28 REPORT OP THE 



as if echoing his innumerable thoughts. For why should he 

 stop preaching? There, at the entrance of this great cathedral 

 of nature and of art, with seats strewn about him in rustic 

 simplicity on which the worshipers should rest, where flow- 

 ers should breathe and little children should be brought to 

 him once more as if for baptism or blessing, where pondering 

 congregations could gather on the quiet Sabbath, there, just 

 beyond the boundary of creeds and churches and clanging fac- 

 tions, where all could come without money and without price, 

 the old times would be lived over again, for there he would 

 stand and preach with his flowers among the people, with lips 

 silent, yet for that speaking, with eye fixed, yet for that more 

 watchful, with hand lost to cunning, yet for that more impres- 

 sive than impassioned gesture whether lifted for solemn warn- 

 ing or lingering benediction. 



In connection with tin 1 subject of monumental sites it might 

 be well here to add that there are some good ones for group 

 pieces on either side of the drive from the main entrance to 

 the site selected for Mr. Beecher. 



The National Soldiers and Sailors' monument will in all 

 probability be erected in City Hall Square. Had a much 

 larger sum been procured so that a large and elaborate mon- 

 ument could be erected and the surroundings improved, the 

 site of the fountain in the plaza would have been very 

 appropriate. 



The site for the national monument to be erected to the 

 memory of the martyrs who died on the English prison ships 

 is referred to under the head of " Picnics, &c." 



'I he Plaza 



is certainly a great failure . No one cares to cross it. It 

 is devoid of all life and is a ston} T waste. It is suggest- 

 ive of Siberia in winter and Sahara in summer. The noble 

 statue of Lincoln is dwarfed and made dismal by the 

 surroundings. In life Lincoln was cheerful, but at night, 

 around his monument, to add to the dreariness of the place, 

 sounds the sad soughing of the surrounding pine trees. A 



