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beauty. You may go to the Adirondacks, or the White Moun- 

 tains, or the Rocky Mountains, and never see anything better 

 than this. But many of our beautiful objects are constantly 

 being destroyed to make way for what is called "the march of 

 improvement." Look at the ugly gashes which have been 

 made in Parker's Hill in Roxbury, and the many disfigure- 

 ments of natural scenery in many other quarters around the 

 outskirts of Boston. If this work continues with the same 

 activity in the next twenty-five years that it has in the last, the 

 man who stands on Blue Hill in Milton will see that a sacri- 

 fice has gone on by destroying that which can never be re- 

 placed. If every man should try to prevent, so far as it is in 

 his power, every unnecessary sacrifice of natural objects, 

 great good would be done. If we could only put the city of 

 Boston under bonds, so that when it takes in any surround- 

 ing country it shall be withheld from destroying objects of 

 natural beauty, it would be an excellent thing. The injurious 

 effects of this ruthless destruction are felt principally among 

 the poorer classes. The few who are possessed of wealth can 

 have their own lawns and gardens, but the great multitude, 

 those who are the workers of the country, are cut off from 

 these luxuries. The people cannot enjoy the places of the 

 rich as well as those of their own. Any one who has seen 

 the Central Park in New York, or the Prospect Park in Brook- 

 lyn, and enjoyed the spectacles there presented to him, does 

 not need me to tell him of the pleasure which he received. 

 The rich men owe it, in fact, to the people to give them such 

 places of entertainment — such lawns and trees and grounds — 

 as will tend to turn their attention away from vaneful amuse- 

 ments and encourage a love of the simple pleasures and of 

 beautiful natural objects. If they do not give them these 



