The Labor And Cost Of
Cleansing The City In This Way Must Be Very Great.
The people were
at it as I left, and I felt that the day of tribulation had in truth
come.
Farewell to thee, thou Western Athens! When I have forgotten thee,
my right hand shall have forgotten its cunning, and my heart
forgotten its pulses. Let us look at the list of names with which
Boston has honored itself in our days, and then ask what other town
of the same size has done more. Prescott, Bancroft, Motley,
Longfellow, Lowell, Emerson, Dana, Agassiz, Holmes, Hawthorne! Who
is there among us in England who has not been the better for these
men? Who does not owe to some of them a debt of gratitude? In
whose ears is not their names familiar? It is a bright galaxy, and
far extended, for so small a city. What city has done better than
this? All these men, save one, are now alive and in the full
possession of their powers. What other town of the same size has
done as well in the same short space of time? It may be that this
is the Augustan era of Boston - its Elizabethan time. If so, I am
thankful that my steps have wandered thither at such a period.
While I was at Boston I had the sad privilege of attending the
funeral of President Felton, the head of Harvard College. A few
months before I had seen him a strong man, apparently in perfect
health and in the pride of life.
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