night to seek the quiet of the neighboring villages. They over- 

 ran all the region round about. Beyond our county they spread 

 over Brighton, Cambridge, Charlestown, and indeed a great 

 part of this ten mile metropolitan circuit. From about 

 200,000, in 1850, the population of Boston and these places 

 have swelled, in 1870, to more than 400,000 souls, and was 

 still growing faster than ever. An inevitable consequence of 

 this rapid influx of people was an enormous demand for home- 

 steads. The prices of convenient house lots rose with a rush. 

 Suburban farms which in 1850 were dear at one hun- 

 dred dollars an acre, in 1870 were cheap at a thousand. The 

 fortunes of the lucky farmers were made, — provided they 

 ceased to farm. Their ancient means of livelihood had be- 

 come an expensive amusement. Their crops did not pay the 

 taxes, and the more produce a man raised the poorer he 

 became. 



So, too, wherever a canal was opened for the easy flow of 

 this flood of surplus citizens to more remote and less expen- 

 sive seats, the same process was repeated, and the same 

 phenomena were seen. Instances are familiar to all of you, and 

 are manifest in most of the towns around us. Look, for in- 

 stance, at Hyde Park yonder ; why, when I was a young 

 man, which I assure you was but a very few years ago, and 

 first began to drive over the road to court at Dedham, all 

 that territory was a wide stretch of pleasant farming land, 

 supporting a good many old apple trees, and affording pas- 

 ture to some cows and horses for a few excellent people. 

 Now I drive through a smart little city, which seems to 

 me to 'double its people once a year at least ; but the cows 

 are gone. And as to our old associate, Dorchester, since her 

 annexation, a careful observation would seem to indicate that 

 the crop which flourishes best upon her city soil is a post hold- 

 ing a board, upon which is inscribed, " This land for sale in 

 house lots ; apply to John Brown, State street." But I surely 

 need not dwell upon a fact so patent as that it has generally 

 proved more profitable to sell your farm than to work it in a 

 *'bed-roon town." Indeed, how can the man who pav.«; citv 



