[City documents, 1847-1867]

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City Document. — JV*o. 7.

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PUBLIC CEMETERY.

In Common Council, Sept. 6, 1847.

Report read, laid upon the table, and ordered to
be printed. Attest,

JOSHUA SEAVER, Clerk.

% »

2 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

CITY OF ROXBURY.

City Council, September 6, 1847.

The Joint Standing Committee on Burial Grounds,
respectfully submit the following

REPORT:

From the very limited extent of the several Burial *
Grounds in Roxbury, and the rapid increase of in-
habitants, it has become necessary that a tract of
land should be procured, in as nearly a central posi-
tion of the City, as is practicable, for a public Cem-
etery, and of a sufficient size to meet the prospective
requirements of a population which must be vastly
augmented within less than thirty years.

Confined places of sepulchre, of the character of
which now exist, in the midst of a large and dense
population, are not only considered deleterious in
their effects upon the public health, but incompati-
ble with a proper respect for the dead, as well as
unpleasant and objectionable appendages to the hab-
itations of the living.

While modern nations have rivalled those of anti-
quity, that were most distinguished for their advance-
ment in letters, science and the arts, in intelligence,
enterprise and grandeur ; and far surpassed them in
the establishment of numerous important institutions
for ameliorating the condition, elevating the character,
improving the morals and extending the advantages
of instruction and refinement to all classes of the
people ; and notwithstanding the immense benefits
which have been derived from the glorious revela-
tions of the Messiah, as contrasted with the infinite-

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 3

ly various mythologies of antecedent ages, for a more
perfect development of the affections of the heart,
the guidance of enlightened reason, and a knowledge
of the higher duties incumbent upon the faithful dis-
ciples of the Sacred Messenger of Omnipotence ;
still have they remained far in the rear of Pagan
empires, in appropriate manifestations of respect
for the memory of deceased relatives and friends,
and the names, characters and services of their illus-
trious benefactors in peace and war.

The ancients not considering it either decorous
or reverential to the dead, to deposit their remains
in the midst of the living, while a proper regard to
sanitory principles, rendered such a custom highly
objectionable ; therefore, they were induced to lo-
cate their sepulchres beyond the walls of the cities.

The cemeteries of the ever memorable city of
Thebes, were excavated in the distant mountains ;
and that of Memphis, the last regal capital of the
Pharaohs of Egypt, was on the borders of lake Me-
oris. There expensive catacombs were cut in the
solid rock, and richly embellished with sculptures,
paintings, and inscriptions, illustrative of the rank
and memorable events, in the lives of the individu-
als, whose remains were there deposited, after
having been embalmed in such a perfect manner as
to yet exist in an undecayed condition, after the
lapse of more than three thousand years.

The chief burial places of Jerusalem were in the
valley of Jehoshaphat, and in the sides of the adjacent
hills. There the " Potters Field" was located, which
was purchased by the priests with the returned
" pieces of silver" which the compunctious and re-
pentant Judas had received as " the price of blood ;"

4 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

and on the borders of Mount Calvary was the " new
sepulchre" of Joseph of Arimathea, in which the
body of the crucified Saviour of the World was laid.

The Cemetery of Athens was in the Ceramicus,
which extended from the gate opposite the Forum
to the garden of the academy, and included the
residence and school of Plato. Within that spacious
area were not only interred the citizens of the most
superb city of Greece, but the ashes of every officer,
soldier, and mariner, who fell in battle in distant re-
gions, were brought back, and there deposited. Pro-
cessions, formed by each of the ten tribes to which
they belonged, accompanied the funeral car. Ora-
tors were appointed to deliver eulogiums, and richly
sculptured cenotaphs were erected at the public ex-
pense, to commemorate their names and gallant deeds
in defence of the rights and honor of their country.

The Greeks, instead of desecrating their splendid
temples, as we do our churches, by the inhumation
of dead bodies within their hallowed walls, allowed
no tomb to be made within sight of the magnificent
national temple of Apollo at Delos, or even within
sight of the island, which had been solemnly dedi-
cated to that divinity.

The Romans were prohibited, by the twelve ta-
bles of the laws, from burying, or burning any per-
son upon the funeral pile, within the walls of their
cities. The funereal monuments of the most distin-
guished civil and military officers and noble and
wealthy citizens were reared on the borders of the
Appian, Claudian, Flaminian, and the other great
highways which connected the Imperial city with
distant parts of the empire ; and many of them still
remain as imperishable memorials of the veneration

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 5

of the people for their eminent men, and of parental
and filial affection. The beautiful marble sarcopha-
gus of Scipio Africanus, was removed from the
majestic mausoleum of that eminent family, by one
of the modern pontiffs, and is still to be seen in the
Vatican, and has been often copied, as a sepulchral
monument, in the cemeteries of Europe and this
country. That of Spurzheim, near the gateway of
Mount Auburn, is an example.

Even the Turks have imitated the example of the
Israelites, whose God and religion is so far acknowl-
edged as to form the basis of Mahomet's Koran, and
have established their cemetery for Constantinople
on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus of Thrace ;
and from the universal custom of planting trees at
each end of the graves by the surviving relatives,
the extensive grove which has thus been formed in
the burial-place of Scutari, during the five centuries
which have passed since the banner of the crescent
was planted upon the Imperial palace of the last of
the Csesars, forms one of the most interesting and
picturesque features in the scenery of the Ottoman
capital, and is a favorite place of visitation by all
ranks of the people during the sultry months of sum-
mer.

During the age of the Patriarchs, groves, hills,
Vallies and other umbrageous situations were select-
ed as the most appropriate localities for sepulchres.
When Sarah died, Abraham purchased " the field of
Ephron, in Machpela, with all the trees that were
therein and the borders round about, as a burying-
place," and there he deposited the remains of his
wife, and " there they buried Abraham, Isaac, Re-
bekah, and Leah ; " and when Jacob had blessed his

6 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

sons, " he said unto them, I am to be gathered unto
my people : bury me with my fathers in the cave
that is in the field of Ephron." Eleazer was
buried " in a hill that pertained to Phineas ; " Deb-
orah " beneath Bethel under an oak ; " Saul and his
sons " under a tree ; " and Menassah and Ammon " in
the garden of Uzza."

So general was the practice of all nations, both
ancient and modern, to exclude cemeteries from
cities, that no adverse example was presented in any
portion of Europe, until the reign of Pope Gregory
the Great, in the sixth century, when he allowed
vaults to be constructed under the churches of Rome,
and that unfortunate precedent was gradually fol-
lowed by all Christian nations, with the addition of
permitting inhumations within the enclosures of
cathedrals, churches and chapels.

At last, after the experience of twelve centuries,
the same prudential considerations for the preserva-
tion of the public health, and a returning recognition
of that pious and respectful regard for the ashes and
memory of the dead, which induced the Orientals to
locate their cemeteries at a proper distance from their
cities, combined with the difficulty of obtaining a suf-
ficiently spacious tract of land within the limits of
the thronged capital of the French empire, to meet
the increasing demand for a place of interment, com-
pelled the municipal government to seek an eligible
site in the country ; and in 1804 the extensive park
of Pere la Chaise was purchased for that purpose.
The grounds were laid out by Broguiart, a celebra-
ted artist, under the superintendence of Count
Chrobrol de Valvie, Prefect of the department of
the Seine.

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 7

Causes adverse to the indulgence of agreeable
recollections of departed friends, were combined in
such a revolting manner in Paris, as to preclude the
indulgence of a disposition to recur to the sad event
of their dissolution. The places of inhumation were
in confined, foetid and horrible situations, where the
rays of the sun scarcely appeared, and in which
broad, deep and dark pits were daily opened, into
which the dead bodies were thrown that were re-
moved from the houses in the night, unaccompanied
by any one save the undertakers. The dead were
not even enclosed in the meanest coffins, and often
stript of all their vestments before the last act of the
terrible rite was completed ; while against the high,
damp and moss covered walls of the general enclo-
sure, were promiscuously piled up the bones of
thousands of men, women and children, which had
been annually removed from the re-opened vaults to
make room for the remains of other unfortunate be-
ings, who were doomed to the same horrible exit
from the midst of their relatives and friends. Like
fearful charnel-houses existed in Rome, and many
other European cities, and the humid, dreary, and
inappropriate arches formed under the sanctuaries of
religion, as well as the usual churchyards of all
Christian countries, were but little less forbidding in
their appearance and associations ; and consequently,
so far from inviting frequent visits of friends to the
" narrow houses " of their deceased companions,
such was the deplorable array of delapidated monu-
ments, nearly obscured by rank and noxious weeds
and the lugrubrious aspect of the whole scene, that
they were avoided with a kind of horror, approach-
ing to a superstitious dread of the apprehended con-

8 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

sequences, of an attempt to identify the position
where reposed the ashes of parents or children. To
forget that they have thus been separated from the
living and consigned to utter oblivion, was the awful
alternative that devolved upon the bereaved rela-
tives.

But the establishment of the rural cemetery of
Pere la Chaise, had a powerful influence upon the
whole people. Long suppressed sympathies have
been resuscitated, devotion has been roused, and a
generous interest experienced for the remains of de-
parted kindred, and thus rendered often repeated
visits to the graves of those who had been loved and
revered, sources of sad, yet instructive meditation,
of reminiscences that are " pleasant but mournful
to the soul." It is in such consecrated grounds, —
those umbrageous, picturesque and silent " Gardens
of the Dead," that piety is excited, patriotism exalted,
and the affections developed in such an emphatic
manner, as to invest funereal rites with sanctity,
refine the morals of society, dignify humanity, and
add lustre to the character of nations.

But such a great and novel change in the estab-
lished customs of nations, and especially among the
luxurious and pleasure-seeking people of the Euro-
pean capital, required the potent influence of culti-
vated reason, the sanction of imposing example, the
embellishments of the arts, — the exciting effects of
civil and military processions, — the requiems of
"peace-parted souls," the far-resounding beat of the
muffled drum, the occasional blasts of the war-trum-
pet, the drooping banner of many a stricken field,
the pomp of mustered legions bronzed in the smoke
of battle, contrasted with the sad drapery of the

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 9

grief-bowed and heart-stricken members of the
mourning household, the thrilling appeals of elo-
quence, the munificence of the affluent, and the ex-
tended patronage of government, to render the long-
required experiment as successful in its moralizing
effects, as it was honorable and sublime in conception.

Public opinion had not included in the number of
essential virtues, a holy respect for the ashes and
memory of relatives and friends. All melancholy
reflections had been so long uniformly repulsed by the
chilling influence of precedent, and whatever might
cause reflection upon the instability of human hap-
piness and the fragility of existence was studiously
excluded from the mind, from the lamentable indif-
ference which prevailed in relation to those unavoid-
able and unceasing daily calamities, to which all are
liable and must ultimately submit ; but could not
anticipate their realization by a single prospective
glance, in the full enjoyment of health, prosperity
and the perpetual festivities of the community by
which they were surrounded, from which grief and
sorrow were conventionally excluded, as incompati-
ble with the spirit and manners of the age.

As late therefore as 1812, and after the expiration
of eight years, from the foundation of the cemetery
only about one hundred monuments had been reared ;
but the following year an ardent zeal began to be
evinced for venerating the memory of departed
friends in the night of the tomb. The commanding
site of Pere la Chaise, and the natural advantages
which it combined, with the salutary measures and
great efforts which were made to render it interest-
ing and available for all the purposes for which it
had been established, attracted the attention of all

10 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

ranks of the people. A manufactory of every kind
of funereal monuments was included within the
grounds, which was supplied with granite, marble,
free stone and other requisite materials ; the most
perfect and admirable models, and workmen of the
first talent to execute all orders with promptness and
skill in the best manner, as well as bronze and iron
palings of various beautiful patterns for protecting
the sepulchres from outrage. The porter prepared
wreaths and crowns, and daily supplied freshly
gathered flowers for relatives and friends to decorate
the tombs of the deceased members of their families.

In 1814, the number of monuments was increased
to five hundred, and in 1827 there were three thou-
sand, and there had been deposited in all the compart-
ments, including that appropriated to those persons
who were so poor as not to be able to purchase per-
petual graves, one hundred and sixty-six thousand
eight hundred bodies.

Marshals Messena, Ney, Lefevre, and other re-
nowned military chieftains, who were well known to
all Europe by their brilliant achievements, there
found the term of their glory, but not of their fame ;
the companions of their victories were emulous to
continue their homage in the eclipse of the sepulchre.

Perpetual tombs having been ultimately forbidden
in the other public and private burial places in Paris,
and the doors of the Pantheon, which had been ded-
icated for the reception of the ashes of illustrious
men, at last closed against the grand dignataries of a
government which no longer existed, the cemetery
of Pere la Chaise, became the place of rendezvous
for all the great and opulent personages of the city ;
for the distinguished in letters, science and the arts ;

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No 7. 11

for men celebrated as active participants in remark-
able political events or official stations ; with the suc-
cessful in the hazardous career of commercial adven-
ture, and all the branches of national industry. The
spoils of the dead were there collected, families were
re-united, all opinions were confounded, and stran-
gers from all parts of the earth mingled their ashes
with those of the inhabitants of France. Each sig-
nalized his piety by monuments proportioned to his
pecuniary means. No one was willing to be consid-
ered wanting in gratitude, but rather to evince an em-
ulous disposition to present memorials of an elevated
conception of duty, and a profound respect for his
departed kindred. Universal admiration was the
natural appendage of good hearts, whose sensibility
ceased not to offer a sincere homage to the manes of
their friends by embellishing their monuments and
crowning them with immortals.* The multitude
imitated them by cultivating plants on the graves of
their relatives, and bringing wreaths and garlands
from a distance to ornament them. To devote a con-
nection to oblivion became an opprobrium.

In wandering over the grounds of Pere la Chaise,
where repose so many persons of all countries in the
long sleep of death, may be seen every variety of
monument, used among all the nations of the earth,
from the pyramid raised by Egyptian pride, to the
basket of flowers, under which, the Turk and the
Persian await the moment of being awakened to
everlasting life. Near each other are beheld the
sarcophagus of the Thebans, the stele and cenotaphs
of the Greeks, the antique bourn of the Romans,

* Peculiar formed chaplets made of flowers.

12 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

the mausoleums of Asia Minor, the columbariums of
the ancients, mortuary chapels, the architecture of
Athens near that of the Arabs, the cinerary urn, the
sable wing of the edifices on the banks of the Nile,
the reversed flambeaux, the bird of death, crosses of
every form, crowns of oak and myrtle, rose buds, the
turf-covered mound at the base of a lofty column,
and the humble grave stone, near the marble statue
of some illustrious man.

Foreigners, who beheld this revolution in the cus-
toms and manners of a whole people, were anxious
to verify it by visiting Pere la Chaise, and were filled
with wonder and admiration on finding in a burial-
place, whatever there was in nature which could give
satisfaction to the mind, and every thing in the arts
which could gratify a refined taste, as well as the
most impressive lessons of an exalted appreciation of
the dictates of philosophy, religion, morality and
patriotism. All extolled it as a phenomenon, and in
a few years it not only acquired an European dis-
tinction, but became celebrated round the globe.

The admirable example thus presented by France,
of an ancient Necropolis,* was soon followed in
England and other portions of Europe, and in 1831
the cemetery of Mount Auburn was consecrated.
The cemetery contains one hundred and ten acres.

Within the brief period of sixteen years there
have been sold 1402 cemetery lots, in which, more
than three thousand persons have been buried, and
upwards of five hundred monuments erected, of the
most appropriate forms and materials, which ancient
and modern artists have devised or employed, from

* City of the dead.

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 13

a plain block of granite, bearing merely a name, to
the lofty obelisk, sculptured column, richly embel-
lished marble temple and colossal bronze statue. A
large portion of the burial lots are surrounded with
decorated iron fences, and on the borders of them
are cultivated trees, shrubs and flower plants.

The land was first enclosed with a wooden fence,
but that has been replaced on the whole front, by one
of iron, of the most substantial and beautiful kind
ever built in the United States, and a granite gate-
way, with a porter's lodge and office annexed, of the
Egyptian style of architecture, at an expense of
$24,000. A superb gothic chapel has just been
completed, which cost nearly $30,000. In the pur-
chase of the land, laying out the avenues and paths,
building a cottage for the superintendent and all other
work, there has been expended about $110,000, and
there remains in the treasury about $30,000. There
has, besides, been paid to the Horticultural Society
$20,000. The whole of the funds to meet this large
expenditure, except donations to the amount of
$7,000, have been derived from the sale of burial
lots ; and not more than a quarter of the whole num-
ber which can be formed, have been disposed of.

All the income derivable from the sale of lots is to
be expended upon the cemetery, in the excavation
of small lakes, the establishment of fountains, ex-
tending the iron fence on the three other sides of the
grounds, the erection of a grand cenotaph to Wash-
ington, on the summit of the highest hill, in the form
of the Chorogic monument, the Temple of the Winds,
or some other celebrated Grecian edifice, and exten-
sive improvements both for convenience and embel-
lishment.

14 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

Since the cemetery of Mount Auburn was com-
menced, like rural cemeteries have been established
at Salem, Worcester, Springfield, Philadelphia, on
Long Island, and in many other parts of the Union.
Our Committee are of opinion that the period has
arrived when Roxbury should hasten to find a burial-
place, that shall be as creditable to the city, as any
which have been established in this country, when
the limited means at its command, for the accomplish-
ment of such a work are taken into consideration,
with the present limited amount of population. The
Committee, therefore, have made extensive recon-
noissences during the past summer, for the purpose
of discovering a site that would the most perfectly
combine all the requisite qualities in natural features,
capabilities of improvement, and a central position,
so far as it was possible to do so ; and they confident-
ly believe that they have been fortunate by being
able to select a tract of land, which not only includes
most of the important elements for the fulfilment of
those conditions ; but which can be obtained on
terms that may be deemed favorable.

This site is the Seavern's Farm, which fronts on
Canterbury street ; there is also a small tract of about
seven acres that is owned by Doctor Warren, which
it is desirable should be obtained, and it is believed,
ultimately may be, for the purpose of opening an
avenue into Walk Hill street. The whole farm
contains about eighty -five acres, an outline plan of
which, and the adjacent estates in part, accompanies
this report, for the purpose of presenting the exact
position of the land and its sub -divisions.

The Warren lot with a portion of the tract which
Includes about fifty-five acres and is defined in the

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 15

plan, has been selected for the cemetery, The price
demanded is three hundred and fifty dollars per acre,
for the payment of which, the notes of the city re-
deemable in ten years, and bearing an interest of six
per cent, will be taken ; the Committee, therefore,
recommend that the purchase be immediately made.
The remainder of the farm which contains thirty
acres, it is considered by several members of the Com-
mittee, important to purchase ; but as it includes the
dwelling-house, barns and other edifices, the orchard,
garden, and the most valuable part of the cultivated
land, the price asked is six hundred dollars per acre ;
the Committee, therefore, have not been willing to
take the responsibility of urging the purchase, but
submit the subject to the deliberation and decision of
the City Council.

By the annexed statement, it will appear, that if
the cemetery should contain sixty -two acres, it will
form 6,751 burial lots of 300 square feet each, after
deducting one quarter of the land for carriage ave-
nues and foot-paths. If then, one fourth of the num-
ber of lots be sold for fifty dollars, and the remainder
at the average price of one hundred dollars, they will
produce an income of $590,750, which can be grad-
ually appropriated for the erection of an iron fence,
a granite gatewa}r, a chapel, a cottage for the super-
intendent, and other appropriate and necessary struc-
tures, and leave a fund, the interest of which will
keep the grounds in the best possible condition for-
ever.

Although the cost of the land will amount to about
twenty-two thousand dollars, the sale of four hundred
and forty lots will afford a sum more than suf-
ficient to liquidate the debt incurred in its purchase,

16 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

and the income from an annual sale of twenty-seven
lots will pay the interest.

Should it be considered expedient to purchase the
whole farm, the portion which may be appropriated
for a cemetery could be better located, if not aug-
mented to advantage, and the entrance to it from
Canterbury street be more conveniently and symmet-
rically arranged, while the remainder of the land,
not included in the Cemetery, can be laid out into
cottage lots, in such a manner as to render them in-
teresting and valuable as places of residence, from
the spacious extent of open grounds in their imme-
diate vicinity, which will be embellished with forest
trees, shrubs and flowering plants, and thus render-
ed an important and diversified feature in the sur-
rounding landscape.

Even if the additional land cannot be obtained for
less than six hundred dollars per acre, it is highly
probable that in less than five years the house lots
can be sold for more than double their cost to the
city, if the causes that have so remarkably tended to
increase the business, population, and resources of
Boston and the surrounding towns during the last ten
years should continue. Three cents per square foot
would amount to over thirteen hundred dollars per
acre ; and it is to be remembered, that all the land in
this city must necessarily be enhanced in value, in a
ratio equal, at least, to that of the population, com-
merce, manufactures, the mechanic arts, and all other
branches of industry and trade in the capital of the
State.

It is also to be borne in mind, that Walk Hill
street is not so distant from a large portion of Bos-
ton, as are the residences of many of the merchants

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 17

of New York from their places of business ; and when
land can be procured for, from ten to fifty cents a
square foot, thus near the principal commercial
streets of Boston, when from one to eight dollars per
foot must be paid for a house lot, is it not evident that
those who wish to build, will go two or three miles
from the Squares on Washington street, when they
have the facilities of conveyance afforded by rail-
roads and omnibuses, where land can be much cheap-
er acquired 1 Besides the peninsula which is occu-
pied by that city, is so limited in its area, that the
period is not far distant, when the whole of it will
be required for warehouses and stores, and the res-
idences of those who transact their business in them,
must necessarily be established on the main land ;
and in what direction can they be so conveniently
and pleasantly located as in Roxbury, connected as
it is by three great avenues, which are not interrupt-
ed by either bridges or ferries, and several others
can, and will be constructed when required. The
natural direction therefore, of the extension of the
dwellings of the population, connected with the com-
merce of Boston, must be into Roxbury, which will
consequently become as much a portion of Boston,
as are the several out parishes of the metropolis of
England.

It is not difficult to anticipate the prospective des-
tinies of our great and flourishing maritime empori-
um, if we seek instruction from its past history, and
the characteristic industry and enterprise of the Yan-
kee race, and examine into the existing causes which
must have such a favorable influence upon its future
aggrandizement. It is only necessary to look upon
the map of the United States, suspended upon the
3

18 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

walls of this Hall, and contrast the area of territory,
included between the Atlantic Ocean and the bounds
of the old thirteen States, from the northern fron-
tiers of New York, where it touches the St. Law-
rence, to the south western angle of Georgia, on the
Appalachicola, with that immense region which ex-
tends, from the last named line of demarcation, to the
flanks of the Rocky Mountains, to obtain an approx-
imate conception of the vast amount of trade which
must be maintained, through the medium of steam-
boats and railroads, between our northern Atlantic
cities, and those which are, or will be founded on
Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superi-
or, and the Mississippi, Missouri and their numerous
far-reaching tributary rivers.

These rivers afford a continuous navigation of up-
wards of 15,000 miles, and the tract of country which
they drain, contains within its limits, 1 ,200,000 square
miles, which embraces all the various climates of the
temperate zone, and is unequalled in fertility and the
diversity of its productions.

There are now employed in the valley of the Mis-
sissippi, 1,190 steamboats, and 4,000 keel and flat-
boats, which employ 60,000 men. The annual ex-
ports from the different points on the western waters
amount to 262,825,620 dollars; and the return of
imports in merchandize and specie is equivalent to
the national exports of domestic products ; thus mak-
ing the grand aggregate value of the annual com-
merce of the navigable waters in the valley of the
Mississippi, amount to 432,654,240 dollars ; being
nearly double the amount of the whole foreign com-
merce of the United States ; and when the lines of
intercommunication between St. Louis and Boston,

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 19

shall be fully opened, by an extension of the West-
ern Rail Road from Buffalo through Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois to a point opposite that city, the comple-
tion of the canal from Chicago to the Illinois river,
and the rail road through Vermont, to Lake Cham-
plain and Ogdensburgh on the St. Lawrence, Boston
will divide with New York a large portion of that
immense and ever augmenting commerce.

To that great source of our New England pros-
perity, is to be added our participation in the exist-
ing and increasing trade with the wide spreading
lake region of the north west, which presents a coast
and line of navigation of more than five thousand
miles, and includes a population of nearly seven
millions, that will be doubled in less than twenty
years ; and nearly the whole of the imports and ex-
ports, must be made from and to Boston and New
York. But from the facilities which our railroads
will soon afford, and which may be appropriately
called the Iron Rivers of the north, Boston must be
the grand entrepot for an important portion of the
products sent to and from the shores of the ocean.

There were employed on the great lakes in 1 846,
452 steamers, brigs and schooners, whose aggregate
capacity exceeded 100,000 tons. They cost six mil-
lions of dolllars, and six thousand persons were em-
ployed to navigate them. The arrivals at Buffalo
from all the ports above that city, in the same year,
were 3,857, and the clearances were about the
same, making the total number 7,714, and an aggre-
gate of 1,825,914 tons. The exports from Buffalo
by the Erie canal, was 15,000,000, and the imports
23,000,000. The value of the commerce on all the
lakes was over 100,000,000 of dollars.

20 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

Roxbury, which is destined to be the Westminster
of the New England London, should therefore be
governed in the adoption of its municipal measures,
in such a manner as to take advantage of those devel-
opments of prosperity, which will certainly be there
realized to an extent, that it might seem extravagant
to prognosticate, even to the most intelligent and
sanguine, in the general advancement of the whole
country, within the next quarter of a century, in
population, agriculture, navigation, manufactures, the
mechanic arts and wealth, in a manner unprecedent-
ed in the annals of nations.

In fifty years, Boston and the adjacent towns will
contain more than a million of inhabitants, and this
city will include at least, one tenth of that number.
It therefore, may be confidently assumed, that in no
portion of the Union can investments be made in
real estate, with such confidence in the advantages
which must be derived therefrom, by the increased
value of the land, within the next ten or fifteen years,
for within the past ten years it has advanced from
four to thirteen hundred per cent ; and there are no
causes that can be assigned why the same augment-
ing enhancement should not continue.

Should we not then act in such a manner for the
benefit of succeeding generations, as that we shall
escape being obnoxious to their censure for a gross
dereliction of duty, as have been our predecessors of
by-gone years, who conducted the municipal affairs
of this ancient town, when sites for Cemeteries,
Public Squares, Churches, School Houses, and other
purposes, could have been purchased for one-twen-
tieth of the sum now required, when time shall have
made the like difference between the present price

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 21

of land, and that which must be given twenty years
hence.

There can be no danger of erring in our course,
for it is only necessary to take a retrospective view
of past ages to attain a knowledge of the future,
since there, as in a vast mirror, are shadowed forth
" coming events," in all their startling palpability and
grandeur. Induction and demonstration, aided by
arithmetical demonstration, with well authenticated
statistical facts are the ample elements for reducing
conjectures to certainty, and changing apparent chi-
merical predictions into veritable prophecy. With
such means should we ever endeavor to rightly di-
rect our march, in the research for truth and the
verification of fact.

Now is the favorable time to act with promptness*
decision and energy, for the benefit of the present*
and all succeeding generations, and enable all classes
of the people to indulge in the outpourings of their
sorrows, and a generous expression of their gratitude
and veneration for those who were most beloved and
honored upon the earth, by assigning to them a rest-
ing-place, from all the ills to which man is subjected
during the pilgrimage of life, in the quiet and holy
shade of a rural cemetery.

So universal is the inherent desire of an earthly
immortality, that every human being is anxious to
be remembered here, and to have his name perpetu-
ated through all time. To pass from among the liv-
ing, without the probability of the spot where one is
laid being known, or the name ever again repeated ;
to be forgotten forever, are reflections bordering up-
on that which the thought of utter annihilation would
produce in the mind of the dying, whether virtuous

22 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

or vicious, rich or poor, debased or exalted, young or
old. It is not sufficient that the Son of God has as-
sured us that the soul is immortal ; but there is an
unobliterable sentiment, a deep and strong solicitude
that our brief and eventful life should be eternally
perpetuated among the living ; and is it not as much
a duty in a parent, child or friend to aid in the at-
tempt to meet that demand upon their sympathies,
and their conscience, as it is productive of moral, re-
ligious and patriotic influences ? The scarred and
rigid features of the aged Indian chieftain, are light-
ed up with a smile of pride and ambition, in the be-
lief that each passing warrior of his tribe will drop
a pebble upon his grave. The expiring mariner is
consoled by the assurance that funereal rites will be
observed, as his lifeless body is plunged into " the
ocean, and slowly sinks into the abyss of waters.
The soldier's last moments of life, are cheered by
the reflection that he shall be buried with military
honors.

Such is human nature ; and why should we not
follow the dictates of the heart, and act from the im-
pressive teachings of the soul, which are derived
from a source far higher and more holy than man
can comprehend ; yet he doubts not they are as im-
perative upon him, as the precepts and injunctions
recorded in the sacred scriptures, for they have been
written upon the tablets of the mind, and inscribed
upon the sanctuary of the heart, by the hand of the
Almighty.

The pyramids of Gizeh, many of the splendid
architectural structures of Athens, the triumphal
arches of Rome, the column of Austerlitz in Paris,
the obelisk of Bunker Hill, and the collossal statue of

1847.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 7. 23

Washington in the capital of this republic, are but
so many majestic monuments to commemorate the
names and services of the distinguished patriots, of
the ages and nations in which they were reared ; and
may be as appropriately considered funereal, as the
rudest head-stone that designates the humble grave
of " some village Hampden," or that where " some
mute, inglorious Milton rests, " in the rustic church-
yard of his native hamlet.

Let us then emulate the enlightened and pious,
the good and great, the affectionate and generous,
the kind and magnanimous of all other nations and
ages, that were most distinguished for their advance-
ment in civilization, and enable our fellow citizens
to pay all possible respect and honor to the remains
of those whom they loved and revered when living.

H. A. S. DEARBORN, Chairman.
City of Roxbury, Sept. 6, 1847.

STATEMENT OF THE INCOME THAT

MAY BE DERIVED FROM THE SALE OF CEM-
ETERY AND COTTAGE LOTS.

There are 43,560 square feet in an acre.
In 62 acres there are ... . 2,700,720 sq. ft.
Deduct 1-4 for avenues and paths 675,180 "

Leaving for burial lots 2,025,540 "

Lots 15 by 20 contain 300 square feet each, = 6,-
751 lots. A quarter of the number, viz. 1,687 be-
ing sold at fifty dollars each, will yield 84,350 dolls.
The remaining 5,064 lots being sold at an average
price of one hundred dollars each, will yield 506,400

24 PUBLIC CEMETERY. [Sept.

dollars, making the total amount for all the lots
590,750 dollars. Cost of 62 acres of land at 350 dls.
per acre, is 21,700 dolls. Interest on the cost of the
land 1302 dolls.

The annual sale of 27 lots will pay the interest of
the cost of the land. The sale of 440 lots, at fifty
dollars each, will pay the cost of the land.

COTTAGE LOTS.

Thirty acres will make One Hundred and Twen-
ty Cottage Lots, of a quarter of an acre each, and
every lot will contain 10,890 square feet, which, at
three cents per foot, will yield $326 70.

If 120 lots are sold, at three cents per

foot, they will yield $39,204

Cost of the thirty acres at $600 00 . . 18,000

Profits on the purchase $21,204

If half of the lots are sold in six years, at an aver-
age price of 10 cts. per foot, they will yield $65,940.

If the other half of the lots are sold in twenty
years, at 20 cts. they will yield ... $ 131,880

Add 60 lots sold at 10 cts. per foot . . 65,940

Total income in twenty years . . $ 197,820

But if all the lots are sold within five years, at

five cents per foot, the income will be . $65,340

Deduct the cost 18,000

Profit on the purchase $47,340

But it may be found best not to sell more than ten
or fifteen acres in house lots, and probably none ; as
all the land should be included in a Cemetery.