is season of the year, and affording us in
summer, in its noble malls and shady walks, all that the country can
boast of cool and beautiful and salubrious, transported to the heart of
the city, "the poor man's pleasure-ground," as it has been well called,
though a king might envy it;--nor the environs of our city of surpassing
loveliness, which enclose it on every side in kindly embrace; it is not
solely nor principally these natural attractions which endear Boston to
its citizens. Nor is it exclusively the proud and grateful memories of
the past,--of the high-souled fathers and mothers of the land, venerable
in their self-denying virtues, majestic in the austere simplicity of
their manners, conscientious in their errors, who, with amazing
sacrifices and hardships never to be described, sought out new homes in
the wilderness, and transmitted to us delights and blessings which it
was not given to themselves to enjoy;--of those who in succeeding
generations deserved well of their country,--the pioneers of the
Revolution, the men of the stamp act age, whose own words and acts are
stamped on the pages of history, in characters never to be effaced;--of
those who, when the decisive hour came, stood forth in that immortal
HALL, the champions of their country's rights, while it scarcely yet
deserved the name of a country; it is not exclusively these proud and
grateful associations, which attach the dutiful Bostonian to the city of
his birth or adoption.

No, Mr. Mayor, it is not exclusively these, much as they contribute to
strengthen the sentiment. It has its origin, in no small degree, in the
personal relation in which Boston places herself to her children; in the
parental interest which she cherishes in their welfare, which leads her
to take them by the hand almost from the cradle,--to train them up in
the ascending series of her excellent free schools; watching over them
as a fond father watches over the objects of his love and hope; in a
word, to confer upon them a first-rate school education at the public
expense. Often have I attempted, but with very partial success, both in
this country and in Europe, to persuade inquiring friends from the
countries and places where no such well-organized system of public
education prevails, that our free schools do really afford to the entire
population means of elementary education, of which the wealthiest
citizen is glad to avail himself.

And now, Mr. Mayor, the enlightened counsel