The Loyalist Monument.

Year
1880
Month
11
Day
25
Article Title
The Loyalist Monument.
Author
V. T.
Page Number
2
Article Type
Language
Article Contents
The Loyalist Monument. SIR: I read “Loyalist’s” letter with pleasure, and have since been thinking of the monument – where it should stand of what material it should be. It was my pleasure to be in some of the cities of the United States after the anguish of the late war had somewhat subsided, and the people had turned their attention to the erecting of monuments to the memory of the men who had died that their country might live. There are many such testimonials, some of white marble, some of gray stone, while others stand in the form of memorial buildings. I am in all probability too utilitarian to suit the popular taste; nevertheless, the Memorial Hall at Cambridge, Mass., erected to the memory of the students of Harvard College, who heroically gave up their studies, and all the promise of their lives, and went into the valley and shadow of death, is, to my mind, the noblest of them all. While visiting a city it gives us pleasure to observe what nature and art have done to make it beautiful; we look at an obelisk, no matter how high it is or how much money it has cost, and say: “Yes; it is a fine expression of that sentiment for which it was erected.” But when we come to a memorial building we can do more than merely gaze at it; our first act of entering it is a satisfaction. And I can truly say that when I stood in the vestibule of Memorial Hall at Harvard, on either side of which were inserted tablets inscribed with the story of the nobility of those students who fell in the war, I felt more deeply the grand inspiration that comes to us when we stand face to face with the unselfishness of human nature, which rejoices to recognise the self-sacrifice of those who have gone before. I presume that the descendants of the Loyalists can give an opinion as to what they would like the monument to be. I, for one, would prefer it in the form of a LOYALIST MEMORIAL HALL, in which I would have the proposed Free Public Library, that we hear of now and then; an Art Gallery, in which could be placed portraits of the heroes or leaders of our country, or any mementoes of worth of our forefathers; also a small auditorium for musical and literary entertainments. Now this is very practical, and many will object to it on the basis that a building would be lost among many others. This is not a sound objection if the structure be well placed and built in an effective style of architecture. As to the situation, that can come into discussion afterwards, but I would suggest the middle of the block lying south of King square. The admirers of Theodore Parker, in Boston, have such an erection to his memory, and nearly every day the papers contain advertisements of entertainments to be held in “Parker Memorial Hall;” consequently the name of the man is continually before the public, and his name kept brighter than if it were a block of marble only to be looked at. Let us hear how this suggestion is thought upon by other of our citizens. V. T.