DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. 27 



orations, they beg to present for earnesl consideration, as the 

 choicest and most appropriate spot that can be selected, the 

 post of honor at the main entrance of Prospect Park. This 

 site is conspicuously located at the divergence of the East and 

 West drives, exactly facing down the line to the main entrance 

 from the plaza. It would be necessary to raise a small mound 

 on which the monument should stand, so that it would be 

 slightly elevated above the level of the drives. Around this 

 mound a circular walk could be laid, with a stone-edged bed 

 of choice flowers on either side. 



Such site would be conspicuously commanding. This is the 

 first trait of coincidence that it should possess. Mr. Beecher 

 was alike a conspicuous and commanding figure, from every 

 point of view, physically, mentally, spiritually. He impressed 

 men instantly. The site proposed, with its instant rather than 

 long-protracted approach, is an appropriate one. 



Such a site is easily accessible to all. It is pre-eminently a 

 people's site. Mr. Beecher was a man of the people. He was 

 a man among men. He was a citizen of the world and he 

 lived for universal humanity. He stood for many years upon 

 the broad platform of liberty and love, open to all creeds, all 

 churches, all denominations. He was constantly surrounded 

 by a great multitude. He stood as one of old at the t> - ates of 

 the city. 



Such a site is no less strikingly appropriate, from the fact 

 that, while it faces in one direction the busy life of the city, it 

 faces in the other the quiet of repose. Mr. Beecher stood at 

 imminent periods of peril in the life of the nation and faced 

 calmly the buffetings of opposition and the uproar of con- 

 troversy. But in the midst of the most conflicting circum- 

 stances he was calm. He looked on trouble. He also looked 

 upon tranquility. 



Such a sight gathers round it those natural objects of beauty 

 so dearly loved and so exquisitely described by the great, kind 

 man. The birds would sing for him, the trees bend over him 

 kindly, the flowers bloom, the sun smile across liis face as he 

 was said to smile at the thought of death, the leaves whisper 



