The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-06-19

N May thy good name be " And greater Bridgep' robbers entered, MT. Beardsley, per- ceiving that their faces were covered with pieces of white muslin, and that | they had come on no lawful business, l rose to resist them. But the larger and apparently the stronger of the thrust a knee into his abdomen and hurled him violently back into his chair.
 It was the injury thus inflicted that later caused the death of the man who stands under all the circumstances as the most public spirited citizen that I Bridgeport ever had. Paralysis of the bladder supervened. For days he the afternoon of New Years day he peacefully passed away
 MT. Beardsley was a native of Mon roe. The blood of a long line of Pur- itan ancestors flowed in his veins. For some years he followed the occu- patton of a drover and farmer in the town of Monroe. About 40 years be- fore his death he came to Bridgeport to look after the affairs of his uncle. Eli Walker, a man very well to do for his time. who upon his death left his estate to him. Part of the Beardsley Park property was included in this bequest.
 Beyond his benefactions to the Bridgeport public. MT. Beardsley could scarcely be called a public man. He represented Monroe in the General As sembly while he was a resident of that town, but this was the extent of his office holding. It is said that his in terest as a legislator lay almost en- tirely in bills tending to improve the many trees and gave much time and thought to the playground he bestow- ed n he a piff of the landscape gardener and some thing of the instinct of the poet which enabled him tU afiTn4rasr<zad enjoy more than the great majority of men the natural beauties of the landscape em- braced within. his gift
 There can be little doubt but that his determination to make the gift was in part the outgrowth of his artistic ap- preciation of Its beauty of stream and glade.
 This was not to him a tract of land to be cut into building lots and turned to the uses of a densely populated neigh borhood. It was undoubtedly to him, for he had come of a long line of religious ancestry, a natural picture given by-the Creator for the especial enjoyment of men, and he felt that it should be preserved for their enjoy ment and desired to be the instrument of that preservation.
 He was a man we'll read and of a broad culture, the more engrained that it was self acquired, and to him the thought of a growing population was no vaguely speculative matter. He had observed with considering mind the increasing momentum of the move ment to the cities. He realized that short of scme unthought of disaster to mankind, or some as yet undreamed of means of communication so rapid as practically to annihilate distance, that this phenomenon would continue to ex- ist- Where others saw farm land he ga yr in fa distant iy1p dpr.Ce1H settled city streets with people many and breathing spaces few.
 His love of natures beauty, the in telligence with which he judged the fu- ture and the benevolence which was the greater portion of his character alike impelled him to donate the property which. as it afterward ap- social and material conditions of the people. But he was a man of retiring disposition and unusual modesty and the occupations of public life made lit tie appeal to him.
 In appearance Mr. Beardsley was of rugged frame and strong features. Beneyolence was a marked character istic of his countenance. He was more than six feet in stature and in youth and middle age was possessed of un- usual physical strength. He believ- ed that man should not live by mental toll alone, and throughout his life per- formed much manual labor This he deemed = neeeSsary s;Sa to a well ordered
 
 ter the views of the great English Premier. William Ewart Gladstone, of whom he was at all times the warm admirer.
 Much personal toll did MT. Beardsley put into the park he had given to the city With his own hands he planted peared was the larger part of his for tune, to the common welfare.
 To carry out his will in this respect it was not necessary for him to do violence to any of the natural senti- ments of kinship or ties of blood. He had never married, his near relatives had for the most part passed before and the nephews and nieces who alone remained were settled in the West Ties of blood, even though they were not by the terms of closest consan- guinity, were not less to him than to others of his inheritance but com pared with his warm affection for his neighbors all about him, and compared with his appreciation of the beauties of the landscape which he desired to preserve forever, the demands of blood made but faint call upon him, and his determination that his property should serve public use increased un- til it was accomplished
 Nor was it altogether easy for him to carry out his purpose. The city of Bridgeport was in those days small in population. The territory about the proposed park was farm land. Few people had. a vision of the growth of cities and what that would mean. Thousands could scarcely perceive the uses of a donation of farm land on the borders of the city and some of the city fathers were most reluctant to take over a burden which as they be- lieved would bring much expense with it and increase the city's charges.
 Therefore it was not enough for MT. Beardsley to desire to give his land. He was obliged to use upon the reluc- tant officers of the city the arts of persuasion and the strong enthusiasm ~s<.%f< f>r<(<> l-<