diversity of opinion is inevitable. Whatever may be your verdict, I am led to believe, from knowledge of the intelligent and conscientious labors which have distinguished your present term of service, that I have not fallen in this duty far short of success. I should be recreant to my own feelings if I failed, in this connection, to declare our mutual obligations to our veteran Clerk, Mr. Gregg, for the punctual, efficient and complete manner in which his duties have been performed: a model of clerical accuracy ever preserving equable temper amid perplexities, and exercising wise discretion in the scope of his duties, so that, while he fills the position, he does not transgress its boundaries. The fact that much of the labor here is of routine order has not, as it naturally might, deprived him of that freshness of interest which monotony and custom, for a long series of years, frequently destroy. I am sure that you will join with me in the earnest hope that future Councils will long enjoy his services and profit by his experience. In your discussions here I have purposely allowed considerable latitude of debate, because, in my judgment, technical rules should not stifle reasonable freedom of statement. I have, therefore, aimed to give, except in such cases as exacted rigid enforcement, a liberal construction to parliamentary law. While many of the wants developed by the great fire had been supplied prior to the current year, yet the work of the Council has been important, not only in forwarding great enterprises already commenced, but in inaugurating new ones. Admonished by continued depression in business circles, commercial disasters, and the prevalence of poverty and distress, whatever has involved fresh expenditure of money has been done, with few exceptions, only after careful investigation had demonstrated that the public good required it.

A brief sketch of some of the more important subjects of your deliberations may be of service and possibly of interest. And first let me congratulate the Committee on Rules and Orders for the eminently useful work they have performed in introducing more methodical arrangement in the order of business here. The wisdom of their changes and system has already become apparent, and the benefits arising therefrom must endure beyond the term for which they were made. The subject of water supply, already settled in its preliminaries, has been advanced by your prompt and

efficient action, so that, whatever the doubt and delay characterizing its inception, there has been no disposition to deny material aid to secure completion of the necessary works. It is a matter of regret that the liberal appropriation originally made for the Swettstreet extension is not adequate for the purpose intended. The fact that the expenditures so frequently outrun the appropriation suggests that in too many cases there is either a defect in the preliminary examination and estimates, or failure to prudently utilize the amount awarded. The enlargement of market facilities by the occupation of the lands of the Mercantile Wharf Company, after protracted debate and investigation, will rank as one of the important measures of the year. Your action relative to the establishment of a sewer in Mystic Valley will remedy an evil that has been strangely neglected. The impurities that were allowed to freely contaminate the daily water supply of thousands of our citizens, when the sanitary condition of our city was so unsatisfactory as to provoke discussion among students of vital statistics, both in this country and Europe, created necessity of action that certainly was not taken too early.

The practical step taken by you towards the separation of truants from criminals a subject which so long and with so little result had engaged public attention is not second in consequence to any act you have performed. Every philanthropist, nay, every man who believes that contact with vice contaminates, and that evil associations in the plastic period of life are destructive of virtue and integrity, will surely not fail to approve the order. More than this, he will wonder that such a state of things, this legalized nursery of crime, in this age and in this city, has been tolerated so long. The most vexed question-that question to which the most careful and I think conscientious study has been given — is the new City Charter. No one, upon reflection, will claim that essential changes and modifications are not desirable in our present City Charter; but sturdy differences of opinion are developed when changes of a radical or revolutionary character are urged, and many who generally are least conservative offer the most strenuous opposition. It may or may not be a misfortune that the subject has not been definitely settled during the current year. It certainly is fortunate that it has received such thorough investi

gation at the hands of the Committee, and so full discussion in the Council. From this investigation and discussion. valuable information will be transmitted to those who will hereafter be called upon to act in this matter.

The improvements made upon Madison square and Orchard park commend themselves to all who appreciate the importance that public grounds possess in a thickly-settled city, ministering as they do in an essential degree to the health and enjoyment of its inhabitants. That ancient heritage, the Boston Common, has obtained from you a seal of condemnation upon any attempt to appropriate its historic precincts. The barrier erected is not materially imposing or formidable; but, morally, not Ossa piled on Pelion would be more difficult to scale; and composure and serenity are restored to that large class who recognize in this enclosure an antidote to the street-widening distemper. Time will not permit me to comment on many other subjects that you have acted upon, such as the redivision of wards of the city, important changes in ordinances, and the many improvements that have been created throughout the city. I cannot refrain from expressing my personal gratification at the action of the Council, at its last meeting, in non-concurring with the Board of Street Commissioners in regard to the widening of South street; it was clear that the widening would be a public convenience, even if it did not enter into the domain of public necessity; yet the absolute necessity of retrenchment in the present financial condition of the city renders your action worthy of high commendation. It is to be hoped that the principle applied in this case will find frequent application in the future, and, so long as our city shall rest under the shadow of commercial gloom, the principle that in all matters of expenditure the question is not one of expediency or desirability, but of prime necessity.

The most memorable event of the year in which you have participated is the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the great battle-fields of Massachusetts. Concord and Lexington rehearsed the story of their revolutionary sires in the voices of sons as eloquent and as inspiring as the orators whose utterances a hundred years before had made these battle-fields possible. And as the battles of Concord and Lexington created the military ardor that culminated in Bunker Hill, so the celebration of the anniver

sary of those battles aroused enthusiasm for the grander celebration that followed. Not the least felicity of the annexation of our sister city was the reception within the confines of Boston of this battle-field, so that upon the Centennial celebration the old Cradle of Liberty and the shaft of Bunker Hill were within the borders of one municipality. How significant that celebration was! How it awoke memories of that more recent contest- but before Northern indignation, at recollection of its sacrifices, could find voice, behold, the olive-branch of peace and good-will was extended in person by the very men who fought so gallantly to sever that Union which their fathers and our fathers, side by side, one hundred years ago, fought to maintain. The splendid military and civic display, the exhibition of trade and the artisan's skill, all conspired to show results worthy of suffering and self-sacrifice. The marvellous order of the assembled thousands on that day will not be forgotten. This order was not the sole product of police regulations, admirable as they were. Rather was it the result, as has been claimed, of the education and culture that have been so liberally diffused among our whole people. They are taught self-respect; they reach by logical deduction their own conclusions. There is no real division or line of demarcation on vital questions among our citizens. Their education is too broad and sound. How repugnant to good citizenship is the theory that a large class are opposed to good government; or, on the other hand, that the strong are conspiring against the weak! The mutual interdependence of all classes absolutely refutes it. Such a theory is potent only with the unobservant in one case, and the ignorant in the other. The educated masses are not easily deceived, and they perceive the advantages of honest and capable government too clearly not to strive for it, fight for it, — if necessary, die for it. Therefore, this anniversary, in its observance, was full of promise for our form of government-full of promise for the tone and temper of our citizens. This order in time of peace, the gallantry displayed in the late war, are symbols that the qualities of the founders of this Commonwealth and this city live after them and shall endure forever.

"The Pilgrim spirit has not fled;

It walks in noon's proud light,

And it watches the bed of the glorious dead,
With the holy stars by night;

It watches the bed of the brave who have bled,

And shall watch this ice-bound shore

Till the waves of the bay where the Mayflower lay

Shall foam and freeze no more."

One of our number, Mr. Edward J. Long, who entered with zeal and devotion upon the discharge of his duties at the beginning of the year, has passed from this and all earthly scenes. A man of integrity and ability, conspicuous for fidelity in all the relations of life, he suffered with rare patience and Christian fortitude a long and painful sickness, until death released him, and he entered into his rest. When our memories wander back, and bring before us our lost friends and associates, we shall not fail to think kindly and tenderly of his name. In conclusion, accept my renewed thanks for the spirit of forbearance that has marked your deliberations; for the harmony that has risen above and softened the asperities of debate. The unusually large number of forty members, at the close of this session, retire from the Council. It is no disparagement to those who will take their places to say it is unfortunate that the city should be deprived of the services of so many whose experience is of value. It is to be hoped that they will not lose their regard for the city's welfare, but will, though in less conspicuous place, exhibit that public spirit which good citizens in private life too often neglect. And permit me, also, to express confidence that those of you who remain will labor with unabated zeal for the highest good of the great municipality which you represent. The record of the Common Council of 1875 is closed. Its acts cannot now be reconsidered. They have passed into history. And as we stand amid the ashes of the dying year, and remember how swiftly that year and all years have fled, as we realize how little now seem the strifes and differences over which our passions have been roused, we might well with the preacher of old sadly complain of the vanity of human life. But a higher faith teaches that the lower and baser sentiments only are fleeting; that virtue and good works have immortal bloom. As we now leave this Council Chamber for the last time together, I am confident we all feel a satisfaction arising from a sense of having done the public some service, and having here formed friendships which we “shall not willingly let die.”