The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-04
HOW THERE CAME TO
BE A BOSTON COMMON
edward Everett Hale, in Woman S
Companion for June.)

edward Everett Hale, in Woman's
Companion for June)
I cannot help Wishing that whoever
lays out a new town in the state of
Washington or Idaho or the other new
states would mark out always, as some
of them do, a fOrty-acre lot for a COM
mon. What happened when Boston
was settled was this; That William
BlaXtOn, who was really a hermit who
had nestled down on the peninsula, in
vited the colonists to come and join
him. And he reserved forty-six acres
for his own pasture. But he found the
Lords Brethren" as disagreeable in
America as he had found the Lord
Bishops" in England. So after a few
years he left Boston for the wilderness,
and sold his pasture to the other set
tiers. And they were so goOd-natured
about II that they let all newcomers In
to a share to that purchase. For two
centuries and more, quite until nv
boyhOOd, people thought of it as a place
to pasture COWS on, to fly kites on. to
coast on, and to maneuver their militia.
There were no good crops of hay cut
as see there are now.
At the northeast corner of il some
body planted a double row Of English
elms. For In those days whatever was
English seemed superfine to these peo-
pie, and they had not been taught that
the American elm is the queen of the
vegetable world. That is what the
French botanist Michaux called ii, and
what is true unless the Sequoia is the
queen.
When in the earlier books Of memoirs
the writer's speak of walking in the
Mall, they meant that they walked I'M
der these elms. To these trees some
one added sycamore trees. or what we
call buttOnball trees, which I believe
are there to this day.
When Dean Stanley came to America
years ago, I called on him at once and I
asked him what he wanted to see. He
said, THE old historical impulse has
broken out again. I want to see the old
elm on the common. / know that il
has been blown down, but 1 want to see
what Is left of it," So / took him to
scion, comparatively small, which is
now encirCled by an iron fence to show
where the old elm stood The old elm
is supposed to have been there even in
BlaXton's time. It was certainly there
in 1857, when the tOwnspeOple of that
day hanged the Quakers on It. 1t grew
and it grew until the great gale about
fifty years ago destroyed the tree itself.
leaving only what was hardly more
than a sapling, which we are cultivat-
As time went on people felt more and
more that a great treasure was left TO
them IN this magnificent piece of public
property in the very heart of their
town. After the war with England,
which we call the short war" in the
year 1915, there was some money left
from sum which had been subscribed
for the fertilization of the harbor. The
people who had the money in charge
spent il for a fence, which we thought
rather ornamental around the common.
By that time the Mall had extended
itself around the sides Of the common.
and parallel fences were built which
separated the mall from the rest. The
Mall was a gravel pathway for pedes-
trians, and horses and carriages could
not er ter. Thus was the pasture land
Of Blaxton's time. physically separated
from the rest of the world 1t was not
yet a park with trees, as to a certain
extent 1t is now. Tt was what they
called the training field, il was a COW
pasture, and il was a good place to
shake carpets. and a first-rate place for
boys to play in. There are traditions of
a duel which had been fought on the
common.
There is a little pond of an acre or
two in the common, and some Philistine
tried to have this called Crescent pond.
But this was a mere absurdity. The
Frog pond it was, the Frog pond il is
and the Frog pond il will be. though
there have been no frogs there for
nearly a century The Boston boy has
in him the making Of a good citizen,
who viii surreptitiOusly carry a family
Of frogs there and liberate them there
some dark night for the benefit Of pos
terity. The Frog pond was and is a
perfect place TO sail boats in, and I hope
that sloops and schOoners viii not go so
wholly out Of fashion but that my
grandson's -grandsons may learn
there how to set their jibs and main
sails as their little fleets sail back
wards and forwards.
Cool off in the Lake
At Saltair. Water perfectly delightful
rD0s~rI trim &c