Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/86

76 The House, for the business of the of the, was built in 1798, and has been recently greatly extended. It stands on the highest land in the city,—what remains of the old summits,—and has a , s, and s on its , with s, s, s, and  within. The edifice looks nobly down upon the &quot;Common,&quot; so dear to the citizens of Boston. This came with the original purchase from, and encloses 48 s, with s all round it, a , a , a  , a  , and about 1300 s. An  of the  of 1875 protects it from being encroached upon in any way by the  without a vote of the majority of the citizens. To the also belong a  and some of the newly reclaimed territory on the South. To the of Suffolk belong a, and s,  and. The  is in  district.

To the, besides the -,—which bear the names of honoured citizens for many generations, and of ex-s,—belong a large number of and appliances:—the Old House, so called, built for the  authorities in 1712,—the oldest public building now standing in the,  , dedicated in 1723, coming next to it; Faneuil Hall, famous for its patriotic oratory, originally the gift of Peter Faneuil in 1743, used for &ldquo;town meetings,&rdquo; and enlarged in 1806; extensive -houses; the ; the ; ; -houses and ; the Public  on the new territory, highly ornamented, enclosing more than 24 s, with a ;  s, &c.

s in public places:—in, a fine of, and those of , born in Boston,  17, 1706,—of , , and ; of  or , , , Governor Andrew, , ,  in the , and the  commemorating the introduction of the use of  as an , first applied in the  General , Boston. Boston is fringed with substantial on all its margins, for the most part covered with massive s., or s, make easy connections within its own limits, and with the s.   open communication with the whole , in every landward direction. Successive experiments have been tried with the various materials and methods for the s, and constructing s. The  of the  were first named in 1708. The first of the, that of Bonner, was made in 1722. Overseers of the poor were first chosen in 1691. The superintendent of s has charge of 7664, and 976 fluid, burners. The cost of to the, for 1874, was 275,064·35. There are seventeen -station houses and ; the expense of that department was 683,892·78; of the department, 446,877·08; of the  department, 671,511·13; of the , $111,198·31; of  and pauper institutions, 405,903·40. The cost of widenings and extensions from 1822 to 1874 was 21,739,983·13; and in 1873-74, 6,403,413·76, reduced by &ldquo;betterments,&rdquo; 283,697·50;  assessed in 1874, 9,022,187·17 The  of the  was 23,633,874·06. There had been in the and original  eleven -places. Mount Auburn in, five s distant, enclosing 125 s, was put to use in 1831. There have been more than 19,000 interments in it. Five other an are now provided, and interments in the  are prohibited.

The Public, as an institution of the, was fostered by an enterprise initiated by M. Vattemare, in securing a gift of s from the of , in 1843. s of the, renewed and extended from 1848 to 1857, aided by the efforts of individual citizens and meetings of committees, with free and conditional gifts of and of s, kept the object steadily in view. In 1852 Mr Joshua Bates, born in, then of the firm of the Messrs , of , made a gift to the for the purpose of a , of 50,000, subsequently adding various donations of s. The main hall of the   bears his name, in commemoration of his munificence. The present spacious and solid structure, which, however, already needs a second enlargement, was inaugurated for its uses, on 1, 1858, with an address by. It cost, with the land, 365,000. Large donations of and of private  have since accrued from living benefactors, and by bequests. The names of Ex- Bigelow, of Abbot Lawrence, and Jonathan Phillips deserve mention for their pecuniary gifts; while the of Theodore Parker,, and George Ticknor have furnished most valuable acquisitions. Here is deposited the Prince Library, belonging to the Old South Religious Society. The unique and rich collection, known as the Barton, of 12,000 volumes, including the magnificent treasures, was obtained in 1873. The edifice has been once enlarged, with efforts to render it proof, and additional ground has been purchased at a cost of 70,000. The expense of its maintenance and care, in 1874, was 135,000. There are employed in it 103 persons. The number of volumes is about 280,000, besides s,, and valuable collections of , including the Tosti, so called. Branch are established for the convenience of the citizens, in South and East Boston,, , , and ; and a system of other local deliveries has been initiated.

Of es and places of in Boston, there are 163 for, 26 for, and 3 s. The  have a  which will seat more than 4000. The have the largest number of  es. There are 112 public halls, which serve very miscellaneous uses of, , , society meetings, and amusement. ,,, benevolent, and secret societies, represented by their own , halls, , and collections, are very numerous, and well sustained. Among these may be mentioned the of  and s; the   Society; the Boston, with a very extensive , s, and ; the    Society; the  ; the ' Hall; the ' Association; the Mercantile  Association; the  Institute of Technology; the Boston  ; the Boston  ; Young Men's  Union; Young Men's  Association, with a sectarian condition; Young Women's  Association; the  Society; the  Society; the  Society; the  Society; the  Hall, with its great ; the   School, and Warren Museum; the  ; the  ; the General  Library; the  , &c. There are four s in the ,—the Boston, the Globe, the Howard, and the Museum.

s, s, and refuges, chiefly founded and sustained by private benevolence, and generously administered, provide, for the most part gratuitously, for the various ills and maladies of humanity. Of these, besides the, may be mentioned the  General , with its branch for the , the 