Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-05-13
IN BOSTON TOWN.
WHAT A LAECAsTRIAN NOTED I'M Tine
HUN CITY OF THE UNIvERsE.
Crooked streets That Lead Upon tho Famous
boston Common-v Visits 10 the Bunker Hin
Monument and the Old south Church.
Some Other Historic Points.

Special Correspondence OF the ISTELLIaEScER.
BosToN, May lit IL no wonder that the
average Bostonian feels an inordinate pride
In his city, for there is good reason for tho |
faith that is In him. Not all the ridicule that
is poked at tho HUB its alleged fondness for
"culchaw " and baked beans can conceal
the reality that It Ia the most interesting, and
perhaps the most beautiful Of American
cities. This is true despite the fact that there
Is little of tho picturesque In Boston's sur
roundings. A common place country |
stretches TO the west and north. dotted here
and there by little patches Of water, while the
entrance to the city from the south by the
Old Colony road reveals q great tract of /
swamp land that il far removed from beauti- |
full.
And yet when the tourist penetrates the |
rough shell, he finds an enjoyable kernel |
within. II may be that Boston derives its |
chief attractiveness from its prominence M |
| tho scene of tho first organized resistance to |
the British crown in the dark days of l775. |
| However 1t be, the visitor finds himself
wandering through its crooked streets with
| perfect good nature, though it would require
the thread OF an Aradne TO lead the modern
Theseus out of this labyrinth after he Is once
| fairly within. But what matter of the
crooked thoroughfarcs when they nearly all
lead upon that world-famols public park, the
| Boston Common.
THE BOSTON COMMON.
This, 10 tho tourist from tho Middle states,
IL one OF the most striking features of Boston.
| Picture TO yourself immense park in
| Philadelphia the centre of which would be
the present site of the public buildings; or a
| great tract of cultivated land i'm New York
| City, the central point of which would be the
| corner of Broadway and Fourteenth street.
Yet i'm the heart of Boston with the great
htrai Sfr oil s,,t.,
directly or remotely, il splended park of
forty-eight acres under the highest state OF
cultivation. Elms that arc more than CEN
tury old line the close-trimmed grassy banks
of artificial lakes; and broad steain-rolled
drives, as well as fOot-walks intersect il in
every direction. Monuments and fountains
are scattered through it with tasteful pro-
aigaiiiy, 10 us who gazed upon itwith win
ter still lingering I'm the lap OF spring, II was
more than pretty in June IL must be an
Eden OF beauty.
How this Immense tract of valuable prop
erty was kept intact is explained by the fact
that in 1854, when the Common WINS first laid
out there was placed in the city charter
clause that made 1t tho public property for
ever, which the city could not sell or change
in its character. Thus did the foresight OF
two hundred and fifty years ago contribute
to the creation Of thing of beauty for the
generation OF to-day.
A VISIT TO BUNKER HILL.
To the American or Englishmau visiting
| i'ootoby ~ tDe ODJect Oh DaIi-
mount interest. Here II was that the
"barsted Britisher" received his first repulse
, at the hands of the raw minute mon of Massa-
, chusetts. For though the Americans were
unable TO hold their position that eventful
seventeenth day of June, 1775, i'm dead and
wounded and loss of prestige it was a yir-
J tnal English defeat As one approaches up
the steep street Of Charlestown and sees
Story's statue OF Col. William Prescott in
the attitude OF encouraging his men TO fresh
, exertions, the most unimaginative mind
finds itself travelling over the century that
bridges the present from the past to that day
when the British under Howe and Pigot
were twice driven back in rage and humilia-
tion after having been permitted to advance
within nine rods of the American redoubt
, This famous battle ground is now in n
thickly settled part of Charlestown, which is
at present a portion OF Boston. 1t is well
, kept the close-trimmed sod being dotted
here and there with stone slabs that tell on
0 | their engraved surfaces where were tho his
toric points OF this first great struggle for
n american liberty. The place where Warren
ieli was marked by Masonic shaft opposite
Inc present monument on the street to the
west This has been removed aud a model
4. OF the same placed at the foot of the hollow
Z | cone ia the Bunker Hill obelisk. An ex-
4 cellent life slze-statue of Warren by Green
| ougi stands in the little one story house that
; forms the entrance to the monument
= DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT
, The monument itself il square shaft of
Quincy granite, being 22l feet high, 81 feet
, square at the base and 10 feet square at the
top. hollow cone runs from base TO summit
around which winds a stone staircase of 2gi
steps. At the top IL a chamber IL feet in
, diameter, from which the landscape may be
viewed from windows looking 10 the four
points OF the compass The splendid ship
ping OF Boston harbor forms feast for the eye
J on tho east, while in all other directions NAV
be seen railroads whose threadlike tracks
lose themselves in tho infinite distance.
THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
The old South church is perhaps the most
sacred OF tho historic spots of Boston. Built
in 1923, it still stands in tho inner sanctuary
of the business of the city on Washington
street Big business houses are on all sides.
| and for its bell that erstwhie called w or.
Shippers to prayer it now listens to the ,in-
GeasinS mum OF trade that passes by its doors.
IL Is hlled with relics OF the early colon jal
days. Cotton Mather's picture looks sternIy
down upon you not far from the windows
where Washington entered tho church after
the B1sion nlassucre. day-book OF General
JosePh warren and photographs of his skull
showing where the fatal bullet entered mt the
battle OF Bunker Hill. recall the ialnentabIy
early fate OF that gifted soldier. Autograph
letters OF washington and famous New
Englandcrs, old colonial silverware, Gov
Endicotts chair and a hundred other souvenirs
OF the old days make the spectator, as it we're
live the Revolutionary times again.
one might go ON indefinitely picking out
the beauties of this quaint New England city
but while it would certainly be pleasing to
| himself, hisdetailed ripiionoft them would
be tiresome to the reader. tits hard to dismiss
with line such places as Christ church.
dedicated l723; Kings chapel, opened 1854;
faneuil hall. built l743 Trinity church. cost,
ing S750,0OO; Museum OF Fine Arts,
established 1870; as well as the great number
of new public buildings that beautify the cty.
One would need to linger much longer at the
| iiup 10 approach proper description of these
| Places, and a rapid survey would do them