USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > South Boston > History of South Boston : formerly Dorchester Neck, now ward XII of the city of Boston > Part 20
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H. (Page 193.)
INSTRUCTION OF LAURA BRIDGMAN.
Although an account has been given of the peculiar condition of Laura Bridgman, and of the causes which in her childhood led to the loss of several of her senses, the reader may be interested in the following abridged statement, by Dr. Howe, of the method adopted in teach- ing her to read and to communicate her own thoughts to others :
" For a while after she came to the institution she was much bewildered ; and after waiting about two weeks, until she became acquainted with her new locali- ty, and somewhat familiar with the inmates, the at-
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tempt was made to give her knowledge of arbitrary signs, by which she could interchange thoughts with others.
"There was one of two ways to be adopted : either to go on to build up a language of signs on the basis of the natural language which she had already commenced herself, or to teach her the purely arbitrary language in common use : that is, to give her a sign for every indi- vidual thing, or to give her a knowledge of letters, by combination of which, she might express her idea of the existence, and the mode and condition of existence of any thing. The former would have been easy, but very ineffectual ; the latter seemed very difficult, but, if ac- complished, very effectual. I determined therefore to try the latter.
" The first experiments were made by taking articles in common use, such as knives, forks, spoons, keys, &c., and pasting upon them labels with their names printed in raised letters. These she felt very carefully, and soon, of course, distinguished that the crooked lines spoon , differed as much from the crooked lines k e y, as the spoon differed from the key in form.
" Then small detached labels, with the same words printed upon them, were put into her hands ; and she soon observed that they were similar to the ones pasted on the articles. She showed her perception of this simi- larity by laying the label ke y upon the key, and the label spoon upon the spoon. She was encouraged here by the natural sign of approbation, patting on the head.
" The same process was then repeated with all the ar- ticles which she could handle ; and she very easily learn- ed to place the proper labels upon them. It was evi- dent, however, that the only intellectual exercise, was that of imitation and memory. She recollected that the label bo o k was placed upon a book, and she repeated the process first from imitation, next from memory, with only the motive of love of approbation, but appa- rently without the intellectual perception of any relation between the things.
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" After a while, instead of labels, the individual let- ters were given to her on detached bits of paper : they were arranged side by side so as to spell book, key, &c. ; then they were mixed up in a heap, and a sign was made for her to arrange them herself, so as to ex- press the words book, key, &c. ; and she did so.
"Hitherto, the process had been mechanical, and the success about as great as teaching a very knowing dog a variety of tricks. The poor child had sat in mute amazement, and patiently imitated every thing her teacher did ; but now the truth began to flash upon her ; her intellect began to work : she perceived that here was a way by which she could herself make up a sign of anything that was in her own mind, and show it to another mind ; and at once her countenance lighted up with a human expression. It was no longer a dog, or parrot : it was an immortal spirit, eagerly seizing upon a new link of union with other spirits! I could almost fix upon the moment when this truth dawned upon her mind, and spread its light to her countenance .. I saw that the great obstacle was overcome ; and that hence- forward nothing but patient and persevering, but plain and straightforward, efforts were to be used.
"The result, thus far, is quickly related, and easily conceived : but not so was the process; for many weeks of apparently unprofitable labor were passed before it was effected.
" When it was said above, that a sign was made, it was intended to say, that the action was performed by her teacher, she feeling his hands, and then imitating the motion.
" The next step was to procure a set of metal types, with the different letters of the alphabet cast upon their ends ; also a board, in which were square holes, into which holes she could set the types; so that the letters on their ends could alone be felt above the surface.
" Then, on any article being handed to her-for in- stance, a pencil, or a watch-she would select the com- ponent letters, and arrange them on her board, and read them with apparent pleasure.
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"She was exercised for several weeks in this way, until her vocabulary became extensive; and then the important step was taken of teaching her how to repre- sent the different letters by the position of her fingers, instead of the cumbrous apparatus of the board and types. She accomplished this speedily and easily, for her intellect had begun to work in aid of her teacher, and her progress was rapid."
I. (Page 200.) -
SOUTH BOSTON MEMORIAL, IN 1847.
To his Honor the Mayor, the Aldermen, and the Common Council of the City of Boston :
The undersigned, members of a Committee appointed by a public meeting of the inhabitants of Ward 12, ask leave respectfully to represent :
That the Peninsula, formerly called Dorchester Neck, and now called South Boston, contains a population of 12,000, which is rapidly increasing in numbers and in wealth, and which, judging the future by the past, will reach 30,000 in ten years, and 100,000 in twenty-five years :
That it has eight Churches, two Grammar and seven- teen Primary Schools, besides Private Seminaries ; a Lyceum, Bank, and Insurance Office ; also Wharves, Ship Yards, Factories, Foundries, &c. :
That it has real and personal property valued at six million dollars, upon which was paid the last year a tax of thirty-one thousand dollars ; and which is estimated at forty thousand dollars for the current year :
That it has a superficial area nearly as great as was that of the old town of Boston :
That it has not only the capacity, but the actual material necessary for a separate and independent muni- cipal existence :
That it has no natural connection with, much less any necessary dependence upon, the City of Boston, being separated from it by a deep and navigable channel :
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That its municipal union with the city is merely arbitrary and political, for the continuance of which there can be no good reason except reciprocity of advantages :
That heretofore most of the advantages of the union have been reaped by the City proper, while the disad- vantages have fallen upon South Boston :
That it has paid a considerable portion of the City taxes, such as those for widening, paving and lighting the streets, without anything like an adequate return of benefits from the City expenditures :
That it seems to have been considered, as foreign possessions are too frequently considered, a convenient appendage from which the central government might derive profit in various ways :
That it has sometimes been treated as the Botany Bay of the City, into which could be thrust those establishments which the City Fathers would consider nuisances in the neighborhood of their own private dwellings, such as Alms Houses, Prisons, and Small-pox Hospitals :
That several measures of great public importance are now and long have been called for, which the City gov- ernment will not allow the inhabitants of South Boston to adopt, and which it neglects to adopt itself, such as opening streets and establishing official "levels" for . buildings :
That justice to the present and to the future inhabi- . tants of this beautiful peninsula, demands that there . should be a change either in its municipal relation with the City of Boston proper, or in the policy which has hitherto characterised that relation.
In support of which representations, we would re -. spectfully ask your attention to the facts and considera- . tions set forth in the following
MEMORIAL.
This peninsula, equal in size and beauty to its more fortunate rival, Trimount, was the ancient Mattapan of"
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the Indians, and was regarded with peculiar favor by those simple children of the forest, who looked for natural beauty, and sweet springs, and sunny slopes, rather than facilities for fortification and advantages for commerce. Here, tradition tells us, they loved to live ; and here, their numerous relics show, they loved to lie when dead. The exact site of Powow Point; so cele- brated in Indian tradition, is still known. Jutting farther out into the bay than Trimount, and more acces- sible from all points of the South shore, it was a favorite resort of the natives for the periodical celebration of rude religious festivals ; and it may be that their vene- ration for the place was increased by their knowledge of that curious and bountiful spring of sweet and sparkling water which comes gushing up from the bottom of the sea near the shore.
But the age passed away, and with it the red race ; and Mattapan, that had so kindly yielded to them all her favors when. alive, could only shelter in her bosom the bones of their dead. A new race appeared, and were equally welcome to her impartial favor. When the first settlers of Boston and Dorchester began to possess land beyond their immediate homestead, Matta- pan fell to the lot of Dorchester, as more naturally belonging to it, and the people thereof used it as a pasture for their cattle. It was an island at high water, and they had only to build a few rods across the narrow neck, and make it a secure enclosure at all times.
The name of Mattapan was gradually forgotten : the Pilgrim Fathers began to talk of Dorchester Neck as, their peculiar property, and to consider that they were granting a favor by permitting the poor relics of a peo- ple whom they had "scattered and peeled," to come once in the year. upon their sad pilgrimage to Powow Point.
But time, that ever contrives to lift justice up, how- ever deep she may have been trodden down, rolled quietly on, and Boston began to covet this fair pastur- age, and a contest arose, and the weaker went to the
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wall, and Boston treated the sons of Dorchester as their fathers had treated the Indians ; they had to sigh for · their lost pasturage, though not as the Indians had mourned for Powow Point ; and finally Dorchester Neck became South Boston. May that name be lasting, and may it never be that even-handed justice shall call upon our children to bestow another and more appropriate one.
The history of this peninsula can hardly be mentioned without suggesting to all the occasion when the Father of his Country availed himself of its Heights to drive a hostile garrison from the town of Boston, and made South Boston the means of saving the City.
The history of South Boston, as part of Boston, begins with its final annexation by an Act of the Gene- ral Court in 1804; and with that very act began the partial and injudicious policy which has since character- ised the union. The condition of the annexation was, that a bridge should be built, and it was for the manifest interest of the newly acquired territory, and for the real though then less apparent interest of the whole town, that the bridge should be so placed as to give casy access to the centre of business. Indeed a company had been formed with the view of building a bridge leading from Sea street to South Boston; and had it then been constructed, the growth of the peninsula would have received an immediate impulse. But this was a consideration secondary to that of the pecuniary interests of some of the land owners of the South end of Boston, which required that the bridge should termi- nate near the " Neck lands ; " and so, instead of being built straight in the direction of the travel, it was placed at right angles to that direction ; and for twenty-five years the inhabitants of South Boston, when they wanted to go to State street or to "town meeting," were obliged either to take.a boat, and go northward in the direction in which the bridge should have run, or else to travel westward, in which direction the bridge really was, and so to make a right-angled journey.
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During all this time the residents of the peninsula made many and strenuous efforts to obtain direct and casy communication with a town to which they were wedded for better or for worse [for better, it seemed, so far as regarded the inhabitants of the town ; for worse, as far as regarded themselves], but their efforts were defeated by those Bostonians whose interests were always pre- · ferred to those of mere South Bostonians.
It was not until 1826, that leave was obtained to build the new free bridge by which they could go more direct- ly to the centre of the town ; nor would it have been obtained even then, if the interests of many towns lying along the South shore had not called for it. The bridge was built in 1828 by the owners of the land in South Boston, and by residents there, and by them presented to the City !
The opening of this communication showed at once all the natural advantages and facilities of the western part of this peninsula, for in a few years it was covered with houses, stores and factories ; and the population increased six fold in a short time. Equally apparent were the good effects upon the parts of the City proper, adjacent to the point of junction. The nuisances of Sea street disappeared, and upon the marsh of the South Cove sprang up, as by magic, streets and houses.
But /during the twenty-five years in which the ener- gies of South Boston had been cramped, and her growth stunted, what efforts had to be used, what obstacles to be encountered, what defeats sustained, before a mea- sure so consistent with sound policy and plain justice could be carried ! If any one should now question whether the best interests of the whole City, as well as of South Boston, had been promoted by this measure, he would be considered as insane. Nevertheless, at this moment another Avenue to the City, farther cast than the old ones, begins to be called for by the same sound policy and even justice which called for them ; but in order to obtain it, the same battles are to be fought, the same defeats sustained, and the same delays encoun-
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tered, before there will be, what there must finally be -a complete union between the two peninsulas, and a disappearance of the intervening flats.
During the period of twenty-five years which elapsed between the opening of the old and new avenue, the population of this peninsula went on slowly increasing rather in spite of its municipal connection with the dis- tant town, than in consequence of it. Indeed the in- habitants had little to remind them of their dependence upon Boston except the inconvenience arising from the want of local authorities to regulate their local affairs, and the annual visit of the town officers in the shape of assessors of taxes.
While they were paying their full proportion of taxes for widening and paving, and lighting and watching the streets of the City proper, their own streets were not only uncared for, but they were not even accepted by the City. At some seasons they were almost impassa- ble on account of the mud ; and they were lighted only by the moon and stars at night. Most of what was done for them was by voluntary contributions among the inhabitants, who in one season paid about fifteen hundred dollars for this purpose, in addition to paying their proportion for keeping the streets of the City in such a pleasing contrast with their own.
This neglect of the actual condition of the streets was not, however, the worst feature of the case ; that only made them very bad at the time, but by refusing to establish the grades and levels, the City government placed an immense obstacle in the way of the growth and improvement of the place. Some were afraid to build, lest in a few years the street should be dug away in front of their house, and leave their door-sill ten feet in the air ; or be filled up so as to turn their parlors into basements, and bring their chamber windows upon a level with the side-walk. Some who did build after ob- taining all the information they could, are at this mo- ment suffering for their confidence in public fairness.
Nor is this a matter of past history alone ; at this 26*
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very day, when South Boston is equal in point of popu- lation to the fifth town in Massachusetts, a citizen there- of cannot obtain a level upon which to build his house with any legal guaranty for its continuance. It is with- in our positive knowledge, that citizens of substance are at this moment prevented from building houses, by the apprehension that in a few years they may be under- mined or buried up.
But it was not alone in respect to streets, that the inequality of taxation was felt by the inhabitants of South Boston ; they paid their share for the expense of common sewers, for removing offal from houses, for the police, for the night watch, &c. of the City, without any direct benefit therefrom to themselves. It is esti- mated that about the period to which we have alluded, viz., 1830, the City was really indebted to South Bos- ton in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for taxes paid by her, and for which the City has made no return.
Indeed, the City did not seem inclined to consider the tax-payers of South Boston as having equal rights with real Bostonians, even in matters that were necessarily common. We may mention as one of the many proofs of this, that while the masters of the grammar schools in the City proper were receiving a salary of twelve hundred dollars, it was supposed that the people of South Boston could do with a master worth only eight hundred dollars, and their teacher was paid only that sum during many years. In the year 1828, the gentle- man who kept the Hawes school, in South Boston, ap- plied for a City school in order to receive a higher sala- ry. Our citizens did not wish to lose him, and some of the most prominent of them sent in a petition to the School Committee, in which they said " we must regard his removal from South Boston as a loss not easily to be repaired, and we trust that the claims of this section of the City will be duly regarded in the case. We are confident that equal and even greater labor and respon- sibility are attached to the duties of this school, both from its relative numbers and its peculiar organization,
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than the masters of the other schools individually sus- tain." They also ventured to say that the expenditure made by the City government "for the benefit and con- venience of the people of South Boston bears a very small proportion to the taxes assessed upon them." They add- ed, "we can therefore conceive no sufficient reason why the master of this school should not be placed upon an equal footing with the other masters as to compensation." They probably learned afterwards that it was because the scholars were only children of South Bostonians, while the other masters taught the children of real Bos- tonians. At any rate, they had to submit to the loss of their master. The injustice of the case, however, was so palpable, that the City government afterwards grudg- ingly raised the salary a little, but in order to keep up the distinction between Boston and South Boston schools, they fixed it at one thousand dollars. Three masters successively served for this inferior compensa- tion. One of them, Mr. Walker, was promoted to a bona fide City school, and received the full salary, and still deserves and enjoys it. Mr. Harrington, the pre- decessor of the present grammar master, was the first who received a full salary. Now this distinction was not only unjust-it was invidious and contemptuous. There might have been a show of reason for leaving our streets in darkness, or filling our few lamps with oil of second quality, but our children had as much capacity for, and as much right to the best kind of instruction, as the children of the inhabitants of any ward of the City.
We might cite other cases of partiality and injustice towards us. But we are not inclined to dwell upon this unpleasant part of the history of our union, and pass to the period succeeding the opening of the new bridge, during which the policy of the City has been less illiberal, though still far from impartial towards South Boston.
At the beginning of that period the population of South Boston amounted to about twenty-five hundred ;
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in a few years it doubled ; in 1840 it reached sixty-one hundred and seventy-six ; in 1845 it was ten thousand and twenty, having increased 62 per cent. in five years ; and at this moment it is doubtless over twelve thousand. Nor is this population such as is usually found at the outskirts of large cities. It is not the scum thrown out from the purer material. The peninsula being separated entirely from the City proper by water, and not having as yet any avenue for easy access from its centre to the busy marts of commerce, was not sought by those men alone who lived from hand to mouth, and wanted only a temporary lodging place, but also by a class of intelli- gent and respectable persons of narrow means, but inde- pendent spirits, who wished to dwell in their own houses, and have elbow room about them, and pure air to breathe, and a wide prospect to enjoy. There are at this time over thirteen hundred dwelling-houses in South Boston, and a very large proportion of them are owned by their occupants ; a larger proportion, probably, than can be found in any other ward of the City. With the exception of the part nearest the bridge, South Boston indeed looks like a thickly settled town in the interior of New England.
In the whole of the population there is not a single colored family, and not so many foreigners as in several other wards of the City. The foreigners who reside here, are, for the most part, of that better class who will not live in cellars, or congregate together closely in or- der to keep each other warm.
Many of our inhabitants have not only their homes, but their business, upon the peninsula. The amount of capital actually invested in manufacturing establish- ments alone, is estimated at nearly fifteen hundred thousand dollars ; which produces annually the fol- lowing amount of manufactured articles :
Iron castings, $600,000
Machinery,
·
375,000
Chain Cables,
90,000
Glass ware, . ·
100,000
Chemicals and drugs,
250,000
Vilje lanini
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These employ nearly one thousand workmen. Then there is ship-building, and other important branches of industry carried on here.
The official valuation of property for taxation in South Boston was,
in 1845, on Real Estate 3,249,800 66 " Personal do. 557,200
Total 3,807,000
1846 " Real Estate
4,127,100
" Personal do. 629,100 " 4,756,200 and the valuation for the current year is estimated by competent persons at above $5,500,000.
However, the mere material prosperity of a place is no test of its real worth ; and we would lay most stress upon what we really believe to be true, that South Bos- ton has been sought as a residence by a very respectable class of persons, rather in spite of the policy which the City government has pursued with regard to the place, than in consequence of it.
When the City found it desirable to annex to its ter- ritory a large peninsula, which had, and always will have, the capacity for independent existence, sound policy as well as justice should have suggested that it be treated with the greatest liberality ; that it have at least as many advantages as it would otherwise have had, and that its citizens should not feel any inequality in the distribution of favors and burdens between them- selves and the inhabitants of the City proper.
Such we believe has not been the case with regard to the policy of the City of Boston towards South Boston, and we think an examination of its history, whether in former or later years, will show that our belief is well founded.
[The Memorial here proceeds to point out the great disparity between the expenditure upon the streets in the City proper and in South Boston ; the neglect of the City in providing proper fire-engines and apparatus for ward twelve ; and lastly, and very fully, treats of
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the impolicy of "placing all the pauper and penal insti- tutions of the City upon this peninsula." As this latter grievance is now in a great measure removed, and as it is no object of this work to again bring up, unnecessari- ly, old matters of contention between either individuals or different portions of the city, a dozen pages of the Memorial are here omitted, and the concluding ones are given.]
We have dwelt upon the illiberality and unfairness of the policy of the City of Boston towards South Boston ; and we have pointed out some instances of it. We have said what we firmly believe, that if the policy of the past is to be the policy of the future, it will be better for the inhabitants of this peninsula to administer their own municipal government, since they best understand their own wishes and interests. But we have said all these things more in sorrow than in anger. We yield to none of our fellow citizens in civic patriotism ; we are proud of the name of Bostonians ; we desire ever to deserve and to bear it ; and we hope and trust that the reasonable requests that we may make may be granted. These are-
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