The Monument, However,
Is So Constructed That One Can Hardly Get A View Through The
Windows At The Top Of
It, and there is no outside gallery round it.
Immediately below the monument is a marble figure of Major Warren,
Who fell there, - not from the top of the monument, as some one was
led to believe when informed that on that spot the major had
fallen. Bunker Hill, which is little more than a mound, is at
Charlestown - a dull, populous, respectable, and very unattractive
suburb of Boston.
Bunker Hill has obtained a considerable name, and is accounted
great in the annals of American history. In England we have all
heard of Bunker Hill, and some of us dislike the sound as much as
Frenchmen do that of Waterloo. In the States men talk of Bunker
Hill as we may, perhaps, talk of Agincourt and such favorite
fields. But, after all, little was done at Bunker Hill, and, as
far as I can learn, no victory was gained there by either party.
The road from Boston to the town of Concord, on which stands the
village of Lexington, is the true scene of the earliest and
greatest deeds of the men of Boston. The monument at Bunker Hill
stands high and commands attention, while those at Lexington and
Concord are very lowly and command no attention. But it is of that
road and what was done on it that Massachusetts should be proud.
When the colonists first began to feel that they were oppressed,
and a half resolve was made to resist that oppression by force,
they began to collect a few arms and some gunpowder at Concord, a
small town about eighteen miles from Boston. Of this preparation
the English governor received tidings, and determined to send a
party of soldiers to seize the arms. This he endeavored to do
secretly; but he was too closely watched, and word was sent down
over the waters by which Boston was then surrounded that the
colonists might be prepared for the soldiers. At that time Boston
Neck, as it was, and is still called, was the only connection
between the town and the main-land, and the road over Boston Neck
did not lead to Concord. Boats therefore were necessarily used,
and there was some difficulty in getting the soldiers to the
nearest point. They made their way, however, to the road, and
continued their route as far as Lexington without interruption.
Here, however, they were attacked, and the first blood of that war
was shed. They shot three or four of the - rebels, I suppose I
should in strict language call them, and then proceeded on to
Concord. But at Concord they were stopped and repulsed, and along
the road back from Concord to Lexington they were driven with
slaughter and dismay. And thus the rebellion was commenced which
led to the establishment of a people which, let us Englishmen say
and think what we may of them at this present moment, has made
itself one of the five great nations of the earth, and has enabled
us to boast that the two out of the five who enjoy the greatest
liberty and the widest prosperity speak the English language and
are known by English names. For all that has come and is like to
come, I say again, long may that honor remain. I could not but
feel that that road from Boston to Concord deserves a name in the
world's history greater, perhaps, than has yet been given to it.
Concord is at present to be noted as the residence of Mr. Emerson
and of Mr. Hawthorne, two of those many men of letters of whose
presence Boston and its neighborhood have reason to be proud. Of
Mr. Emerson I have already spoken. The author of the "Scarlet
Letter" I regard as certainly the first of American novelists. I
know what men will say of Mr. Cooper, - and I also am an admirer of
Cooper's novels. But I cannot think that Mr. Cooper's powers were
equal to those of Mr. Hawthorne, though his mode of thought may
have been more genial, and his choice of subjects more attractive
in their day. In point of imagination, which, after all, is the
novelist's greatest gift, I hardly know any living author who can
he accounted superior to Mr. Hawthorne.
Very much has, undoubtedly, been done in Boston to carry out that
theory of Colonel Newcome's - Emollit mores, by which the Colonel
meant to signify his opinion that a competent knowledge of reading,
writing, and arithmetic, with a taste for enjoying those
accomplishments, goes very far toward the making of a man, and will
by no means mar a gentleman. In Boston nearly every man, woman,
and child has had his or her manners so far softened; and though
they may still occasionally be somewhat rough to the outer touch,
the inward effect is plainly visible. With us, especially among
our agricultural population, the absence of that inner softening is
as visible.
I went to see a public library in the city, which, if not founded
by Mr. Bates, whose name is so well known in London as connected
with the house of Messrs. Baring, has been greatly enriched by him.
It is by his money that it has been enabled to do its work. In
this library there is a certain number of thousands of volumes - a
great many volumes, as there are in most public libraries. There
are books of all classes, from ponderous unreadable folios, of
which learned men know the title-pages, down to the lightest
literature. Novels are by no means eschewed, - are rather, if I
understood aright, considered as one of the staples of the library.
From this library any book, excepting such rare volumes as in all
libraries are considered holy, is given out to any inhabitant of
Boston, without any payment, on presentation of a simple request on
a prepared form. In point of fact, it is a gratuitous circulating
library open to all Boston, rich or poor, young or old.
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