WEST ROXBURY PARK. 69 



adjacent property, constituted my future expectations of 

 a fortune in them. They are indeed a delightful park 

 in themselves. 



To part with these lands is like taking the very "apjDle 

 of my eye." And even at the figures rendered to the 

 commissioners, or city government, being 18 3-4 cents, 

 25 cents and 35 cents per square foot, I should heartily 

 rejoice if these valuable estates could be let alone, for I 

 am sadly unwilling to part with them, except in house 

 lots. If, however, the city must have them for the com- 

 pletion of the park proportions, as well as for their 

 picturesque beauty, then let the citizens of Boston pay 

 fairly and equitably for them, and not permit the long- 

 waiting owners to be wronged for their luxurious in- 

 dulgence. I claim the right to make prices for my own 

 property. The buyer can not, in justice, make prices 

 for the owner, especially by first making undervalua- 

 tions. An unmerciful exercise of the right of eminent 

 domain becomes a prodigious wrong to a few, for the 

 benefit of the many, and all for luxury. 



Glenroad was laid out more than thirty years ago, 

 forty feet wide, and substantially built, with two or three 

 feet of stone for its foundation, and a culvert running 

 through it, covered, and nicely crowned with gravel. 

 It was thus kept constantly in order: $135 was paid at 

 one time for repairs. The sidewalks ai"e six feet wide 

 on both sides, and handsome elms were set out on its 

 borders. It is 1345 feet long on the premises, and the 

 same width of land, 753 feet long, was bought of 

 George Wm. Bond at that time, (1853) to extend the 

 road from my western boundary to Forest Hill street, 

 in order to gain a direct communication to Jamaica 



