coleman, and Mr. Symeon Stoddard be Overseers of the Poore of this Towne for the year ensueing;" and they with the Treasurer were appointed to present to the General Court proposals for the employment of the poor.

The vote referred to was probably the origin of the Act of 1692. After the passage of that, the number of overseers in Boston varied for some years. In 1736 an act was passed entitled " An Act for employing and providing for the poor of the town of Boston." 2 This act among other things empowered the town of Boston " to chuse twelve Overseers of the Poor . . . for twelve several wards respectively, into which the town is or shall be divided ; " authorized the town to erect a workhouse to be under their regulation, and empowered the overseers to send idle and indigent persons to it, to bind out children and warn out intruders.3 This house for setting " to work "

3 The office of an overseer in Boston was one of dignity and importance. The Hon. Josiah Quincy ( Municipal History of Boston, pp. 419, 420,) remarks: "Under the town government the members of the board of overseers of the poor were elected by the votes of the whole body of the inhabitants. They were, consequently, always men of a high general character, known to a majority of the inhabitants, and chosen by them for their integrity, capacity, and adaptation to the service. Among them were always men distinguished for their wealth, their business talents, and charities. . . . There was another element of confidence in the Board of Overseers under the town ; . . . e-oery vacancy in the board the idle and dissolute poor - the earliest provision of this kind in the city exclusively for that class - was erected in 1738 on Centry, or Sentry (now

Park) Street and remained there with the almshouse until about the close of the year 1800, when a new almshouse 1 was opened on Leverett Street and occupied till 1823, under the charge of the overseers, who also gave out-door relief to the poor, and administered the eleemosynary gifts and funds more fully described hereafter. In 1821 this building was the re¬ ceptacle of persons of "all ages and colors, with various vices, misfortunes, and diseases, - subjects of an almshouse, a hospital, a lunatic asylum, was always , in fact , filled by the nomination of the member's of the board themselves. Hence the new members were always well qualified for the office and acceptable to the old members remaining as associates. When a vacancy was about to occur, it was the practice of the board to consult together and to select the individual whose name was to be inserted in the general ticket with those of the members of the board about to remain. This course was known and acceptable to the inhabitants. The individual thus selected being always one whose qualities were by them well known and approved, he was accordingly uniformly chosen, it is believed, with¬ out objection or opposition during the whole period of the town government.

See a list of the Overseers from 1691 to 1866 inclusive, in A Manual for the use of the Over¬ seers of the Poor of the City of Boston , p. 158.

and a prison."1 A committee of the town reported, by Josiah Quincy as chairman, "that the accommodations provided for the poor at the alms¬ house in Boston are not such as comport with the honor and interest of the town." They recommended the es¬ tablishment of a new almshouse, to be called the House of Industry. The town adopted their recommendation, in¬ structed the committee to provide new build¬ ings, and to inquire and report on the state and treatment of the poor.

South Boston and com¬ pleted in 1822; and in 1823 an act was passed authorizing the establishment of a Board of Directors of the House of In¬ dustry with specified powers. A controversy arose between these directors and the overseers as to their respective authority, which was warmly waged for a time, and resulted finally, under the advice of William Prescott, Charles Jackson, and Daniel Webster, in defining and separating their jurisdiction, substantially by assigning the charge of out-door relief to the overseers, and of that administered in the House of Industry to the directors.4 Since the vote of the town in 1821 to change the name of the Almshouse to the House of Industry, Boston has had no institution legally bearing the name of an almshouse, but has maintained a House of Industry for the poor, and for persons sentenced for sundry offences, in different buildings or parts of the same building.

Boston was the second municipality in the United States to make sep¬ arate provision for juvenile offenders. New York, whose large population probably demanded this at an earlier period, established a separate insti¬ tution for this class in 1825; and in 18265 the city of Boston was author- seers by charitably disposed persons have been entrusted to the overseers ; and the care of the public institutions of the city, for the poor and criminals of all descriptions, has been given to directors or (in the case of the City Hospital) to trustees. The Temporary Home and the Lodge for Wayfarers belong to the department of out-door relief.

ized to provide a House of Reformation for them under the care of the Directors of the House of Industry, or such other persons as the city council should appoint. They were at first kept at South Boston, in the building erected for a House of Correction, apart from the other inmates. In 1836 a separate building was erected for them not far from the House of Correction, where they remained until July, 1858; and in 1858 they were removed to that used for the House of Industry at Deer Island. In i860 a separate building on the Island was provided for girls; and in 1868 one for pauper boys and girls, apart from each other. About 1849 a large building was erected on Deer Island designed to accommodate State pau¬ pers and city poor, at the time when cities and towns were required to maintain the former for a compensation paid by the State. This system was changed in 1852, when provision was made for State almshouses. In 1853 the Boston House of Industry on Deer Island was first occupied, in separate departments, by the poor and by the persons sentenced to that institution or to the House of Reformation. Now, without any change in the legal appellation "House of Industry," that term has come to be understood as designating its penal character, although there is still no institution described in our laws, bearing any other name, for the worthy poor, - a result " wholly incompatible with the original design of the town in authorizing its erection," since "the comfort, the health, the ex¬ ercise, and the useful employment of the virtuous and respectable poor was the fundamental principle of the design;" and "the House of In¬ dustry was not constructed, nor had it any strong rooms and iron vaulted cells, for the restraint of sturdy rogues and vagabonds." 1 The different classes, however, have been separated and are now kept at a distance from each other. From time to time changes in the locality and number of the buildings and establishments required for these purposes have been made, to meet the increase in the number and the changes in the character of the persons to be provided for.2

The poor and criminals of the city of Boston are now maintained in nine separate institutions under the care of twelve Directors for Public Institu¬ tions, chosen by the city council: (1) For male paupers at Rainsford Island, and (2) for females at Austin Farm in West Roxbury, and (3) for both sexes in Charlestown; (4 and 5) the schools for boys and girls at Marcella Street, with (6) the House of Industry and (7) the House of Reformation for juvenile offenders at Deer Island, and (8) the Lunatic

2 In 1839 the Lunatic Hospital at South Bos- fitted ; and in 1S81 the girls of that class were ton was opened. In 1872 Rainsford Island was also placed in a neighboring building. Charlespurchased from the State, and the male paupers town, Dorchester, and Brighton, as separate were removed to that place. The Austin P'arm municipalities, each had formerly their respecat West Roxbury was purchased in 1873, and five almshouses. That of the first, built in opened for adult female paupers in 1877. In 1849, is still occupied for the poor only ; and 1877 the Marcella Street Home, so called, for the buildings used for this purpose in Dorchespoor and neglected children, was opened for ter and Brighton are now occupied for other boys in a building formerly used as the Rox- purposes.

Hospital and (9) House of Co'rrection at South Boston. To these may be added the City Hospital on Harrison Avenue for ordinary curable diseases not contagious, under the care of a separate Board of 1 rustees, chosen in the same manner, begun in 1861 and opened for patients in 1864.

A large and convenient building designated as the Charity Bureau, on Chardon Street, the origin of which is narrated hereafter, is occupied by the overseers of the poor, the city physician, and several charitable associa¬ tions or agencies. The city Temporary Home, under the care of the over¬ seers, adjoins this building, and there meals are given to poor persons, and women and children are temporarily cared for. At the Lodge for Way¬ farers, near by, on Hawkins Street, also under the care of this Board, casual persons in need are received on due examination, and provided with a bath, a neat bed, and a meal, for which they are required to perform a certain amount of labor.

The overseers of the poor were originally, and until 1864, chosen annu¬ ally by the people, and after the act of 1735 one in each ward. In 1864 an act was passed providing for the choice of four each year by the city council, without regard to locality, for periods of three years; but the same powers, except by the change referred to in 1823, have been exercised by the same number of persons, and the early dignity of the office and the character of its incumbents were restored by this change in the mode of choice. None of the officials who have administered the affairs of the town or city have, for the greater part of its existence, deserved better the grati¬ tude and good opinion of their fellow-citizens. The poor we have always with us, and they have been faithfully cared for by those who have adminis¬ tered the charity of its citizens, both that provided by law and levied upon the ready or reluctant tax-payer, and that of the cheerful giver, voluntarily bestowed.

Rules to determine the settlement of paupers, - that is to say, the town or other organization by which they should be supported, - were from time to time established, and provision made for the determination of disputes in reference to this subject. In 1659 it was enacted "that where any person with his family, or in case he hath no family, shall be resident in any town or peculiar of this jurisdiction for more than three months, without notice given to such person or persons, . . . that the town is not willing that they should remain as an inhabitant amongst them;" or if they remained after such notice, without an application by the select¬ men to the next county court for relief, such person or persons should be provided for by that place. The county courts were to determine com¬ plaints of this nature, subject to an appeal to the Court of Assistants. If no place was so liable, the pauper was to be supported at the expense of the county by such town thereof as the county court should designate. In 1675 this provision was modified in cases where the sufferers had been "forced from their habitations through the present calamity of the war;"1 and the burden of their support, " where necessity requires, by reason of inability of relations," etc., was thrown upon " the publick treasury." 1

As early as 1767 it was provided that the cost of removing poor per¬ sons not settled in Massachusetts but in some other province or colony, if not paid by themselves, should be borne by the province;2 and in 1794, by a general act in regard to the " Relief and support, employment and removal of the Poor," provision was made for the removal of poor persons having no lawful settlement in the State, or their support at the expense of the Commonwealth.3

The laws in regard to the settlement of poor persons have led to much controversy and litigation. The natural tendency of the pauper class to the largest cities and towns has made it for the interest of Boston to op¬ pose the easy acquisition of a settlement; but the course of legislation has tended to facilitate it. 1 he early records of towns contain frequent evidence of the caution with which their officers endeavored to prevent new possible burdens upon their treasuries.4 One of the early modes of obtaining a settlement was by a residence for a certain period, - first three, and afterward twelve months, without warning; and new comers were promptly and habitually warned, in a manner which seems most in¬ hospitable. I his measure was designed to protect the town from possible future liability.

3 Statute, 1793, c. 59. The rules of settlement derived from the Commonwealth; and this dis¬ have varied at different periods, becoming much tinction has created the two classes of State more complicated and stringent than the simple paupers and town paupers.

The citizens of Boston watched with careful scrutiny those who came to reside among them.1 None were permitted to remain without their assent, given sometimes upon assurance that the burden of supporting the new comer and his family would not fall upon the community. To protect the town he was warned out and reported to the Board of Quarter Sessions.8 A volume still preserved in the city records contains " A list of severall ppsons returned to yc countie courts at severall times, not admitted nor aprovcd of by ye Selectmen of Boston to be inhabitants of ye towne." Another comprises a number of the bonds given to protect the town from risk of expenditure for the support of new inhabitants.8 As Hubbard says, in reference to religious persecution: -

" The inhabitants of the place having purchased the country for themselves, they accounted it an unreasonable injury for any one to come presumptuously without license or allowance to live amongst them ; . . . and theretofore thought themselves bound to hold out the sharp against any one that should attempt, without leave, to thrust themselves amongst them, which renders them that obstinately and wilfully would do so felones de se, like them that will break into a man's dwelling-house whether he will or no."

This feature of New England life deserves more attention than it has yet received. It is referred to here in connection with the system for the sup-

1 "From about 1713, it was the custom of the overseers with one or more of His Majesty's justices, accompanied by a constable, to walk through the different parts of the town, observ¬ ing the condition of the people for themselves, sometimes making an appointment to go at night. At the same time it was the duty of the constables to keep a good lookout that no strangers were allowed to gain a settlement by lack of being warned out, and that none of the inhabitants were idle or unthrifty. After the visits, when necessary, the Justices and Over¬ seers sat as a Court to pass upon what they had observed, or what had been reported to them.

" ' Extracts fr om Minutes and Votes - 1702 and 1703 : At a Prosession of the Overseers of the Poor, July 21, 1702, Goody Crease, her circumstances Enquired into. Esther Sigsworth and her three daughters are reported not to imploy themselves in an Honest Imploy answerable to their way of liveing, and that they Entertain in their House Company dancing at night. William Gowers his Circumstances Considered. Upon Enformation that a boy of Goody Kitchens lives disorderly that case was enquired into. Henry Adams his condition was consulted.' "

" ' Thare is, in Bill's hous in black hors lane, widdow Grees & her darter in law and her one darter, - her name is Mary Grees. It is said by soum of her neighbors that said Mary will stand at the door and call in Saillors as they pass by.

" 4 There lives in the hous that was old Stars his darter ruth harden & his grand darter ruth harden. It is reported by sum that know the grand darter that she seldom works at all, and when she does it is only at making of lace.

" 'There lives neer Mr. Increase Mathers widow Clark and her darter, and Tamzen Kents darter. It is reported that they live Idle and keep bad order.' " - Annual Report of the Overseers of the Poor , 1876, pp. 42, 43.

The following document found among the papers of the Overseers of the Poor furnishes evidence of the medical skill of their officers as well as of their efforts to secure the repayment of expenses incurred by the town : -

Whereas the town of Boston hath expended upon me the underwritten (considerably) in order to curing me of a cancer, I do hereby promis and ingage to pay to the Treas¬ urer of the town of Boston, in behalfe of said town, the sum of five pounds currt money of New England as soon as it shall pleas God to inable me therto, and not to before. Francis Thrasher, The mark of

"Witnesse these presents, that I, Edward Creeke of Boston, doe binde myself, my executors & administrat8, to Thomas Brattle, Treasurer of this towne, and his succesers in that office, in the penal! sume of fortie pounds, that Benjamine Walter or any of his flfamily shall not be chargeable to this towne duringe his or any of their abode therein.

port of the poor. They were cared for faithfully and tenderly, but great caution was exerted in admitting to the number of the townsmen those for whose benefit the risk of this burden was assumed. The obligation as¬ sumed by these sponsors was not lost sight of, as the following copy of a letter from the beginning of the volume already quoted may show: -

James Barbor, - the Reson of these few Lines are to acquaint you that your father, John Barbor, is come to Boston, and being by the Selectmen of Boston Demanded to give a Reson thereof, he saith you haue not been kind to him, but macketh him worcke two or three miles abrode, which is burdensoum to him, and more than he can do in his old age ; the select of Boston do Require you as you will keep your Couinant which you maid with them 27 Octob. 90, To come and Tacke Caire of your ffather, or ealse you may expect wee shall prossecute the Law upon you.

The modern system of charity, which invokes for each applicant for re¬ lief the special attention and care of some voluntary moral and friendly" sponsor, has brought us back in another form to the plan which our ances¬ tors adopted as a matter of business caution.

On the " 28th 6 mo. 1654," " Itt is ordered y4, upon the Security of Hugh VVillms, Mary Hayle is admitted to reside with us, the sayd Wil¬ liams ingaging yl she shall not be chargeable to the towne." Three years after, Mr. Samuel Cole was most sharply reminded that, whereas he had " intertained Elizabeth Knap1 into his house contrary to the order of ye towne, and ye sd Elizabeth yett remaynes in this towne ; itt is ordered y' in case ye T' Elizabeth proove to bee chargeable to ye towne, such charges bee required of Mr. Cole from time to time as first receiving her." And the very next month " Derman Mahoone is fined twenty shillings for intertaining two Irish women contrary to an order of y" towne in y' case pro¬ vided ; & is to quitt his house of them forthw1'1 att his perill." 2

2 One of the cases arising in the courts un¬ der these provisions of law records a history which might have furnished a subject for a tale by Hawthorne or a poem by Whittier, and illustrates curiously the religious as well as the social history and habits of the time.

A controversy arose between the towns of Newbury and Harvard as to expenses incurred in the support of a pauper who was a grand¬ daughter of Shadrach Ireland, a teacher of cer¬ tain peculiar doctrines in religion. Ireland fled from Charlestown in 1760 to Harvard, to avoid

He occupied a chamber in Cooper's house, from which a string connected with a clapper passed into the room occupied by the family, and when any person approached the house the string was pulled to give him notice. He had also a place in the barn to which he occasionally retired for greater privacy, and was not called by his proper name, but sometimes "brother," "uncle," " Uncle Jewett," or "the man." Some¬ time after he had resided there a back lean-to was erected, in which he worked at his business of cabinet-making, and a cellar under it was con¬ nected by stairs with his chamber, so that he

In 1876 a commission of three persons was appointed by the mayor, under an order of the city council, to consider and report upon the treat¬ ment of the poor, and to ascertain what changes, if any, were desirable in reference to their relief, maintenance, and employment. This commission submitted a report in 1878, containing statements and information in regard to the manner and cost of poor-relief. They pointed out what seemed to them to be the defects in the existing system, - the want of information could go down unobserved. He never ate with the family, but alone in his chamber ; and when he happened to be out of the house and a stranger was there, some one of the family was sent to tell him that he might come in privately. He often went to the house of one Willard, a neighbor and one of his followers, but always in the eve¬ ning, and on approaching the house made a sig¬ nal, on which some one would go out to him, and if only members of the family were in the house he would go in. His followers used to visit him, and he would converse with them and exhort them.

After he had resided there tenor twelve years he purchased a parcel of land from Willard, on which his followers built him a house, where he resided during the remainder of his life, still keeping his true name a secret, and seeing no persons except his followers.

The court were of opinion that no settlement was acquired by such concealed residence with¬ out warning, and remarked that " if a person should conceal himself in a cave like some of King Charles's judges, the town being ignorant of it, could not warn him to depart, and ought not to be charged for his support." See the case of Newbury v. Harvard, in 6 Pickering's Reports , p. r.

1. That all public agencies for the relief of the poor, both adults and children, at the ex¬ pense of the city, should be placed under the supervision and control of one responsible body, - the Overseers of the Poor, - except

2. That the City Hospital, the Lunatic Hos¬ pital, if retained, and the proposed institution for inebriates, if established, should be under the control and management of one board of trustees, subject to the provisions recommended as to investigating the cases aided, and obtain¬ ing compensation whenever authorized by law.

3. That additional powers for the permanent aid and care of children should be obtained, and that they should be kept in smaller numbers and establishments, on the " family system," and instructed and trained to labor, or placed in 'families.

expenditure incurred, - and recomtaxation should be administered by the over¬ seers in strict conformity with the law, under rules substantially refusing such relief, - (a) to all adults, not incapacitated for labor, whose destitu¬ tion is caused by their own intemperance, crime, or other fault, of which the overseers must judge; (b) who have for a short and fixed period re¬ quired such aid to an amount exceeding some fixed and moderate sum ; (c) even for this pe¬ riod, unless in the opinion of the overseers dearly advisable and not injurious; ( d ) and even to those who are unable to labor, except in cases where humanity requires temporary aid to those suffering from disease or accident, or where deserving persons, particularly the aged, may be partially and economically provided for without disturbing their family relations, or im¬ pairing the self-respect and self-dependence of those around them.

5. That when such aid is refused, however, in-door relief should be always given ; but to persons able to labor, only on the performance of such labor, in some suitable place, and in an almshouse to others.

6. Provided that the income of trust-funds, given for charitable purposes, should be used, subject to the limitations imposed by the do¬ nors, for cases which require relaxation of these rules.

8. That the overseers should be required to investigate and record the facts in regard to all persons aided as poor in or out of any institu¬ tion, to take the necessary steps to obtain com¬ pensation for the relief afforded, - (a) from rela¬ tives, (b) other places, (r) or the State ; and to enforce the laws in regard to vagrancy in cases coming under their official notice.

10. That the necessary means and authority should be provided for requiring labor from all those who are assisted for any length of time and are able to work, and for setting at hard labor, under restraint in a house of industry,

Since that date one of these recommendations - a provision for casuals - has been successfully adopted. An excellent establishment called the Lodge for Wayfarers, on Hawkins Street, has been provided, where the wan¬ dering poor are received, examined, cleansed, fed, kept in order, and made to work. Continued and increased efforts have been made to classify the poor and provide employment for them. The organization of the Associ¬ ated Charities has aided to bring public and private agencies for relief into closer union. Poor persons, however, in and out of a public institution are under the care and management of different boards, and when they pass under the roof of a public building, although separated in locality from criminals, they are still with them under the care of the same board.

The expenditures of Boston for the poor are believed to exceed the average of those in other cities and towns in this State or elsewhere.1 On the whole, public and private charities are more carefully and wisely ad¬ ministered ; but the faithful efforts which have caused this improvement are still demanded.2

1 1 . That provision should be made for the temporary care of casual paupers, or the wan¬ dering poor, in some establishment where they will be cleansed, fed, kept in order, isolated, and made to work, and means adopted for register¬ ing, identifying, and tracing them if necessary.

12. That provision should be made, in order to assist both public and private almoners of charity, for the collection and registration and communication of information in regard to all means, public and private, of aiding the poor and destitute ; and, in regard to the person aided, with a view to securing the systematic co-opera¬ tion of all officers required, and of all private persons desirous to give such aid, in directing it to those really needy and deserving, in the most effective and economical manner.

13. That all officials charged with the expen¬ diture of public moneys for the poor should be required to keep their accounts and make their reports so as to show as far as possible the causes of pauperism, its increase or diminution, and the effect of the system, adopted in its management, on the persons aided or the pub¬ lic expenditure, and the actual cost for the va¬ rious leading items of the actual maintenance of the poor. Report of the Commission on the Treatment of the Poor , City Doc. 36, of 1878, p. 38.

It is not so easy to compare the cost of partial support or out-door relief. Full support is a definite subject of comparison, but partial sup¬ port may be greater or less ; so that it does not appear whether the average cost was for a greater or less amount of average relief in or out of Boston. The following would seem to indicate a smaller average cost per person aided in the city: -

2 One great want is a more thorough, com¬ plete, and accurate collection of the statistics both of public and private charity, from which the causes of pauperism may be deduced, and the amount and modes of relief given, and its distribution, be gathered. A certain reluctance is sometimes manifested on the part of excellent persons to give this information.*

II. Funds or Contributions Intrusted to Public Officers. - The citizens of Boston manifested at an early period their " good affec¬ tion to the plantation and the propagation thereof," by contributions in¬ trusted to the public authorities for " poor families, . . . and other public and necessary occasions."

The earliest provision of this character for the poor of Boston, of which there is any authentic record, is in the will of Stephen YVinthrop,1 dated May 3, 1658.

William Paddy's legacy of " fifteene pounds" is the first to appear upon the records of the town under the date of "29, 9, 58" (Nov. 29, 1658). Between that date and 1697 many others are specified or alluded to, such as different legacies, " with severall other gifts that were given for the erect¬ ing of an Allmshouse." The town seems to have relied upon its citizens for voluntary contributions for these purposes, although the " inhabitants " did not hesitate to levy a " benevolence" if it became necessary, since we find them voting in 1684, when "the workehouse" was "yet unfinished, ... in regard that many that have subscribed their free contribution toward it have not paid, and others have refused to contribute at all," that "the Committee be impowered to make a rate upon the estates of them yl refuse to contrib¬ ute at all, and put into the said rate the subscriptione of those yl have not paid." And in the act of 1735, already referred to, the town is " authorized to make purchases and receive donations for endowing the said worke¬ house to the value of three thousand pounds per annum; . . . the several donations to be always applied according to the will of the Donors."

In 1674 the Charlestown Poor's Fund was founded, which now amounts to about $25,000, and is administered by the two senior deacons of each regularly organized church in Charlestown and the Charlestown members of the Boston City Council. In 1701 the Stoughton Poor Fund was estab¬ lished for the Dorchester poor; and in 1759 a Poor Widows' Fund, now administered by the Board of Aldermen, was given by Joanna Brooker and others to the town of Boston. Donations for the poor in Boston became so lie uses, and in 1641 * enacted " that all gifts and legacies given and bequeathed to the College, Schools of learning, or any publick use, shall be truly and faithfully disposed of according to the true and declared intent of the donors. And all and every person or persons betrusted to receive or improve any such gifts or legacies shall be liable from time to time to give account of their disposal and management thereof to the County Court of that Shire where they dwell, and where such estate shall lie, who are hereby empowered to require the same where need shall be, and to appoint feoffees of trust to settle and manage the same according to the will of the donors."

Protection and investigation are still secured for funds bequeathed to a city or town for char¬ itable, religious, and educational purposes;!

and for a short period corporations and trustees under acts of incorporation, holding funds in trust for such purposes, were required by a law of the Commonwealth * to report to the Secre¬ tary of State. These acts, however, were re¬ pealed in 1S66, t and there is now no public source of information or control as to funds held by individuals or private corporations, except through the action of a Court in special cases.

1 He was the fourth son of Governor Winthrop ; recorder of the town of Boston, and, after his return to England, colonel of a reg¬ iment under Cromwell, and a member of one of his parliaments. " So much trusted by Crom¬ well that he designed, it is said, to appoint him successor to Major-General Harrison." - Sav¬ age's Geneal. Diet., iv. 613.

numerous that less than forty years after the act of 1735, by an act passed in 1772, reciting that many charitably disposed persons had made or were inclined to make donations for the poor, but that the overseers of the poor not being incorporated these good intentions were frustrated, the overseers were made a body politic with the power to hold and apply these and other gifts for the benefit, advantage, and use of " the poor, limiting their right to hold property at that time to the amount of ,£60,000. 1

Since that time numerous gifts for different purposes have been added from time to time, until the total amount held by the overseers on April 30, 1881, amounted to $525,827.91, including $8,087.91 in cash, the remainder in investments reckoned at their par value. Among these the generous gifts of John Boylston for aged persons, orphans, and deserted children, called the Boylston Relief and Education funds, amounting to $134,983.49; and of David Sears, for various charitable purposes, amounting to $257,502.81, - deserve particular mention.

Other charitable gifts have been intrusted to public authorities for man¬ agement and control, - -such as the bequest of Benjamin Franklin (1791), for loans to young married artificers, now amounting to about $250,000, in charge chiefly of the Board of Aldermen. The Boston City Hospital, mainly supported by the city, and the Chardon Street Charity Bureau, were also aided by private donations; and the Public Library is largely indebted to the generosity of Joshua Bates and others.2

III. Private Charitable Institutions. - In the recent Directory of the Charitable and Beneficent Organizations of Boston, issued by one of the societies called the Associated Charities, the different organizations are divided into twelve classes: 1. Industrial; 2. Government aid; 3. Relief ir¬ respective of class; 4. Relief for special classes; 5. Aid for foreigners; 6. Sick and defective; 7. Fruit and flower missions; 8. Homes; 9. Reform; 10. Humane; 11. Mutual benefit; 12. Educational and religious, including churches, - comprising a total number of 487. It appears that there are 1 87 different charitable agencies recorded, besides 46 mutual-benefit societies, 219 churches and chapels, and 35 colleges, schools, libraries, museums,

1 The earliest of these gifts to the over¬ seers, mentioned on their records, has a certain romantic interest, and offers a striking illustra¬ tion of the uncertainties of life. In 1760 a per¬ son, whose name remains to this day unknown, placed in the hands of the overseers a sum of money to be held by them, and " only the in¬ terest arising thereon to be by them given to such Person or Persons of good character who, by the Providence of God, have been reduced from affluence or good circumstances to Penury and Want." Twenty-five years after, the donor, in his own words, was " by the providence of God called to solicit that charity which he once little expected to want." hands, and, respecting his reluctance to per¬ mit the disclosure of his name, recorded their gifts as made to " A. B., known by the Board to be the person who, under that signature, gave £ 66 13J. 4 d. into the hands of the overseers, ... he being now reduced, and is a real object of the charity which his benevolence first insti¬ tuted." This donation now forms part of what is called in the overseers' accounts the " Pem¬ berton or General Fund," and may be consid¬ ered its foundation, although the gift of Benja¬ min Pemberton, an overseer in 1708, from whom this title is taken, was much larger. See his autograph on p. 647.

missionary and tract societies, etc., assigned to the class designated as " educational and religious." Multiplied by their different objects, - that is, counting each institution in all the classes to which it belongs, - these agencies are increased to 695.

Omitting the churches, the mutual-benefit societies, and the State and national charities, but counting some charities entered in the Directory as sub-headings, we find that the Charities of Boston include 177 voluntary organizations for numerous and varied purposes, in addition to 13 estab¬ lished funds or charities intrusted to the public authorities for administra¬ tion, and 30 public institutions supported by taxes, while the churches and religious associations are also large almoners of charity. It is not easy to classify these institutions with exactness. Some which it has not been thought proper to include in this enumeration, - such as libraries and purely educational institutions, - are founded and supported largely by voluntary gifts, in part appropriated to the assistance of pupils ; and are therefore fairly included in a catalogue of the good works and alms-giving of Boston.1

These institutions have rapidly increased with the population and wealth of the city, and the last decade, 1870-80, has given birth to sixty-seven of the one hundred and seventy-seven referred to. Dividing the two hundred and fifty years, which our Memorial volumes cover, into successive periods,2 we find that these were established or founded as follows : -

1 [See Mr. Dillaway's chapter on "Educa- Mrs. Cheney's chapter on "The Women of Bostion, Past and Present," and the instances of ton." - Ed.] organized charities under woman's control in 2 Adding the current year.

This catalogue of names, which fills over one hundred pages of the Directory , shows, like Homer's catalogue of the Grecian ships gathered for another warfare, how heartily and readily the men and women of Boston have joined with each other in the great siege, which has been bequeathed from sire to son, of the fortresses of poverty, ignorance, and crime. It is obviously impossible to give the briefest history of all these institutions. A few representatives only can be selected.

First among them in date is the " Scots' Charitable Society," which has the proud pre-eminence of a history almost coeval with the city, and pre¬ ceding by sixty-three years its nearest successor. " In 1652 . . . the ship 'John and Sara ' arrived, bringing two hundred and seventy-two Scotchmen who had been taken prisoners at the disastrous battle of Dunbar, where four thousand fell and ten thousand became prisoners of war to Cromwell. As the shortest way of disposing of these they were shipped off to the colonies, there to be sold for service for a longer or shorter period as the case might be.1 Five years after, in 1657, - for its history in brief to this

1 Address of its president at the bi-centen- p. 146. "In the 'Jno- & Sara,' of London, John nial celebration in 1857, in the Constitution and Greene, mr for New England, Robert Rich, By-laws of the Scots' Charitable Society, 1878, mrt Iron-worke, & household Stuffe, & other date can best be given in the quaint* words of its records, - "Some Gen¬ tlemen Merchants and others of the Scots' Nation residing in Boston, New England, from a compassionate concern & affection to their indigent Countrymen in these parts, voluntarily formed themselves into a charitable Society, Anno Domini 1657, which did subsist some years. . . . This char¬ itable design was again revived Anno Domini 1684; their Number and Abilities being considerably increased;" and ''This Society has ever since without interruption been continued & promoted to the Compassionate and Seasonable Relief of many." 1 And now besides its annual subscription it has a permanent fund, a temporary home for its beneficiaries, and a rest¬ ing-place for them after death in the cemetery at Mt. Auburn. And while its members are proud of its association with their mother-country, " it would," in the words of Edward Everett, " be doing injustice to a society of this description, though it may bear a foreign name, to regard it as an institution of foreigners; " injustice, we may 2 add, to the city which recognizes it as its t^-T earqest organized charity, and first among the twelve associations designed especially for the relief of persons of other nations, - British, Irish, German, French, Belgian, Italian, Portuguese, Hebrew, Scandinavian, and Swiss.

The next-born manifestation of permanent and organized private charity in Boston was the " Quarterly Charity Lecture," so called, founded by a few persons who held quarterly meetings on Sunday evenings for benevolent purposes, at which some member was invited to preach. The record of these meetings begins in 1720, when it was determined to invite the min¬ isters of the town to take their turns in this service. On March 6, 1720,

Cotton Mather commenced the long succession which continued until i860, when the quarterly lecture became annual ; but the charity, its fund, and its lecture still exist, and its record bears many honored names. Eight Congregational churches, with their ministers and deacons, are associated foi its maintenance, and hold and distribute its charity. There are two funds for the benefit of the poor of Boston, yielding from $1,500 to $1,800 yearly, and it is required that these should be distributed at the lecture, and a collection taken up at least annually. The Charity Lecture is the earliest of nineteen private charitable institutions or funds designed for the poor in general, irrespective of class.

The Massachusetts General Hospital is the earliest establishment of that description, and the largest charity of its class in the State. It was incor¬ porated in 1 81 1, and up to 1881 had received at its asylum for the insane in Somerville, opened in 1818, 6,556 patients; at its hospital in Boston, opened in 1821, 64,420; and had administered relief at the latter to 235,818 out-patients. It has received donations amounting to $2,586,924, besides a subscription of nearly $100,000 for a Convalescent Hospital. Twenty-seven piivate and three public or government hospitals and dispensaries carry on this benevolent work for the sick and defective classes within the limits of Boston or in its vicinity. These institutions, especially the first, have not only administered relief to the sick, suffering, and poor, but have largely aided scientific discovery and professional education.1

Successive years record the birth, among the more important of these institutions, of the Eye and Ear Infirmary, in 1824; of the Institution for the Blind, in 1829; the Lying-in Hospital, in - -y

1832; the House of the Good Samaritan, in i860; the New England Hospital for Women and Children, in 1863 ; the various institutions of the "work of faith" begun by Dr. Cullis in 1864; and the Adams Nervine Asylum, in 1877.

The Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind deserves especial mention. It preserves the name of a citizen of Boston who was one of the first to set the example of the generous gifts which we are proud to recall,2 and it must be forever associated with the untiring devotion of Samuel G. Howe, whose studies and labors have made philanthropy

Since its foundation at least twenty-nine similar institutions, established in as many different States, have given the light of instruction to some eight thousand pupils.

1 It should never be forgotten that in the Massachusetts General Hospital the success of the great discovery of the anaesthetic properties of ether was first established and publicly and experimentally demonstrated to the world. [See the chapter on " Medicine in Boston " in this volume. - Ed.]

specimens of humanity to which our city has ever given birth, leading the way for half a cen¬ tury in every generous enterprise, and setting one of the earliest examples of those munificent charities which have given our city a name and a praise throughout the earth." - Memoir of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, by Thomas G. Cary : Boston, 1856, p. 258. [His portrait is given on p. 1 18. - Ed.]

Another class is that of the Homes for the aged, for orphans, and the infirm, which take the place in private charity that the almshouse holds in public institutions. Of these the Boston Female Asylum, established in 1800, was the first; and now some thirty-three establishments of this class open their doors for those in need, from helpless infancy to homeless age. In addition to three organizations or foundations for improved dwellings for the poor, the Industrial Aid Society, 1835, and the Needlewoman's Friend Society. 1847, are the leaders of thirteen different organizations designed to assist in providing employment. There are twenty-one establishments to promote reform, like the Penitent Female's Refuge, 1818, and the Society for Aiding Discharged Convicts, 1846; and five institutions to save life or pre¬ vent suffering, like the Humane Society of Massachusetts,1 and that for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 1868. To these may be added those de¬ signed for mutual benefit, - the oldest of which is the Masonic Fraternity, - and those for educational and religious purposes.

At an early period the exertions of the charitable citizens of Boston were devoted to the object which modern charity considers the wisest mode of giving aid, - helping the poor to help themselves, by providing employ¬ ment for them and making them independent of alms-giving. A society was established in 1749 for encouraging industry and employing the poor. At first it seemed to meet with no little success. It produced what was called the Spinning Craze, described elsewhere in this work,2 and caused the erection of a building, long famous in the town; but the institution con¬ tinued but a few years, and the building was finally disposed of for other purposes.

In 1827 the Young Men's Benevolent Society was established under the restriction that no relief should be given without an actual visit in the first instance by some member of its standing committee. The labors of Joseph not merely of religious offices and instruction for the poor, but in great measure for their more judicious treatment, and the history of such establishments as the Benevolent Frater¬ nity of churches, city missions, and free chapels deserve all the space al¬ lotted to our subject and more commendation than can be compressed into these lines.

In 1851 the Boston Provident Association was formed, designed to em¬ brace a larger field of operation and based upon the principle of careful investigation by friendly visitation and inquiry. The city was divided into districts, to each of which a visitor was assigned, by whom a limited amount

1 Incorporated in 1791, "for the recovery of their object the preservation of human life and persons who meet with such accidents as pro- the alleviation of its miseries," and well known of aid was given and reports made as a guide for further action. The excel¬ lent principles upon which this organization was founded, and the character of the men engaged in its administration at once secured the favor and lib¬ eral support of the community. Its managers perceived the great impor¬ tance of the harmonious and concurrent action of the various charitable agencies of the city upon some system by which the knowledge and inves¬ tigation of each might be made available for all ; and Robert C. Winthrop, then president, early recommended that a central building should be pro¬ vided for the overseers of the poor, and voluntary charitable organizations, where they might easily communicate with each other and act in concert,1 and ultimately such a building, finished in 1868, now designated as the " Charity Building,." was erected on Chardon Street, partly by voluntary subscriptions, but mainly at the cost of the city, where the overseers of the poor, the city physician, and a number2 of private charitable organizations or agencies have offices and easy opportunities for immediate conference. A further advance was made in 1879 by the establishment of the "Associated Charities of Boston, designed to bring all the charitable agencies of the city into closer co-operation, and especially to aid the citizens of Boston to make use of these agencies readily and understandingly. This society has already done admirable service. Its object is to help the poor to help themselves ; to guide them to relief, if possible by their own exertions, but if it is neces¬ sary, and only while it is necessary, to the sources of relief which already exist in abundance, and to detect imposture and prevent pauperism.

IV. General Unorganized Charities and Contributions to the Distressed of other Parts. - An examination of the files of a Boston newspaper for the last sixty-nine years (1813-1880) displays the varied forms in which the charity of its citizens has constantly manifested itself, and illustrates its growth in the wealth which supplies the means for gifts to re¬ lieve the misfortunes and sufferings which, like this charity, know no limit in time or place.

The voluntary gifts, in addition to the public expenditures, for education exceed those for any other special purpose. "War and soldiers" hold the next rank. Hospitals and gifts for the afflicted, - for religion, seamen, fires,

1 In his words : " An edifice dedicated and consecrated to the care of the destitute, . . . whose object and occupation . . . give it a beauty above any architectural embellishment." famines, floods and pestilence, - are all conspicuous. The blind, the aged, the orphan, the dumb and the deaf are remembered, and no part of the world is neglected. A famine in Ireland, the Azores, or Syria; a revolu¬ tion in Greece; the yellow-fever in Memphis; a rebellion in Crete; suffer¬ ings by war in France; conflagrations in the United States and elsewhere; an earthquake in Chios; a captured fugitive slave; a destitute laborer suffering from an accident ; a poor woman who has lost her purse, - every form of suffering, deprivation, loss, or destitution promptly call forth the gifts of those who do not yet stay their constant contributions for sci¬ ence, education, or religion, or the numerous objects which demand for their support the steady flow of voluntary beneficence. To send the missionary

It gives no sufficient idea of these gifts to record these figures and the names of the givers or sufferers. The friendly rivalry, the public opinion which encourages the willing and stimulates the reluctant, the silent sympathy and the unvalued time, labor, and actual expenditure of money in obtaining and transmitting such contributions cannot be recorded; and these figures are not offered as an exhibition or even as an approxi¬ mate statement of the voluntary contributions actually made, but only as a collection of those which have been, more fully of late years, thus pre¬ served. Nor can the subdivisions thus obtained be accepted as precise, but only as approximate, and as they appear from the files to an examiner. A comparison with the table hereafter given of the amount now held for charitable purposes, and with any estimate of the addition due to a just con¬ sideration of annual expenditures and of gifts unknown and unrecorded, will illustrate these statements and assist the reader to a conclusion ; but it is impossible to give a satisfactory history of such contributions in detail, and some illustrations and examples only can be given. From 1813 to 1881 contributions are recorded for thirty-one fires, - eleven in Boston and twenty in other places, four within and sixteen without the State of Massa¬ chusetts,2 - including over four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the

In 1871 the terrible calamity which left a large portion of the city of ncago in ashes, and caused a loss estimated at $200,000,000, awakened the prompt sympathy of Boston. The amount given reached a total of $452,241.51,1 - a -contribution larger than that of any other city except New York. In 1872 Boston was visited with a like misfortune. The rep¬ resentatives of Chicago generously offered to assist the sufferers by like gifts, as well as to return a large sum which remained unexpended of this amount, and received with no little surprise the courteous refusal of the Boston committee to accept this return. The latter felt that they were only trustees of the funds they had received, and were not at liberty to divert the contributions of their fellow-citizens from their destined purpose, even to those among the latter who had suffered from a similar cause. The contributions of the citizens of Boston for the losses of its own sufferers by the great fire of 1872 amounted to $343,302.24.2

The great fire of 1872 was an event of suf¬ ficient importance for special notice in these volumes ; and it seems proper to preserve in this place, as an illustration of the charities of Boston, the first report of the relief committee intrusted with these gifts : -

"After the immediate wants of the firemen and volun¬ teers who were injured had been attended to, the committee made permanent provision for the families of those who had been killed or injured, by placing in the hands of Martin Brimmer, Samuel D. Warren, Avery Plumer, William Endicott, Jr., and George Higgitison $81, 870.90 in trust ; and those gentlemen have and will continue to make liberal allowances to the families of all the members or volunteers of the fire department who suffered personal injury while on duty at the fire.

" The committee for the employment of women, located at Park Street, composed mostly of ladies, expended in aid of working women and girls, - furnishing them with clothing, food, rent, sewing-machines, and transportation, - $68,395.19.

"The general committee (Chardon Street) furnished to families burned out, and to other sufferers, coal, wood, stoves, furniture, clothing, and other necessaries, expending therefor $74,616.35.

"The special committee of relief made loans, without interest or security, to small traders and mechanics who were burned out and desired to start again, in sums varying from $200 to $500 ; and in addition have loaned in several cases, upon policies of insurance, to enable the sufferers to immediately avail themselves of their insurance money. Gifts have been made to the aged and infirm who have been reduced to penury by their losses in consequence of the fire ; also a donation of $2,000 in money, and clothing to the amount of $1,600, to the Boston Provident Association, and $1,000 to the Industrial Aid Society, - both of these associations affording us valuable aid in our distribution.

sonable wants, the committee returned to the Relief Com¬ mittee of Detroit the ten thousand dollars ($10,000) sent us from the money remaining in their hands after the fire in that city in 1871; as also the sum of nine thousand dollars ($9,000) sent us by the Relief Committee of Milwaukee from similar funds. Letters were sent to Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, New Bedford, and Worcester, thanking the gentlemen and committees who had promptly visited us and proffered their sympathy and assistance. While from the liberality of the home subscriptions we were not obliged to receive from them pecuniary aid, we expressed our grati¬ fication at the promptness and heartfelt sympathy with which it was tendered and pressed upon us.

" Applications are received from day to day from persons who have struggled on until now. Where there is sickness or infirmity, the committee repeat these gifts. It is not improbable that a very considerable portion of our present means will be needed the coming winter.

been ascertained and recorded. Now and then some single enterprise of philanthropy has been deemed worthy of a separate record; but this especially has been the charity that " vaunteth not itself." Each in his generation recalls the liberal gifts which the news of some sudden or linger¬ ing calamity in a distant city or even in another hemisphere at once sud¬ denly elicits, the prompt organizations which frequent experience of such demands has made familiar, the voluntary committees of citizens and offi¬ cials, the quick announcement to the distant sufferers of the aid already on its way, the self-devoted laborers, and the numerous forms in which ready benevolence, not ending at home, has constantly manifested itself.

Good Mr. Peters's charity in buying provisions and distributing them to all the towns; the contributions for the ransom of the captives in Canada, - of which Judge Sewall writes in his Diary under date of Oct. 25, 1688: " Presented my final account to his Excellency respecting the French con¬ tribution as he landed at Mrs. Gillam's Stairs, from seeing the sloops set sail with souldiers and provisions for the eastward," - are early traces of this form of charity; and Drake records: "April 12 [1636] The ship 'Charity' of Dartmouth came near being cast away as she sailed into the harbor with a heavy northwest wind. She was of one hundred and twenty tons burden, and brought a timely supply of provisions which were at this time much needed. To prevent speculators oppressing the poor by buying up the provisions and holding them at extravagant prices, Mr. Peters bought up the whole cargo, by which operation ' he saved the country two hundred pds.' It was then distributed ' to all the towns as each town needed.' He had been laboring for some time to induce the people to establish a sort of magazine by buying up necessary articles when they were cheap, which should be well husbanded, and dealt out when they were scarce, at reason¬ able rates." 1

In 1677 certain captives had been taken by the Indians at Hatfield, and agents were appointed by the General Court to go to Canada to ransom them. The governor and magistrates reported their arrival at Albany, but " that great charges would arise for their redemption," and they therefore commended their case to the people of all the towns and invited them to contribute for their relief. Trustees were appointed to receive the con¬ tributions ; and three hundred and forty-five pounds one shilling and fourpence were raised, of which Boston contributed more than one hundred and nine pounds.2

The Greek Revolution of 1824 called forth the active sympathies of the modern Athens, and contributions large for the time, amounting to nearly sixteen thousand dollars, are recorded in its newspapers. There is no space to " enter into a detail of the proceedings by which the agents of the com¬ mittees succeeded in alleviating the miseries of thousands and tens of thousands of half-starving Greeks." In these proceedings Boston, repre¬ sented by Dr. Samuel G. Howe, had a large share.3

Boston shared largely in the contributions from America for the relief of the sufferers by the famine of 1847 in Ireland and Scotland, - the most re¬ markable and interesting " contribution to the distressed of other parts " in its history. The New England committee received contributions to the value of $151,007.05 from ten different States, of which Massachusetts gave $116,641.96, and Boston $52,162.94. Seven vessels, - among them two United States war-vessels, the frigate " Macedonian," and the sloop-of-war " Jamest°wn," granted by Congress for that purpose, - bore these gifts to their destination; the "Jamestown" being under the command of Robert B. f orbes, of Boston. They were received with the warmest gratitude, and the givers recalled the generosity with which " divers Christians in Ireland " in 1676 had contributed " for the releiffe of such as are Impoverished, De¬ pressed, and in Nessessitie by the late Indian Warr," and sent this "releiffe" " to the distressed persons in New England by the Good ship call'd the Katherine, of Dublin." 1

In June, 1877, St. John, New Brunswick, was visited by a most disas¬ trous conflagration, which consumed property estimated at $28,000,000, left the most valuable portion of the city, - two fifths in area, - in ashes,' and fifteen thousand persons homeless. The first expression of sympathy came fiom Boston, and its contributions of supplies were twice borne to the suffer¬ ers by a United States vessel, as thirty years before its gifts to the sufferers in Iieland had been committed to the "Jamestown" and "Macedonian." The total amount contributed by this city in money and supplies was over forty-four thousand dollars, - nearly twenty-seven thousand in money, and more in all than those received from any other city or town.

In 1830 Josiah Quincy endeavored to ascertain the " amounts received from the liberality of the citizens of Boston towards objects of a public nature, of a moral, religious, or literary character, chiefly within the last thirty years;"2 and estimated them at about $1,801,273, more than one half of which, he thought, had been given within the previous ten years. Samuel A. Eliot made a like attempt in regard to the period from 1830 to 1845 !3 and including many donations for religious and educational purposes, but without taking into account collections in churches and gifts of private in¬ dividuals for special objects, such as Mr. Quincy had included, he obtained a total amount, given chiefly within the previous fifteen years, of $2,938,020. F. B. Sanborn, secretary of the Massachusetts Board of State Charities, 1865, collected further information, and estimated the total sum annually expended in private charity in Boston alone, including contributions in churches and public meetings, at not less than $500,000. He was of opinion that of Mr. Quincy's estimate at least two thirds, or about $100,000 per annum for fifteen years of the period he had taken, were given for the relief of pauperism alone. In 1877 the commission for the treatment of the poor in Boston made a similar attempt for the period of ten years from 1867 to 1876; and - with imperfect information from the churches applied to, and none as to gifts of individuals or public meetings for special objects at home or abroad, not represented by societies or indi¬ viduals from which recorded statistics could be obtained - reported a total sum for 1867 of $264,000, for 1876 of $531,300, and for the ten years of $3,838,700, expended in private relief alone. To this must be added the unrecorded gifts of which no satisfactory estimate can be made. The aggregate municipal expenditures for charitable purposes by the city of Boston for the same ten years are stated by the commissioners at $2,987,- 916.28 ; 1 so that it is still clearly true, as stated by Mr. Eliot in reference to the period of which he speaks, " that a much larger amount has been distributed by the individual inhabitants of Boston than by the city gov¬ ernment in the same term of time for the same or similar purposes."

An estimate from the best authority has been furnished of the amounts contributed in Boston to the American Board of Commissioners for For¬ eign Missions since its organization in 1810. "Its receipts from the city of Boston for twenty-five years (1856-1880) were $968,451. The gifts from Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, and Roxbury, during the same period prior to annexation, would amount to more than $31,549; and it is therefore an under-estimate to say that Boston has given to this object $1,000,000 during the last quarter of a century. Prior to that period the receipts from Boston cannot be given separately from others without a tedious canvassing of the original acknowledgments; but if we assume that they would bear the same proportion to the total receipts before 1856 as since that time, we reach an approximate result which cannot be regarded as too favorable to Boston. On this basis the entire receipts by the Board from the city in the seventy years of its history may be estimated at $1,700,000. In fact, if the full statement could be drawn out, there is little doubt that we should have to add $100,000, and perhaps as much more, to this sum; " and it is thought that it would not "be an over-estimate to say that probably not far from $2,000,000 have been thus contributed " from this source alone for these objects, while it must be re¬ membered that "this represents only the gifts to foreign missions from the churches and individuals connected with the Congregational churches, and that the large contributions for like purposes from other religious bodies are not included. Part of this sum is included in the contributions for religious purposes collected from the files of a Boston newspaper; but as the total of these contributions for use in and out of the city thus collected is about $1,200,000, it may be conjectured how far short the gifts so recorded are of the full measure of the charity and beneficence of Boston.

The largest missionary association of the Unitarian churches is the American Unitarian Association, founded in the year 1825. The Uni¬ tarians also support the Evangelical Missionary Society, the Society for Diffusing Christian Knowledge, and the Society for Promoting Theologi- cal Education. The accounts of the treasurers of these societies show that, in the last fifty-six years, they have contributed about $1,500,000 for missionary purposes. Of this sum rather more than $500,000 has been contributed in Boston.

1 hree citizens of Boston have recently made bequests valued now at nearly $3,000,000 for charitable and educational establishments not yet fully in operation.

John Simmons in 1870 left a sum, amounting now to about $1,400,000, to found the Simmons Female College, for the teaching of medicine, music, drawing, designing, telegraphy, and other branches of art, science, and in¬ dustry, best calculated to enable its pupils to acquire an independent liveli¬ hood.

Thomas Liversidge in 1876 bequeathed a fund, now amounting to $300,- 000, to found the Liversidge Institution of Industry, designed for education in Industrial Arts.

Peter B. Brigham in 1877 gave by his will $30,000 to the town of Bakers¬ field in Vermont, to constitute the Brigham School fund for educational purposes ; and the residue of his estate, after the payment of certain lega¬ cies, at the end of twenty-five years, with its accumulations, to found the Brigham Hospital for sick persons in indigent circumstances residing in Boston. This residue is now estimated at about $-1,000,000.

A renewed effort1 has been made to ascertain the total amount of prop¬ erty now held in Boston, or in its vicinity, under such circumstances that it may be reckoned as the result of the voluntary liberality of its citizens, for charitable purposes. No little difficulty has been found in obtaining this information. For that purpose two hundred and seventy-seven circulars were sent to different private institutions or societies, including fifty-eight

1 An earlier attempt is recorded in the following, taken from the Report of the Commission on the Treatment of the Poor , City Doc. 36, of 1878, appendix xxii. : -

Summary

Note. - There are some differences between the figures in this table and the public returns. Some of the property is not within the city limits, and both items and valuations as given by the societies and public authorities vary. The Annual Report of the Auditor of the city for the financial year 1880-81 states that, "Churches, charitable, scientific, and literary corporations hold property, exempt by law from assessment, as follows: value of land, $10,422,400.00; value of buildings, $10,352,500.00; total real estate, $20,774,900.00 Personal estate, $3,408,500.00.'* - p. 314.

churches supposed to hold funds for such purposes. One hundred and seventy-five answers only were received, and attempts have been made in some cases to estimate the amounts which should be added to supply these omissions ; but the result of this effort and of that made by the commission¬ ers of 1877 indicate the propriety of some compulsory system of public returns. The State is entitled to know the amount and nature of the prop¬ erty which it exempts from taxation, and to supervise its administration. Concealment, or even the absence of publicity, favored from good motives by the best men, is calculated to promote abuses by the worst.

The Summary on the preceding page exhibits the returns and estimates of the amounts of property held in 1880 - 81 for charitable and religious purposes, mostly in the city of Boston ; not including the property owned by the city, or the real or personal estate of colleges, museums, etc.

If to this total sum of $27,827,939 we add real estate owned by the city, used for charitable purposes, $1,045,300; for public baths $20,000; for educational purposes $8,480,200; for the Public Library $561,000, - in all $10,106,500; and also the property of certain educational institutions in Boston and vicinity, such as the Institute of Technology, the Boston Natu¬ ral History Society, the Art Museum, the Boston University, Tufts College, Wellesley College, Harvard College,1 and the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge (which are fairly to be included in Boston charities) ; and other real estate used for educational, literary, and scientific purposes in Boston, not included in the foregoing, - we have a total amount of probably $50,000,000 or more (on a valuation in 1880 of $639,462,495 ) devo¬ ted to all these objects.

It is impossible, however, to state the total amount given or now set apart for charitable objects, even of a public nature; and the gifts of one generation are not recorded for their successors. It is safe to increase by large additions, in any estimate, the amounts which we are able to gather from any accessible sources; but "far short as this sum falls of the real amount obtained from the liberality of our fellow-citizens, it is yet enough to make it evident that the best spirit of the institutions of our ances¬ tors survives in the hearts and is exhibited in the lives of the citizens of Boston." 2

The space allowed for the " Charities of Boston " in this Memorial is more than filled with a sketch which cannot but seem, to those most familiar with the subject, inadequate and incomplete. Every one who has shared in them, and watched their history and development with personal interest and activity, will recall some society or institution, some fact or occurrence, some noble act or generous gift, some liberal giver of his life,

1 The personal property of Harvard College erty of the other institutions has not been asceris about $ 4,000,000 , and its real estate is estimated tained.

as worth from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000, not includ- 2 Centennial Address (1830), by Josiah Quincy, ing its scientific collections and library. The prop- p. 65.

labor, or wealth, some feature or illustration which he feels - and it is diffi¬ cult to say unjustly feels - should have been included or set forth or more fully described and recorded. Imperfect and unsatisfactory as the writer finds the result of his labors, he reviews with a keen sense of pride the evidences which they present of the "good works and alms-giving" of his fellow-citizens, here set down in no boastful spirit, and solicits charity from them for the poverty of his narration.

Note. - The following is a list of the 177 voluntary organizations and 13 charities mentioned on page 658, whose funds, so far as known, are included with those of other institutions in the Summary on page 670. The date prefixed to each indicates the year of its establishment. The Directory referred to on page 657 contains a more full and detailed account of these and other charitable agencies and of their objects.

Boston Mercantile Library, IV 283. Boston Mill Corporation, IV. 32. Boston military: II. iii; dragoons, III. 303 ; light infantry, 303 ; cadets,

Caleb, Robert, autog. II. 165 ; his More Wonders, 165, 171 ; his attacks on Cotton Mather, 167; the Margaret Rule witch case, 147 ; who was he ? 167; his letter to Bellomont, 168; and the Mathers, 421 ; the elder, judged to be the opponent of Cotton Mather, 351; mentioned, III. 176: IV. 652.

General Index

Confederacy of 1643, I- 295 ; signatures of the Commissioners, 300, 301, 314. Confiscation Acts, III. 175. Congregational Association, IV. 59. Congregational Charitable Society, II. 224.

Constitutional Telegraphe, III. 624. Constitution, ship, III. 332, 337, 340, 344 ; docked and rebuilt, 356 ; fig¬ ure-head of Jackson, 357; launch of, commemorated at the theatre,

Cuddington, John, II. xxxii. Cudworth, Benjamin, III. 14. Cudworth, James, autog I. 301. Cudworth, Warren H., III. 481. Cullimer, Isaac, I. 559; II. x ; autog. x. Culloden, news of battle of, received, II. 1 19.

Cumberland, frigate, III. 354,362. Cumming, Alexander, II. 240. Cummings, Charles A. " Press and Literature of the last Hundred Years," III. 617; ''Architecture in Boston," IV. 465 ; autog. III. 682 ; IV. 488.

Deane, Charles. "The Struggle to Maintain the Charter," I. 329; his Bibliography of H utchinson, xix ; autog. 382 ; his library, IV. 293. Deane, Thomas, II. xlvii.

Frothingham, O. B., his Transcenden¬ talism in New England , IV. 319. Frothingham, Richard, History of Charlestown, I. xv ; mentioned, III. 29, 566; IV. 293. Frothingham, Samuel, II. 362. Frothingham, William and Anne, I. 566.

Gage, Thomas, 1 1. 29, 69 ; autog. 29 ; made Governor of Massachusetts Bay, III. 54; seizes powder, and begins fortifications, 62 ; sends out expeditions, 66 ; and his wife, 68 ; his account of Lexington and, Con¬ cord, 73 ; his order to inhabitants to leave Boston, fac-simile, 76 ; rein¬ forced, 81 ; dies, 100.

Goddard, D. A. u The Press and Lit¬ erature of the Provincial Period," II- 3S7 ; '£The Pulpit, Press, and Literature of the Revolution," III.

Hagburne, Samuel, I. 419. Haggerston, David, IV. 636. Hailestone, William, I. 559; IT. xxx. Hakluyt, Richard, I. 35 ; his Divers Voyages, 44.

Harbor, geological formation of, I. 3 ; depth of water diminishing, 7 ; ear¬ liest explorations of, 63 - by Standish, 64; by the French, 69; old planters, 75 ; early described, 523 ; settlement by Weston, 70; by Gor¬ ges, 76 ; called Massachusetts Bay, 37> 38 ; visited by early fishermen, 40; called Baie de S. Antonio, 41 ; how far explored by Smith, 50 ; on his map, 53, 55 ; maps of, 36 ; ca.Ied Foxhaven, or Vos-haven by the Dutch, 57, 5S, 59 ; visited by Allerton, and other Plymouth men, 60 ; mentioned, II. 440; ship defences, 103; defences in War of 1812, III. 305; passage cut through ice, IV. 226. See Boston Harbor.

Indians, their agriculture, I. 18 ; their fort at Muddy River, 220 ; relations with Boston, 275 ; of Eastern Mas¬ sachusetts, 241 ; dispossessed of their

Legislature, Boston in the, III. 298; grants to Boston institutions. 298; co-operates with Boston in improve¬ ments, 208; gifts to the city, 298; effect on manufactures, IV. 103.

Listemann, Bernhard,' IV. 457, 550. Literature of the Colonial period, I. 453; of the Provincial period, II. 387; of the Revolution, III. 119; of recent years, 617, 634.

McKean, Andrew, III. 177. McKenzie, Alexander. "The Relig¬ ious History of the Provincial Pe¬ riod," II. 187; autog. 248. McKeown, Andrew, III. 444. McKinstrey, Dr. William, III. 179. McKinstrey, Mrs., III. 177.

Maps, collections of early, and the study of them, I. 38 ; of Massa¬ chusetts Bay and Boston Harbor, 37; of Boston, II. xlix; III. i; " Boston Old and New," I. xxii. Maquas, II. 4S6.

publishes laws, 624 Massachusetts fields, I. 37, 64, 77. Massachusetts, frigate, II. 115, n6. Massachusetts Fusileers, III. 303. Massachusetts Gazette , II. 391; III.

New England, geology of, T. 1, 2 ; his¬ tories of, xix ; maps of, III. 1 ; names borne by it at different times, I. 34, 51 ; named by Smith, 51 ; called New Netherland by the Dutch, 51, 58; described by John¬ son, 303 ; the coast divided among patentees, 74 ; council for, see Coun¬ cil ; confederacy. 131.

Plymouth, its harbor, I. 47, 4.8, 59, called Crane Bay, 57; the Pilgrims land there, 60; relations with Bos¬ ton, 276; their trading station on the Penobscot, 283,289; visited by Winthrop, 1 19. See Pilgrims.

of, 244 ; supervisors of, 244 ; draw¬ ing and painting in, IV. 406, 407. See Education, Reading and Writing Schools, and names of schools. Schoolmasters, 1. 123 ; IV. 235.

Selectmen, I. xx, 505; first chosen, 388; heliotype of the order creating, 38S ; list of Boston, 562; lists of, with various autogs. II. 534; origin of. III. 218.

Tucker, Samuel, III. 182, 187. Tuckerman, Edward, IV. 80, 183. Tuckerman, Gustavus, IV. 221. Tuckerman, H. T., America and her Commentators , I. xix.

Vernon's Head, II. xx. See Admiral. Verrazano Giovanni de, I. 32, 35. Verrazano, Hieronimus, map, I. 41, 44 Verrazano's voyage, I. 32 ; authori¬ ties, 33; map of, 34.

W A Ban, I.

Webster, Daniel, III. 628; autog. 670; his seventh of March speech, 396: refused Faneuil Hall to speak in, 257 ; his statue, 232 ; his reply to Hayne, IV. 597; Ball's statue of, 597 ; engraved portraits of, 597 ; au¬

Whitmore, William H. " Boston Fam¬ ilies," I. 557; " Families of the Eighteenth Century," IT. 533 ; Graveyards of Boston , lvii ; " The Inter-Charter Period," 1 ; Amer¬ ican Genealogist , lvi ; autog. 1. 588 ;

Winsor, Justin, editor, Preface ; In¬ troduction ; "Maps of Massachu¬ setts Bay,'' I. 37; " Literature of the Colonial _ Period," 453; Introduc¬ tion, II. i ; Supt. of Public Library,

Woman's Rights, IV. 353 Women in the School Committee, IV. 354 1 vote for School Committee, 354; in art, 352 ; legislation regard¬ ing the rights of, 342 ; education of, 343 ; punishment of, 335 ; in medi¬ cine, 277; m laboratories, 275; in teaching, 246 ; University Educa¬ tion of, 253 ; in theological schools, 277.

Source changes here: from The Memorial History of Boston : Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, by Winsor, Justin, published 1881; 464 words in this source stream.

The Memorial History Of Boston

Which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children. ... He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children ; that the generation to come might know them. - PSALM Ixxviii.