USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1879 > Part 8
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The COMMISSION were the glad recipients of numerous
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PUBLIC GROUNDS.
hearty gifts of Plants and Shrubs during the past year. The admiration bestowed upon two beautiful mounds was due, not to the taste of the COMMISSION inspired by ample means; but to private liberality, through which an inadequate provision was happily supplemented. Mr. Hermann Lange deserves especial thanks,-since a larger part of the effect produced, throughout the flowering season, must be attributed to his timely and lavish supplies. Among the plants received from him may be enumerated-Asters, 150 ;- Cineraria Maritima, 24 ;- Ricinus, 14-Geranium, 100 ;- Iresine, 100 ;- Coleus, 100 ;- Dahlia, in variety ;- Feverfew and Fuchsia, in quantity. His cordial co-operation has also been extended in every possible way.
The friendly interest of Mrs. Alfred D. Foster, has also been consistent and unremitting. In her garden, as in but a few others, are preserved most of those herbaceous plants with which Worcester was richly stocked in the early days of the Horticultural Society. That some of them can be found in existence at all is owing to the purity of a taste which refused to subordinate beauty to fashion; and which finds its best reward in the return of popular partiality to the more correct standards of former years. The plants given by Mrs. Foster were so numerous that some may have been overlooked: it is hoped, however, that the subjoined list may not be seriously deficient :- Achillea, mille folium rubrum ;- Actaea, racemosa ;- Achillea, ptarmica fl. pl .; - Anemone Japonica (spicata) ;- Arundo, variegata ;- Baptisia, cerulea ;- Calycanthus ;- Cam- panula, percisi-folia ; - Clematis ; - Convallaria majalis ; - Delphinium ;- Diclytra ;- Digitalis, (6) ;- Funkia cerulea ;- Iris (12) ;- Kerria Japonica ;- Lathyrus lati-folius ;- Lychnis ; -Pæonia (6) ;- Phlox (24) ;- Polemonium ceruleum ;- Spiraea filipendula ;- Yucca, filamentosa.
The COMMISSION would likewise acknowledge their obliga- tions to the Misses Burnside, for a bountiful provision of the following named plants :- Hemerocallis ;- Iris (24) ;- Pœonia in var. (38) ;- Phlox in var. (100).
· From Mrs. Francis H. Kinnicutt was received an immense mass of Funkia alba.
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CITY DOCUMENT .- NO. 34.
Mrs. Penelope W. Canfield gave a fine, well-grown specimen of the three-thorned Acacia ( Gleditschia tri-acanthos), a seed- ling from a living tree that was derived by the late Gov. Lincoln from the original at Mount Vernon.
From their associate, Mr. Hadwen, the COMMISSION had some forty (40) strong roots of the Canna.
And from the Chairman; - nearly a hundred Geraniums ; enough seedling plants of Aquilegia Chrysantha to show for themselves during the coming Summer ; - together with the following Cannæ ; whose names are recorded here, that, if lost from the Park, the varieties may yet be known as in actual pos- session. Dr. Gromier ; Coquette ; Mons Alegatier ; Premices de Nice ; Tricolor ; Compacta; President Faivre; Brenningsi ; Superba ; Souvenir de Barillet des Champs ; Bonneti Excelsa ; Victor Lemoine ; Ornement du Grand Rond.
In addition, the COMMISSION enjoy the promise of many another shrub and tree, for some of which they must invent, if they cannot otherwise find, leisure to go and secure. It cannot be doubted, as has been modestly hinted in former Reports, that many of our citizens own numerous flowering plants and shrubs which have either outgrown the space allotted to them, or require, for healthy development, more room than can well be spared. For any such, the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS would be thankful. And, -while contributing to adorn Elm Park, they would not be entirely lost to their former owners; who would have the opportunity, at will, of beholding them in their new location. A great deal has been achieved towards making a collection of herbaceous plants,-perennial or other ;- but much more could be accomplished with that general co-op- eration which the COMMISSION feel that it is not hopeless to expect. Many species, -once common in Worcester ; - and none the less beautiful because common; have almost disap- peared from cultivation on account of the latter-day distaste for everything that could not be cramped and prostrated in beds. A floral Procrustes appeared to wield arbitary sway ; lopping here and stretching there - whose mandates were as senseless as most of those to which fashion pays heed, and yet were obeyed as implicitly. A sounder taste bids fair to prevail ere
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long-when credit shall be given to each flower and plant for the beauties that are obvious and beyond challenge; without derogation because they lack other charms denied to them in their very creation.
The interest felt in the work of the COMMISSION by Mr. Charles S. Sargent, Professor of Arboriculture in the University at Cambridge, has been steadily manifested. During the last Autumn, he was kind enough to import for the Public Grounds, from Mr. Anthony Waterer, of England, a lot of Azalea mollis, and Azalea (of sorts), which came to hand in unimpaired and supe- rior excellence. It is pleasant for her sons to mark the widen- ing usefulness of our highest institution of learning, and to receive such positive evidence that she has at length found out that round pegs - not square sticks - are alone suitable to fill round holes.
Criticism of the method preferred by the COMMISSION, in the development of Elm Park, has been for the most part kindly, perhaps partial. Exception is however taken, now and then, to the extent to which water is employed as a means of ornament, that does not seem to be founded upon a catholic judgment. In the grand design of the Universe, more than three-fifths of the earth's surface is covered by the various oceans. Infinitesi- mally small by contrast, so as to make the bare statement almost ludicrous, scarcely four of the twenty-eight acres com- prehended within Elm Park will be surrendered to water, when the ideas of the COMMISSION shall be fully realized. But, were the surface thus occupied to be twice as large, would it be any too much? In the simple light of beauty, what can be more lovely than an ever shifting, always sparkling sheet of water, continually presenting to the eye a new and varying charm? We weary of the monotony of green fields and smoothly shaven lawns, and become satiated, after a while, with the profuse wealth of flowers and blooming shrubs. But who tires of gazing upon an element whose variety is as infinite, as its beau- ties have ever been beyond description in prose and poesy ? The COMMISSION, in developing Elm Park, have kept in view its surroundings. For a mile and a half it is a conspicuous ob- ject from Park Avenue, over which travel, even now frequent,
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will ere long become incessant. What fairer vision could meet the eye, in Summer heats, than a succession of pools, of irregu- lar and varying outline, whose flashing and pellucid waters should invigorate and refresh by their very aspect? What pleasure, in Winter, to behold the icy surface of these pools occupied by children of small or "larger growth," who are thus enabled to store up health, while, at the same time, they enjoy themselves free from apprehension of ever imminent peril ? These pools are thronged, upon propitious occasions, by the boys and girls of the present Worcester. Will they be any too extensive for the crowd that may be expected to seek fresh air and exhilarating exercise when our population has swollen to a hundred thousand ? Drainage has reclaimed the broad acres over whose frozen overflow the writer, with his youthful com- rades, was accustomed to skate when yet there were but three thousand inhabitants in Worcester. With such an experience, in an ordinary life-time, is there much danger of exaggerating the provision that should be made for a possible, nor very re- mnote, future ?
Some exertion has been used in the maintenance of a clear surface for skating. So far, ordinary success is claimed, al- though much trouble is caused by boys and girls who will not keep away, when even their little feet leave imprints in the half congealed slush. But it is such a pleasure to behold the enjoy- ment of the children, who turn out in numbers that appear to represent all sections of the city and every condition in life ; that the COMMISSION grow more anxious with each recurring year to preserve the ice in service. And still there are discour. agements ! The day after Christmas was bitter cold; but the Chairman of the COMMISSION was not thereby prevented from attempting to clear the ice of the snow that fell during the night previous. He succeeded in making skating possible; and found his reward, the next morning, in the prostrate trunk of a cut-leaved weeping birch ( Betula incisa pendula), whose shape- ly proportions inadequately represented its first cost, and the subsequent care that it had exacted to rear. It lay where it was fractured, of no use to anybody, and a mute witness to the slothful recklessness of a boy, who, too lazy to take off his
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skates, caught hold of the first thing within reach, however brittle, in the effort to keep from falling. But a few nights later an equally fine specimen of Wier's cut-leaved maple (Acer Dasycarpum, var. Wierii Laciniatum) was mutilated, if not wholly ruined, in a spot to which a person must have gone in- tentionally, out of the usual way, and bent upon malicious mis- chief. Now, what shall be done in such cases? The snow might be suffered to lie where it falls; which, though Cent- Pinch would approve, simply punishes the innocent with the guilty. Or, were less energy and time squandered in arresting the unlicensed sale of lager beer, more might be exerted bene- ficially for the adequate protection of public property and grounds. Proficiency in games of calculation or chance can only be attained by constant practice and keen vigilance. But even success at draughts may be purchased too dearly, -- by ex- cision of a popular draught at the tap, or by the loss, as in the examples specified, of a growth that requires three years for its peculiar development,* and for which, fatally retarded, there can be no recovery or resurrection. Malicious or wanton mis- chief should be prevented. If this is impossible (which ought not to be assumed gratuitously at a police headquarters), the sternest penalty should be exacted after conviction. Homœop- athy will not answer where a tree is wantonly stripped of its bark. It will not pay to excoriate the offender according to the latest price current for such peltry. "Skunk hides, the last year, were worth from $1.75 to $2.00 each. They will not be worth much more than half as much this year." It may thus be seen that the woe must be unto those through whom the offence cometh, because it is offensive; and not from a more or less fragrant anticipation of gain through the tanned hides of of- fenders.
The City Marshal, in his final Report for A. D. 1879, states to the Honorable Council, that the Licenses of Dogs to exist should be issued from the Police Department; to which, in re- turn, the fees for such Licenses should enure. The views of
* In the case of the Betula incisa pendula, its conspicuous white bark is not mani- fest under three years.
·
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CITY DOCUMENT .- NO. 34.
the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS, upon this whole canine matter have been often and freely stated, and they have not changed with the lapse of time. For every license that the Marshal will grant, for the sake of the fee, this COMMISSION would withhold ten. For each unlicensed cur the Police would suffer at large, unmolested ;-- this COMMISSION would slay a hecatomb upon the altar of reasonable security to life, and prop- erty, and with due regard for common decency. Indeed, some summary measures will have to be adopted, or there must be a stop to any further efforts to adorn the Public Grounds. With the first advent of spring, a horde of dogs are suffered to run riot, unaccompanied and unchecked by their owners. This COMMISSION might, and may yet have to, apply the shot-gun as a sedative for those exuberant natures; but the howl from the careless owner would be louder than the animal yelp. Yet the public property must be protected; and this COMMISSION will not shrink from the discharge of their whole duty in the premises. Flowers and plants are cultivated for the enjoyment of the people. They are not planted for a target, nor that each stray cur, in rapid succession, may apply a blistering lotion. This COMMISSION fail to appreciate the logic of the Marshal. A major portion of the life of the municipal * Dog is dissipated upon the Public Grounds. Most of his curious antics are there enacted; and it is generally, in those frequented places, that his polygamous unions are sealed. Indeed, so notoriously has the "Common" been thus rendered "unclean," that the very bottomers cried out in jealous deprecation.
The experience of the COMMISSION will scarcely warrant the general opinion of the longevity of the Goose. As an ornament to the Pools in Elm Park, for
The tame (?) goose, in motion, Is a very pretty notion.
their advent was encouraged. Wonted to their new haunts, they soon become the petted playthings of mothers, who sought
*Licensed by the City; and municipal-ex vi termini.
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amusement for their children; and an attraction for children, whose direst affliction was quickly felt. to be upon those not infrequent days when rain, or an outbreak of the old Adam, enforced privation of their favorite outing. But it has been found extremely difficult to maintain the Water-Fowl in undimin- ished number. Some were curiously translated ; and others must be accounted for by dogs, who "could not have killed them, you "see, because they (the dogs) were securely fastened"-the day before ! The loss of those which had been translated was more than made good by the Chairman of the COMMISSION, who procured, at his private expense, a trio each of White China Geese and Pekin Ducks. Later in the season, Dr. Joseph N. Bates presented the COMMISSION with a very fine pair of pure-bred Toulouse Geese, for which official gratitude was not expressed heretofore, that it might be conveyed thus publicly. Offers of other contributions to the stock of Water-Fowl have been casually made, by different persons, who may rest assured that their gifts will be welcomed as indicative of their private interest in the work of the COMMISSION; and of their desire to do aught that is within their power, individually, to augment the attractions of the Park.
If the people of Worcester want and would have this, that, or the other; and you may put your own emphasis on the other; they can find the idea evolved from the inner conscious- ness of this COMMISSION. But, -for the practical realization, they must dive into their pockets. No more now than ever - despite the plethora of charlatans or the blare of in-science, can man "gather grapes of thorns," or make a silk purse from a sow's ear. "In the sweat of thy brow!" - how easily it is for- gotten, not alone at the Stock-Board or upon "the Street !" Nevertheless the game is worth the candle. Our citizens visit Boston and return vociferous in their praises of its Public Garden. But the people of Boston, when they made up their minds to dance, knew also that the piper must be paid.
Chicago has almost completed a superb system of Parks - Land, and Water; connected by magnificent stretches of stately Avenues, already partially shaded, and destined, in the near future, to be thoroughly protected from torrid heat by judicious
13
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CITY DOCUMENT .- NO. 34.
planting. As in the case of the New York Central Park, the increased valuation of the proximate territory will soon repay the cost of those improvements, considerable though it be. And, that it may be repaid, the men who cast their bread upon the waters, in those thriving cities, do it without reservation. They complete what they commence. As the new business, upon each mile of railway that is extended, helps to swell the aggregate traffic, so do the use and enjoyment of Public Grounds, and broad Avenues, contribute to local comfort and diffuse the good report of a community. It will not do, in these latter days of keen competition, to lag in the rear or fall behind our eager rivals in the race for supremacy. Worcester has some natural advantages : but, then too, she lacks many. And it is only by making the most of those that are hers confessedly - the blended charms of Land, and Water scape ; artificial, when necessary, if you have only.
Ars celare artem ;
that a present vantage can be retained, or a step taken forward. But are we thus wisely audacious ? One or two miles of Lake Avenue to attest the sagacity and energy of one man. whose stamp is not even yet effaced from our highways, after years of comparative neglect. It were idle to waste space and time in the stale dispute over the precise location of that Avenue :- whether it could not have been carried, with advantage, around the head of this bay or over that projecting point. It was only decreed under the spell of strategy; and must needs be con- structed, if at all, subject to the hard stress of a rigid and relentless parsimony. Completed to Lincoln Street, northward, according to the recorded plans, -it would facilitate travel, accelerate intercourse between extreme sections of the city, and multiply manifold the benefits of the work erstwhile finished.
And so of Park Avenue, which has repaid many times its cost in the saving of transportation enabled by it, across the chord that subtends, instead of over the arc which encompasses. Hay, wood, brick, and stone-every species of forage, and all kinds of building material-find easy access to all portions of
·
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the western part of the city, over a roadway that was built and, with even ordinary precaution, could be made, to last. Thoroughly constructed (thanks to Rufus Carter, in an emi- nent degree); broad enough for any amount of travel; easy for traction ; this noble thoroughfare is suffered to remain un- finished. Opened out, upon the same scale, to the intersection of Leicester by Stafford Streets, its utility would be developed beyond any possible present estimate. Prosecuted, as the exig- encies of the Highway Department * should allow, the work might be conducted with facility, economy, and without need- less interference with inevitable duties. The employment of labor in building roads is no burden upon a community, if only the labor is its own! When it can be employed, as in this case, to complete a work which will supply a broad and uninter- rupted thoroughfare from Northville to New Worcester, it seems strange that there should be a moment's hesitation. Gravel lies in large and contiguous mounds along that route. Labor is abundant and eager to be employed. The opportunity presses as material prospects look brighter. What more propi- tious occasion to resume and accomplish a great public im- provement, that was only checked by the harsh duress of a broadcast private calamity. The direct cooperation of those immediately concerned has been promised heretofore, and can- not now be withheld-as, indeed, of men who were never yet found blind to their own advantage. And against distrust that is reasonable, prudence invents or finds its own adequate and timely safeguards.
Consider for an instant ! Multifold and great enterprises have been assumed, conducted, and finished, in our City, during the last lustrum, although many branches of business were, at the same time, inert or unprofitable. Foster Street has been opened,-valueless or otherwise, as each may elect for himself.
* In the judgment of the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS, the Highway De- partment should always be so efficiently equipped that, like the Fire Department, its exigencies should be its opportunities. It could scarcely require extraordinary capacity to organize a corps of oxen, horses and tried and trusty inen, that might, in a relatively brief space of time, and at a most moderate expense, make "all roads lead to Rome,"-even if they built wiser than they knew. E. W. L.
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CITY DOCUMENT .- NO. 34.
Reservoirs have been swept away and new ones substituted and the wreck of substance can scarcely be traced where, but a few years since, the wild waste of waters poured so resistlessly. That momentous undertaking,-from a mere inception of which so many men of approved courage and judgment shrank appalled,-the Island Sewer ;- now completed; offers in its massive proportions and positive endurance, a proud monument to the sagacity and ability of its projectors and builders. Brake- men are useful, doubtless ; but it is the engineer who runs the train. Now the expense of these works has been heavy, beyond question ; and, in individual cases, possibly oppressive. But there is little public gain without some private sacrifice : and, in this instance of the Island Sewer, the general benefit incalculably predominates. Yet how small a portion of the sum lavished upon that Sewer would suffice to extend Lake, and Park Avenues ! How much less, or more even, than was expended in the very judicious repair and widening of Mill Street, would it cost to complete Park Avenue to its legitimate and obvious intersection with Leicester and Stafford Streets. When done, all will wonder that it was ever retarded ; or that there should have been the slightest hesitation about finishing it. For no one will then be blind to that which is even now plainly evident to some ;- that Worcester will have acquired a superb thorough- fare, -- bisecting its territory from North to South ;- sweeping in its curves, yet of direct radius ; and so nearly level that water is perplexed in determining its grades. Would any skeptic be convinced of its value for purposes of traffic? Let him witness, like the writer, its constant and heavy use ! Would another dispute its worth as an absolute attraction to our City ? Let such take his stand, at any point of intersection, and count the teams conveying their happy loads, of both sexes and every age, all renewing their youth and inhaling new ener- gies from their invigorating contact with the living forces of Nature !
"And God said, Let there Light; and there was light." The might of Omnipotence is not in us,-to evolve order from chaos at our simple volition. Nevertheless, we are created sufficiently
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like our Maker to be able, in the ordinary exercise of our facul- ties, to fulfill the command that enjoins us to
. "Prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.
"Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought "low; and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough ways shall be made "smooth." * * * *
"And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."
Or we can go out and bury the talent committed to us. Worcester is in our possession,-to make or mar. But time fights ever against us ; repeating no lost or forfeited opportuni- ties, and, like the Sibyl, exacting an enhanced price in proportion as we neglect our chances.
All which is respectfully submitted by
EDWARD WINSLOW LINCOLN. Chairman.
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS,
January 26th, A. D. 1880.
REPORT
OF THE
JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON WATER,
To the Council of the City of Worcester :
In conformity with an Ordinance of the City, the Joint Standing Committee on Water submit their Report, with those of the Water Commissioner, Water Registrar, and City Engineer, for the year ending November 30th, 1879.
WATER SUPPLY.
The greatest storage attained the past year was May 1st, when the depth of water was thirty-eight and two-tenths (38.2) feet. The supply at present compares favorably with that of former years, and considering the unusually light rain-fall, the state of things may be deemed very fortunate. The quality of the water has been exceptionally good, and it is hoped that a recurrence of the trouble which existed last year will not be experienced.
THE DAM.
The dam, gate houses, dwelling house, etc., are in good con- dition, and the man who is permanently stationed at the reser- voir has faithfully attended to his duties, and the property of the city is well cared for. New stone walls have been laid, and the grounds about the basin are constantly being improved. A strip of land south of the dam was purchased of A. M. Brown this season, and the waste gates are now on land owned by the city.
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REPORT OF WATER COMMITTEE.
BELL POND.
Nothing in the way of improvement has been done at this reservoir, though much more vegetable matter might be re- moved, and the shores and water shed placed in better condition. The Worcester Lunatic Hospital derive a supply solely from this source, and it is seldom that water is drawn for other use excepting for fire purposes.
THE DEPARTMENT.
The condition of the Department generally, is satisfactory, and for details in Construction and Maintenance Accounts, we refer to the reports of the Commissioner and Registrar. These officers have discharged their duties in a faithful and efficient manner, the nature of which is often unpleasant, and the adage "still waters run smooth," is not always applicable to their positions.
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