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In IHftnoFiatn. 
 
 OTIS NORCROSS. 
 
 BORN IN BOSTON NOVEMBER 2, 1811. 
 
 DIED IN BOSTON SEPTEMBER 5, i! 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED. 
 
 1883. 
 
I~^ -^IjC -'--'- — .-. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, . 
 
 FUNERAL SERVICE, .... 
 
 SERMON, . . . . • 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL, 
 
 MEMORIAL SERVICE, 
 
 RESOLUTIONS, ... 
 
 NEWSPAPER ARTICLES, 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON 
 
 19 
 33 
 43 
 59 
 75 
 87 
 

 "s/"^ 
 
 A 
 
 OTIS NORCROSS. 
 
 ^•^T is httino- that the evidences of the confidence reposed b\- his 
 generation in one who has honorahh' filled public station, and 
 faithful])- atlministered private trusts, with the tokens of appre- 
 ciation of his worth offered by those who have shared his labors 
 and been guided by his judgment, should, when his life has 
 been brought to an end, be gathered up, with the general 
 expressions of regret at liis departure, and preserved for a 
 testimonial to his fidelity and \irtues, a precious legacy to his 
 descendants, and an incentive and inspiration to all who will 
 profit b)' his exam|)le. In this spirit, and as an act of filial tlut)', the 
 tollowing- pages have been prepared. 
 
 They contain the simple record of a life, not wholl\- uneventful, passed, 
 for more than the allotted span, in the same communit)-, by a man_\--si(,led 
 man, who trom beginning to end sustained its confidence and respect: — a 
 man who was regarded as one of its most sagacious anti upright citizens, antl 
 was honored with extensi\-e trusts and positions of |)ublic dut\', because those 
 who knew him believed that his sense of personal resp()nsil)ilit\- woukl lead 
 him to exercise a conscientious wisdom in administration: — a man whose 
 death filled man\-, acpiainted with him onl\ 1)\- nanu\ with a sense of per- 
 
sonal lH:n;av('mLMU in tlic loss of one who could ill be spared, because 
 he could always be depended upon to advocate antl enforce, as well as 
 exemplify, the hij^h standard of integrity and good government, which has 
 been the honorable characttn-islic of the city in which he dwelt. 
 
 Oils NoRCKoss was l)orn in Boston Nov. 2, 181 i, and died in l^oston, 
 Sept. 5. 1SS2. The line of his descent can be traced unbroken beyond the 
 earliest settlement of the countr)-. Jeremiah, the first settler of whom there 
 is recoril, came to this countr\- from London in 1638, and first lived at Salem. 
 As early as 1639 he became a land owner in Watertown, and removed there 
 to settle about 1642. He was a large proprietor, owning a homestead of 
 twenty-six acres and other lots of land. On the old maps of Watertown the 
 land now occu])ied by the I'nited .States Arsenal, is laid down as part of his 
 property. In 1649 he was one of the Selectmen of Watertown, and in the 
 records is often mentioned as Mr. Norcross. He subsequentl)- returned to 
 England and died there in 1657. 
 
 His second son, Richartl, was born in England in 1621, and died in 1709. 
 He married for his first wife in 1650, Mary Brooks, and had a son, Richard, 
 born 1660, who married, in 1695, for his second wife, Hannah .Saunders, and 
 had eleven children, of whom Peter was born at Weston, Mass., in 1710, and 
 in 1742 married, for his first wife, Elizal)eth Benjamin. Peter had a son 
 Daniel, born in >h'ndon, Mass., in 1743, who married, in 1765, Abigail 
 Chapin, ami had nine children. His eighth son and child was Otis, born 
 at Hopkinton, Mass., April 20, 1785, who married, January 8, 1809, Mary 
 Cunningham, daughter of Eleazer and Mary Homer, (b. Apr. 21, 1790, d. 
 Jan. 6, 1869,) and died Nov. 23, 1827. 
 
 The second child, and first son of this Otis and Mar)-, was Otis, the 
 subject of this sketch, born Nov. 2, 181 i, at his father's house in Meet -Street, 
 at the North luid. When he was about six years of age, his father moved to 
 the West l'".nd of the city, and his l)oyhood was passed there. After his 
 lather's death, his mother remo\<-d to Brighton, and lu; made his home at 
 
Holland's Coffee House on Howard Stix'et ; after his marriaoe he li\ed in 
 Blossom and McLean Streets until 1871, when he removed to g Common- 
 wealth Avenue, his residence at the time of his death. ;\t the early aj^e of 
 four he was sent to school to a Miss Davenport; in 1S17 to Abel Whitney's 
 school, at the corner of Staniford Street and Staniford Place, where he had 
 for schoolmates, Wm. Perkins, P)enjamin Callender, and others who after- 
 wards became prominent citizens ; here he remained until he entered the 
 English High School, then at the corner of Derne and Temple Streets, but 
 subsequently removed to Pinckney Street. 
 
 In March, 1826, at the age of fourteen, he left school, and commenced 
 his apprenticeship with his father's firm, Otis Norcross & Co., which was 
 about moving from tixchange to South Market .Street, and, as was then the 
 custom for the youngest apprentice, he opened the store alone, earl)- in the 
 morning, built the fires, and trimmed the lamps and lanterns for evening- 
 work, which in spring and fall was alwa\s kept up until nine, ami often until 
 ten or ele\-en o'clock. 
 
 His father died suddenl_\- in the year 1827, but the nan-ie of the firm 
 remained as before, and he continued in his apprenticeship with it, until he 
 was of age, and in the year following was taken into it as a partner. In 
 1847 ^Ii"- Eliphalet Jones retired, and Joseph Addison Norcross, a younger 
 brother, entered the firm. By subsequent changes he had for partners, at 
 different times, Messrs. Ichabod Howland, D. Webster Norcross, Da\id W. 
 Hitchcock and Jerome Jones, until in 1867 he himself retired from active 
 business, "after passing," as he says in his private memoranda, "my entire 
 business life of forty-one years, man ami bo)-, in .Store 23 and 24 .South 
 Market .Street. The firn-i, inclutling ni)- father's time, had been in e.xist- 
 ence aljout eighty years, and notwithstanding the se\-ere financial trials that 
 intervened, it has been the good fortune of the partners to aAoid tlisaster, 
 and close up the affairs of the firm satisfactorily to all concerned." 
 
 His business talent, care for detail, and the general confidence felt in his 
 sterling honest)- ami fidelity, cau.sed him to be selected as e.xecutor of nlan^- 
 
wills, ami trustee of various (^states, while his services were xalued and 
 soui^ht for in the direction ol corporations ol estahlishecl standiuL;, as well 
 as tiiose controlliuL;- larn'e ainoimts ot proiicrt)-. 
 
 He was one of the original members and for three years a \'ice President 
 of the l)Oston Iioard of Trade, for six years a Trustee ot Moimt /\ul)urn 
 Cemeter\- ; from 1S70 to his death a I )irector, (from iS74-i<S7q I'resick-nt ) 
 of the New Knoland Trust Compan)', ant! tor three )'ears ( 1879 to his deatli ) 
 a \'ice-President of the Massachusetts hIos|)ital Lite Insurance Company. 
 
 He was a ("-cnerous and tre(]uent contributor to many ot the organized 
 charitable institutions of the cit\', and an active manager of not a few. 
 Beside being a truste ■ of the Cit\- Hospital, he was a member of the corpo- 
 ration of the Boston lAing-ln Hos|Mtal : Irom 1863 a director tor the Home 
 lor Aged Men, and at the time of his di-ath its President; from 1 86g a 
 manager of the ( )ld Ladies' Home, and a memljer ot its finance committee. 
 \n 1861 he was electml a trustee ot the T'ranklin .Savings liank, and a 
 member ot the finance committee, remaining such until 1881. In 1870 he 
 was chosen a trustee ot the T)()ston \'oung Men's Christian Union, antl 
 Treasiu'er ot its Permanent Tund, remaining so until his death. 
 
 \\'hene\-er aid was to bi' gi\en to the suHering in other cities, his coimsel 
 was sought, and his untiring energies were called into service. In 1871 he 
 was one ot the e.\ecuti\e committee of ten ot the citizens of Boston tor the 
 relief of the sutTerers by the great fire of Chicago; and in 1872, while the 
 fire in Boston was yet raging, he went to the Mayor's office to consult 
 upon what should be done to relieve and aid tJTe sufierers, was chosen 
 treasurer of the committee of relief, and one of the executive and finance 
 committee. 
 
 He was connected with many social organizations, being an original 
 member of the I'lfion Club, a life member of the Boston Natural History 
 Society, the Institute of Technology, | in 1876 one of its Corporation,] the 
 New Englaiul Historic, Cicnealogical .Societ\-, ami of tlie pjiglish lligh 
 School Association. 
 
In iS6S he was chosen chrector of the liunkrr Hill Monmncnt Associa- 
 tion ; in 1S77 became a lite member of the Mercantile Lihrar)' Association; in 
 1.S79 a member of the Archaeoloo-jcal Institute of America : in iSSo a 'I'rustee 
 of the Boston Memorial Society; in 18S0 a member of the Boston Anti(|ua- 
 rian Clul), which in iSSi was mertred in the Bostonian Society. 
 
 1 le was alwa>s interested in whatever contriliuted to the attractiveness ol 
 the cit\. In 1 ,Sb6 he was a memlx^r of the committee to procure the statui; 
 of lulwartl Kverett; in 1S6S of the committee to procure a marble statue ot 
 (iov. |ohn Albion Andrew for the State House: in 1S74 of the committees 
 ,,n a memorial to I'mf. Louis A^assiz, and to decide on the statue of Charles 
 
 Sumner. 
 
 in 1S70 he was one of the persons named in the .Act of Incorporation ot 
 the Museum of iMne .\rts, was elected a trustee and member of the Building- 
 Committee, in 1S77 made a member of the e.xecutive committee, anil at the 
 time of his death was President pro tempore. 
 
 He held his first public office in 1856, when he was chosen a director of 
 the House of Industr)- at South Boston. He continued to hold the position 
 until the Board of Directors was merged in that of Directors for Public 
 Institutions. In 1S60 he was a member of the School Committee for Ward 5. 
 December, 1S61, he was chosen one of the Board of Aldermen tor the 
 ensuing year, and by re-elections held the office during iS6.:;-4. being in 
 
 1864 Chairman of the Board. 
 
 When the City Hospital was organized, he was elected a trustee, repre- 
 senting the Board of Aklermeii, and after he retired from that I5oard, was in 
 
 1865 elected a trustee at large, and during the years 1864-5-6 was President 
 
 of the trustees. 
 
 In 1865 he was chosen Treasurer of the Overseers of the I'oor of 
 Boston, and held the office until 1877. In this position he had the manage- 
 ment of the Sears Charity Inind and the Fifty Associates' Charity Fund, and 
 in January, 1870, receix-ed from Mr. Sears a silver salver, on which was 
 inscribed:' "Presented to the Hon. Oris Nokcross, Treasurer of the I'ifty 
 Associates' Charit\- and the Searston Charter House, in evidence of his 
 
lO 
 
 faillifiil, skillful ami zealous manaocuicnt of said Trust P'unds roniiiiittcd to 
 the care ot the Overseers ol the Poor ot the Cit) ot Boston, and in testimon)- 
 ol the ei'rateful acknowledirment of their Donor." 
 
 In 1S65 lie was elected In the Cit\' Coimcil a member at lar^c! of 
 the Water ISoanl, ami chosen its President, an office which he resis^iied on 
 beinjr elected i\Ia\-or, two \(!ars later. Durino- his term of office the construc- 
 tion ol th(; Chestnut ilill Reser\oir was decided u|)on, ami the land tor it 
 jHU'chased. The same \ear he was a Commissioner on layint^ out the streets 
 ol South Boston. The fee paid him for his serxices he crave to the Children's 
 Mission. 
 
 In 1S67 he was Mayor of P)Oston. The history of his official acts will 
 Ije found in the City Records, anti in a portion of the chapter of the Memorial 
 History ot Boston, entitled " Boston under the Mayors," which has Ijeen 
 transferred by permission to these pages. While he was Mayor, the neootia- 
 tions tor the annexation of Roxbury were completed; he welcomed President 
 Johnson and General .Sheridan as guests of the city; vetoed an order of the 
 City Council for building an Insane Hosi^ital at Winthrop ; and was a member 
 of a Commission ap[)ointcd b\- Congress, which selected a site tor the new- 
 Post Office. His whole salarv as Mavor he gave to the Home for Aged 
 Men, the City Hospital, the Norcross. I'hillips, and Farm Schools. With 
 conscious |)ride he sa\s: "During all m\- connection with City Govern- 
 ment from 1S62 to 1S6S, 1 ne\er receivc-d a dollar to m)- own use directly 
 or indirectly. I ne\er sold the city a dollar's worth of merchandise or made 
 a contract with the city of any kind, directly or indirectly. I never put a 
 friciul or relation into office of an\ kind." 
 
 Ihe .School Committee paid him a well ileser\-ed compliment by gi\-ing 
 his name to the new school house erected at the corner of D and Fifth 
 Streets, South Pxiston, while lu' was Ma\or, ami he showed his appreciation 
 of it b)- giving to the school a clock for the Hall, a gift of books, a portrait of 
 himself, and leaving to it a legac)- in his will. 
 
 In 1S73 he was a member of a Commission consisting, beside himself. 
 Judges B. R. Curtis and ( ieorge V. Bigelow, Hon. Charles C. Greene and 
 
 o 
 
1 1 
 
 Hon. Charles Allen on the re\-ision of the City Charter ot ISoston, which 
 reported in 1875 a new charter, which tailed, however, to receixe the approval 
 of the City Government. The numerous changes in the Ciovernment of 
 Boston since the rejection ot this Charter have nearly all been in the direc- 
 tion ot its recommendations. 
 
 Not only his native cit\-, hut the Commonwealth claimed and had his 
 service. In 1X63 he was ajjpointed b)' Gov. Andrew a member ot the Board 
 of State Charities, and was tor a time its Chairman, resi^niny in 1864. In 
 i86g he was elected a member of the Executive Council from the Suffolk 
 District. In 1869 he was appointed by the Supreme judicial Court of 
 lMa.ssachusetts, Chairman of the Commissioners tor laying" out .Salem Turn- 
 pike as a public highwa}'; and in 1870 a Commissioner to assess damages tor 
 laying out the Brookline and Cambridge Bridge as a highway. 
 
 In 1870, b\' the Supreme Courts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode 
 Island, and New \"ork, he was appointed Receiver of the Boston. Harttortl 
 and lirie Railroad, but declinetl. He also decline-d the positions ot Harbcjr 
 Commissioner. .State Director of the Boston, Hartford and lu'ie Railroad, 
 and Inspector of the State Prison, tendered at tlifteront times, by the 
 Ciovernor and Council. 
 
 December 9, 1835, ^^^- Norcross was married b\' the Rev. .Samuel Bar- 
 rett, of the Twelfth Congregational Church, to Luc\- .\nn, daughter of George 
 Lane of Boston. There were eight children 1))- this marriage, of whom four 
 died in infanc)', and one, Addison, at the age of 23, on the i8th October, 
 1873; a daughter, Laura, and two sons, ( )tis ( Harw Coll. 1870), anil 
 Grenville Howland ( Har\-. Coll. 1875), with their mother, survive. 
 
 In his religious connections Mr. Norcross was a L'uitarian. His father 
 was an original proprietor in the Twelfth Congregational Church, and for 
 many years a member ot the Standing Committee. In that Churcii he, and 
 all his brothers and sisters but one, were christened. In 1 849 he himself 
 became one of the .Standing Committee of the Chiu'cli, ami when it was 
 dissoKed in 1861, was one ot the Committee to close up its affairs and 
 
dispose of its property. Sui)SL'(|U(jntl)' he coniU-Cteil hiinselt with the West 
 Church, and tor neaHv t\v(;nty \ears was a rct^Lilar and constant attendant 
 upon its services. 
 
 He was a member ol the American Unitarian Association, was in 1868 
 elected on its Kxecutive Committee, and in uS^t:) one oi its \'ice Presidents, 
 Init declinetl lioth offices. When the L'nitarian Chif) was formed, a few 
 months l)efore his death, lie was one ol its earliest members. 
 
 POr most ol his lite Mr. Norcross enjoyed rolnist physical health, and the 
 ilemanils of his e.\tensi\-e business and his warious trusts seemed to make 
 no exhausting' drain upon his vi^or. In 1S53 he had his first serious illness, 
 when he was confined to his house tor several months with a severe attack of 
 rheumatic fe\'er. In 1S60. for rest and relaxation, he made a trip of some 
 months' duration to Hiux)pe. About two years betore his death, he was 
 attacked with severe illness, and from that time his health was uncertain, 
 and his condition more or less ])recarious. His last sickness was of brief 
 din-ali(.)n. He returned home in |ul\' from a visit to .Saratoga quite un- 
 well ; became better, and tor a tew days was about the streets, was then 
 attacked with disease of the heart, and died after about a week's confinement 
 
 to the house. 
 
 II. K. I. 
 
THE FUNERAL. 
 
 HE funeral services over the remains of Mr. Norcross were 
 held at his residence, No. 9 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, 
 on Friday, September 8th, i8cS2, at noon, in the presence 
 ^-) of a large number of relatives, personal friends and former busi- 
 ness associates. 
 
 The Rev. Cyrus A. Bartol, D. D., minister of the West 
 Church, conducted the services, which began with the singing 
 of Mrs. Barbauld's h)mn : — 
 
 How blest the righteoiLS when he dies ! 
 
 When sinks a weary soul to rest, 
 How mildly beam the closing eyes, 
 
 How gently heaves the expiring breast ! 
 
 So fades a summer cloud away, 
 
 So sinks the gale when storms are o'er. 
 So gently shuts the eye of day, 
 
 So dies a wave along the shore. 
 
14 
 
 A holy quiet reigns around — 
 
 A calm which life nor death destroys ; 
 Nothing disturbs that peace profound 
 
 Which his unfettered soul enjoys. 
 
 Farewell, conflicting hopes and fears, 
 
 Where lights and shades alternate dwell ; 
 
 How bright the unchanging morn appears ! 
 Farewell, inconstant world, farewell. 
 
 Life's duty done, as sinks the day. 
 
 Light from its load the spirit flies : 
 While heaven and earth combine to say, 
 " How blest the righteous when he dies ! " 
 
 Dr. Bartol then said : — 
 
 My friends: In this bereaved house, and in this great sympathetic 
 
 company, it may have occurred to you, as it has to me, while these sweet 
 
 strains of the .so familiar hymn have been rising, that nothing is altogether 
 
 sad which we can sing about. Faith sings, love sings, hope sings, joy sings ; 
 
 and if sorrow can sing, it is of that sort Jesus spoke of to His disciples — 
 
 tiiat shall be converted into joy. If there be any occasion when we are not 
 
 heard for our much speaking, it is such an occasion as this ; and I sometimes 
 
 think it were much better that our tears, our thoughts, our memories, our 
 
 dear associations with the departed friend should be the funeral service, while 
 
 we, after silent communion and prayer, take what is left of mortality and 
 
 carry it out silently and safely to mingle with the mother earth, while the 
 
 spirit goes silently to its Father, God. But Nature, which teaches us to be 
 
 still, also moves us in some way at least to voice our feeling, and it falls to 
 
 me -to voice your feeling and my own to-day. Certainly so much as this — to 
 
 recite some of those passages long ago written and spoken very widely in the 
 
 \vorld — remembered and recited, because by the wit of man they cannot be 
 
15 
 
 improved. All flesh, )-ea all that which we wear still for our garments, that 
 which our brother has laid aside, all of it is grass, and all the goodliness ot it 
 is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, and the flower in the sun- 
 scorched, drought-stricken fields yonder falleth away, but the Word of the 
 Lord endureth forever. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl 
 broken, or the pitcher broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the 
 cistern; then shall the dust return to earth as it was, and that in us all which 
 is neither cord, nor wheel, nor pitcher, nor bowl, shall return unto God who 
 gave it. I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me. Blessed are the dead 
 who die in the Lord ; yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors. 
 L said Jesus, am the resurrection, the rising, and the life. And the Lamb 
 wliich is in the midst of them shall feed them : He shall lead them by living- 
 fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. 
 
 But I cannot confine myself at this time and in this house to the repeat- 
 in e of these old and blessed formulas of that Christian faith which we share 
 together and our dear brother shared with us all. I should fall short of the 
 speechless emotion in the heart of every-one present ; nay, I should fall short 
 of my own friendly and ministerial duty if 1 did not try in a word, a passing- 
 word, to show what manner of man this is whose cold relics lie in the coffin 
 there. 
 
 This presence of men and women who have known and loved him many 
 a long year is tribute and testimony enough. I shall but express that senti- 
 ment common to you all, when I sa)- simply, he was a good, he was a simple, 
 he was a sincere, he was a noble, he was a loyal man. He w-as a great and 
 good officer in all the offices he held ; and in the chief office in this city, of 
 Mayor, which he held for a )ear, his example of uncompromising, incorrupti- 
 ble integrity challenges comparison with the behavior of any man, from the 
 foundation of I^oston, who ever sat in that chair. He reminded me, perhaps 
 others, of the elder Ouincy, who also honored and was honored with that 
 principal place in our good city of Boston. Even in his upright port, in the 
 outward expression of his real uijriohtness of conduct, he, I think, would 
 
i6 
 
 have been chosen and picked out of a crowd, as tlie Mayor of tlie city, by 
 that bearing and that walk which was part of liis nature and outward form. 
 Too short a time for llie In'st interests of Boston, allow me to say it, he held 
 that place of such vital concern to any community. Considering the peculiar 
 situation and exposure of the American cities, — all especially of larger kind 
 in |)o|)ulation and in material interests, — I think we shall agree that no con- 
 tinuance of that term of office for him would have been other than a liene- 
 diclion to this town. 
 
 But I am not to dwell on his character at this time. I shall ha\'e another 
 opportunitw which my conscience will prompt me to improve. Nor shall I 
 speak ot the equal inlelit\- which he manifested in all the offices that he held. 
 He was no aspirant to political favor. His demeanor in private and in 
 philanthropic, commercial and charitable societies, shone equally conspicuous 
 with all the traits of character which he displayed in public ; no elevation 
 could have spoiled or sophisticated him, the ingenuous, faithful man. No 
 gift in the hands of Massachusetts, or the Massachusetts Legislature, had it 
 been in him to seek promotion, as man)' seek it, would have exceeded the 
 measure ot his abilit\'. 
 
 In the ripeness, in the fullness of his faculties and affections, he has 
 gone — it is a beautiful wortl, passed, not stopped, passed on, passed up, to 
 higher trusts. We, m\ friends, of this numerous company, have, however, 
 as.sembled with scarcely any other purpose or feeling than to mingle our tears 
 and our prayers with those of the afflicted family. It is a domestic occasion, 
 and private takes precedence even of public grief. It is the father, and 
 husband, and lirolher, and kinsman, and near and dear friend, whose visible 
 presence we miss. In one of the last conversations I had with him in his 
 chamber above, although 1 saw him often afterwards when he had recovered 
 in a measure his health, 1 happened to meet his tlear friend, and that 
 trusted antl disinterested officer of Boston, the solicitor and attorney, Mr. 
 Healy, who seemed in perfect health and spoke almost as if he were taking 
 leave of him. He went first ; Mr. Norcross has followed. We shall all 
 
17 
 
 follow. Why do we mourn as if we were going to stay so very long time? 
 Let us rejoice for the risen, the translated, the ascended, ami let us rise in 
 thought and love, even now, after them. Let us pray: — 
 
 (^h God, to whom we woukl say little, from whom we would hear much, 
 listening inwardly, we pray not ior what Thou hast given us so warm and 
 abundant alread)' ; we pray not lor the human love with which our poor 
 mortal frame already burns, trembles and crumbles : we pray for faith. This 
 wife, widow, woman, these sons, this daughter, brother and sisters, kinsmen, 
 and kinswomen and friends — we all |)ra)- for faith — faith to believe that this 
 which we see cold and still on the bier is not all that there is of man, made in 
 the imacre of God ; is not all there is of this man, bearine so signal marks of 
 the image of God, of love and truth, in which we are made. 
 
 Give the faith, give the faith, and let it burn and shine in us, scattering 
 all clouds ot fear and doubt and trouble. Fill Thy handmaid's heart with it, 
 so that there shall be no room left for regret or sorrow. Fill these children's 
 hearts with it, so that they shall rejoice. 
 
 Give these near and dear kindred and friends grace to thank Thee for 
 the gift of such a man to be their husband, their father, their brother, their 
 friend. Give this faith to us all in whatever private or public or business 
 relations we may have been connected with the departed : and in the same 
 universal, religious, unsectarian faith which he exercised, wilt Thou sanctify 
 Thy providence to all who knew him, and to those, who he said, served him 
 faithfull)', in whatever humble way, in his house, at his board, on his pillow, 
 over his hearse. This is our [M'ayer. Oh God ! hear it and answer it to this 
 house, to this compan)-, to this comnumit)-, to this cit\\ to this land. We 
 offer it in the dear name and memor\' of Him, our Brother, who has won for 
 Himself the title of Th)- dear .Son in the world — even Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 After the singing of " Rest, Spirit, Rest," the benediction was pro- 
 nounced by Dr. Bartol, The remains were borne to the hearse by Frederick 
 W. Lincoln, Samuel C. Cobb, Charles Faulkner, Nathaniel J. Bradlee, Jerome 
 
Jones, William H. Raldwin, W. Rowland Norcross and James Longley. and 
 taken to Mount Auburn, where they were committed to their place of rest 
 with the following- prayer by the Rev. Henry Fitch Jenks: 
 
 Our Father which art in heaven ; Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom 
 come ; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 
 
 We give Thee hearty thanks for the good examples of Thy ser\ants who 
 have kept the faith, and finished their course, and entered upon their rest. 
 Especiall)' do we bless Thee for the life which has now been brought to its 
 earthly close, with its rich memories of useful service. 
 
 May Thy peace descend into the hearts of these mourning friends, and 
 as they commit to the earth that which is of the earth earthy, may they do so 
 with the assurance that the spirit is with God who gave it ; and in the light of 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by which life and immortality have been revealed, 
 may they feel that he whom they have loved is not here but has risen to 
 receive his reward. 
 
 Go with us back to the duties of our lives, and help us so to perform 
 them that we may be faithful as he was; and when the summons comes for 
 us to pass hence, may we hear the welcome. Well done, good and faithful 
 servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord. 
 
 Hear our prayer, forgive our sins, and now and ever grant us Thy 
 benediction, through [esus Christ our Lord. 
 
 The peace ot God that passeth understanding, keep our hearts and 
 mintls in the knowledge and love of God; and may He who brought from 
 the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep, comfort, protect, and sustain 
 us, now and ever. Amen. 
 
CIVIC AND PATRIOTIC WORTH IN BOSTON. 
 
 SERMON 
 
 PREACHED BY 
 
 REV. CYRUS A. BARTOL. D. D 
 
 IN THE WEST CHURCH, BOSTON. 
 
 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1882, 
 
SERMON. 
 
 He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. — Luke i6 : lo. 
 
 UR text is made for us to-day, as in tlie Word of the Master, 
 
 so in the life of a parishioner, \vlio illustrated, if anybody 
 
 on earth has done it, the principle that iaithfulness in little 
 
 things does not disqualify, but fits and prepares for great 
 
 trusts ; and on this point I propose to dwell, inasmuch as I 
 
 have heard but one objection to the character and course 
 
 of Otis Norcross, namely, that he was too particular, and 
 
 lacked the worldly prudence of passing by iaults and omissions, 
 
 personal and official, of small consequence, thereby making 
 
 political enemies, — indeed losing his place and forfeiting the 
 
 whole influence for orood he mioht else have exerted in our 
 
 municipal affairs. 
 
 As this man was born in Boston more than seventy years ago, in 
 Fleet Street, so called, and as he loved his parent-town to the da)- of 
 his death, and was chosen once at least to her chief chair, out of which 
 
some thought he was cht^ated in the ballot after his second nomination, 
 let us consider the qualit)' in him which was in this city at once his con- 
 spicuous merit and the rock on which his success and civil promotion are 
 supposed to have split. 
 
 Note, then, not the insignificance but importance of little things in 
 our government and civilization, especially in the administration of every 
 public office and post. How many proverbs condense the wisdom of 
 nations and mankind to give us this hint! "Many a mickle makes a 
 muckle," "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of 
 themselves," "In for a mill, in for a million," "A stitch in time saves 
 nine ; " and, though we have another of saving by the spigot and losing 
 by the bunghole, I believe those who let the cask run at the smaller 
 aperture are the onl)- ones apt also and likely to neglect the larger. 
 
 After feeding thousands miraculousl)-, Christ bade His followers 
 gather up the fragments ; and what is the human race but one great 
 fragment society? Every community, the whole wide-peopled world depends 
 on daily earnings and were on the edge of starvation, — yes, the wealth and 
 production of the planet would disappear like a rain-drop or snow-flake in 
 the stream in a twelve-month — but for the work and saving of every year; and 
 as, tempted by ample territory and opportunity, we are held by statisticians 
 to be the most wasteful country on the globe, and have for generations spent 
 enough to suj^port a second republic or empire, while the prospect looms on 
 us of smaller interest on capital and a closer approach of wages to the bare 
 means of subsistence, so that we, like England and Germany, shall have soon 
 to contrive more carefull)- how to keep our heads above water, it is 
 timely to commend and emphasize this trait of economy in our friend's and 
 fellow citizen's career. 
 
 He, let it be; confessed, did call his subordinates, through the whole 
 extent of his sphere and responsibility, to a strict account, all bills of expense 
 
23 
 
 in a municipalil)- l)eing subject for approval or objection to the Mayor's eye ; 
 and Mr. Norcross was no nominal officer, but happened to have a conscience 
 that could not let him rest on any delinquency, or suffer malfeasance to be 
 overlooked or go unpunished without censure, by his ilcifault. He examined 
 every little thing. He was not the figure-head, but pilot of the ship. It is a 
 hackneyed quotation that an honest man is the noblest work ol God ; but it is 
 easy and not infrequent to be honest in the common-place sense of not owing 
 a dollar and pa)ing our personal debts. I hope we all have the passive or 
 enforced honesty of wiping off our score at the grocer)' or dry goods store 
 and pa\ing our fare to the conductor on the car. We do not steal a purse 
 or a ride. But active honesty, the honesty that requires complete fidelity 
 in our associates, in any enterprise, undertaking or position for the general 
 good, is a different thing. Trul)- it is so rare and hard as to be regarded 
 as impracticable and almost unknown; and this was the honesty of Mr. 
 Norcross, added to a private rectitude, and raised to the highest power, 
 while it descended to the lowest matter, like an elephant's trunk, that can 
 twist oft' a tree or pick up a pin. 
 
 It was this both mighty and minute righteousness that, well-called 
 honorable, he both demanded and displayed. Was there a dinner at a hotel, 
 trip to inspect the water-works, visit to some institution of State charity, 
 school of discipline or reform, junketing excursion down the harbor, enter- 
 tainment of a delegation Ji-om afar, or official visit from Boston, on some 
 great occasion, of delegates to be elsewhere entertained ? He would fix his 
 eye on the expense, and not despise some estimate of and reflection on such 
 things as extravagant carriage-hire, plenteous wine and cigars ; and perhaps 
 he would send for the person through or b)- whom the over-charge had 
 occurred, carr)ing, so he was reproached, the habits of his old business into 
 the departments of a cit)-, and expecting to manage Boston as he had been 
 used to settle at his counter, and to handle dehcate and costly wares in which 
 he had formerly dealt. So he encountered difficulty and raised up critics and 
 foes, and came to be defeated by vindictive votes of those to whom in their 
 
24 
 
 excess or laxity lie had given offence. A sore does not like a probe. Deeds 
 of darkness do not love light let in and a prying eye. Dishonest people hate 
 honesty energetic and applied, and profuse agents are not pleased to have 
 their superiors gaze at what on the table they have carelessly spilled. So, 
 not wishino; to invite disfavor and defeat for candidates of his side in this land 
 where the majority-vote is our palladium and image that tell down from 
 Jupiter, many a high official recoils from the practice of investigation, which 
 the man I speak of judged that his oath, as indeed his habit and nature, so 
 eminently sincere and moral, compelled him to employ. 
 
 His integrity was his downfall, — real rising only seeming descent ; he was 
 dismissed for his worth, though the returns of the polls were suggestive of 
 repeaters. He was wounded, cut to the heart because he had been loyal and 
 true; he was told, — Be our officer no longer, for the reason that his duties 
 had been so punctiliously performed. The Athenian citizen said he wrote on 
 his shell, which was his vote, to ostracise Aristides because he hated to hear 
 him so continually called just. There were citizens in Boston who felt just so 
 about Mr. Norcross. Nor is it any classic pedantry to add that he, like the 
 Roman Coriolanus, could not go round to solicit for himself the people's 
 "sweet voices." It was the very charge brought against Edmund Burke, 
 that he had applied the general principles of justice too stringently and 
 carried them too far, — an accusation which, he declares to the electors 
 of Bristol, would be his consolation in sickness and sorrow and every 
 extremity. When we bear in mind that Mr. Norcross accepted and indus- 
 triously attended to more numerous and serious public trusts than perhaps 
 any other man of our time, we may trust he had under all the carping, 
 like comfort aliundantly. 
 
 This is the record to be made, very solemn and instructive to read. 
 Carry the methods of a correct and high-minded business in every trivial 
 circumstance into politics and lofty seats? Yes, I answer, without abatement 
 of a tittle, a cipher, or a jot. What is the disease our great cities and our 
 
25 
 
 continental land are afflicted with and in danger to die of, but the contrary 
 procedure ot a prodigal and irresponsible style? Have we forgotten Mr. 
 Tweed and New York? Are we blind to the rings, like anaconda-coils, that 
 threaten to stifle the life or consume the thrift of every populous and debt- 
 plastered metropolis or town? Shall we learn nothing from the Philadelphia 
 poor-house, where funds were so recently sequestered by its fiduciaries and 
 even the copper roof of the building torn oft to be sold? Are Babcock and 
 Belknap and their kind obsolete? What is the spectacle before our eyes but 
 of star-route contractors, worse than mail-robbers, in their enormous pecula- 
 tions, which it costs many hundred thousand dollars to indict and partially 
 convict, defended and complimented as saints by all the ability and adroitness 
 the American bar can aftord ; and the very tears of a court-room audience 
 polluted by the pathos which counsel pump up to infuse into their argument 
 of the case ! 
 
 Bribes to the jury? What then are the lawyers' vast payments and 
 retaining-fees? Rewards, money-compensations that amount to fortunes, for 
 endeavors to cover up transgressions and clear or screen peculators as sly 
 and transparent in their misdemeanors as ever shamed the light by which 
 they were shone upon ! Attack Moses and acquit Dorsey and Brady will 
 you, my friend? It is a monstrous disproportion, immorality and absurdity ; 
 and where and how did the gigantic iniquity begin? This is the inquiry of 
 my text and my theme. Like the upas-tree it did not start into existence in 
 an hour, Init it grew. It did not come Minerva-like on a sudden from the 
 brain of Jove, but struck root little by little and its boughs rose and spread, 
 till the wicked flourished like a green bay-tree. The plunderer at last was a 
 pillerer at first. He commenced with a felonious dollar and ended with a 
 million ! Remember the Lord's word: He that is unjust in the least is unjust 
 also in much. How the little becomes verily large, in the germ oi plague or 
 fever, small pox, Asiatic cholera, — in a spark of fire that lays Boston low and 
 burns a hundred millions of property to ashes, and in a theft which embezzles 
 safely a few cents and goes on to embarrass an exchequer! 
 
26 
 
 There is a good deal in the treasury of a city, still more in that of the 
 United States. Uncle Sam after impoverishment of war is rich again. Why 
 not put in one's hand and help one's-self from such a heap ot notes and 
 bonds and gold? lie won't miss it, and noljod)- will mind. W'e — the 
 pickers and stealers — can get pleaders ; and perhaps the Republican party, 
 we owe our a|)])ointment to, will hold over us its broad shield. Such is the 
 immense result from a small invisible source, as tin)' seeds, like downy feathers 
 or small as steel filings, tower into trees like the mustard seed in the parable, 
 and birds of an unclean sort lodee in the branches thereof. Whence all the 
 leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, but from some single unseen 
 individual spore ? 
 
 O, gentlemen in office, we all feel it if you are extravagant ! If the funds 
 are wasted or robbed, the real estate and every poor man must be over- 
 taxed. What is j)ut in at one comes out always at the other end ! 
 Therefore, I say, approve, applaud, hold in everlasting respect on these shores 
 such as, like Mr. Norcross the economist, oppose profuseness and all the 
 beginnings of inicjuity. 
 
 Would I could impress on )^ou the importance of what are counted little 
 things, for evil or good. How dearly nature loves the least mite or motion 
 in electricity, magnetism, atomic transmission of a letter or sound for hun- 
 dreds and thousands of miles, on what a bridge of invisible piers through the 
 telegraphic and telephonic wire, as well as in all her germinations from the 
 granite that crumbles into sand and soil, in the cloud formations and the 
 small dust in her huge balance of the land and sea! We must imitate and 
 live close to nature, or be neither wise nor good. Take away an atom and 
 the whole would go. 
 
 Nor let it be said there is aught sting\- or mean in this frugality of God 
 or man. Do you find that the spendthrift is the generous person, to be relied 
 on lor charity and resorted to for a contribution? Nay, the worst of misers 
 
27 
 
 is the heedless and selfish consumer. Let Mr. Norcross meet such an 
 accusation with his ample, constant and life-long bounty to such as were in 
 need, and with the judicious and liljeral benefactions provided in his will. 
 Reckoning what he did while alive and bequeathed, after Mr. Eaton's splendid 
 gift of eighty thousand dollars, both members of this church, he was among 
 the larofest endowers of the Youngs Men's Christian L'nion, which he so 
 cordially served. The many published legacies of Mr. Norcross are but the 
 continuation and seal of the habitual kindness of this singularly thoughtful 
 and practical man, so close to observe and scrutinize, so free and hanelsome 
 to bestow. 
 
 'Tis all the philosophy of little things. Wherefore could he be liberal, 
 but because he had been frugal? What poverty or penury like that from 
 prodigality! A leak in a ship or hole in a dam is so little as not to be 
 suspected, seen or found, till the sea o\'erwhelms or the lake becomes a 
 torrent, at some Mill Ri\'er, to sweep awa)'. Does not the web ravel out at 
 one loose thread? The telescope is a large instrimient and unveils the starry 
 heavens; but the little spectroscope discloses the constitution of the sun, and 
 the microscope lays bare the secrets of vegetable and animal life in the 
 infinitesimal bits of brick and cells with which all the vital organs are built up. 
 From disreg-ard not of the bigf but the little come deficits, defalcation and 
 destruction. Let the Coast Survey have a false base line by an inch, and the 
 reefs are misplaced and vessels cast away. What is the mischief in our 
 finance, and cause of failure and crime? Inspectors that do not inspect, 
 examiners that never examine, auditors that do not audit, and directors that 
 do not direct, as one of them lately told me he had nothing to do with the 
 liability of the corporation he had been chosen by; boards of committees that 
 do not move, more than the lumber that furnishes their suggestive name. 
 Of such Mr. Norcross did not furnish the type, but an example quite the 
 contrary. His beacon of warning stood lighted, firm and unquenchcd by 
 all the stormy surge. 
 
28 
 
 Little things! A canker-worm, potato-bug, grasshopper, army-locust, 
 is little : but. from old Egypt, which the English have taken, to the far 
 West, it is capable of awful ravage and harm. The crew of Columbus and 
 that of the Mayflower was little and of import \-ery great. The census of 
 Boston was comparatively small when 1 first knew it just fifty years ago, 
 but the city was already great with the Pilgrim and Puritan spirit; and 
 here in Mr. Norcross was a puritan and pilgrim, clean, temperate, upright 
 as ever lived ; one who held the city dear, and had well-defined and noble 
 ideas wherein its glory consists ; never was soured towards it or alienated 
 from it because he missed the plurality of its choice and was a martjr to 
 his honor; but cherished and served in man\' capacities the spot of his 
 nativity as long as he breathed. "A city set on an hill cannot be hid." 
 If the tri-mountain city shall be a model to her sisters, it will be due in 
 good measure to him and his peers. They are the salt, but for which it 
 would rot. 
 
 Mr. Norcross was of a sweet and gentle temper, but had not much 
 suavity for malefactors. His manner was resolute, his face flint against 
 iniquity. By ignorant votes preponderating he was alarmed; and in the 
 menace of civil convulsion, at the stale-mate of the election between Tilden 
 and Hayes, his hope for the Republic for a moment fell. But the cheerful- 
 ness of a sound moral sense and a patriotic heart never left his open and 
 magnanimous look. He was by temperament, though not sombre, yet sober 
 and grave. Was he over-particular? No, — none can be so! He was rather 
 thorough in all his wa)s. Did he notice the operation of things too sharply? 
 No, — we ma)' wink at error and infirmit)-, but cannot and ought not to shut 
 our eyes on sin. Others might difler with him in judgment, but I never 
 heard anjbody sa)- he was not a true and good and earnest man. 
 
 Nor did his accuracy dwarf his capacity. He had a large mental hori- 
 zon, as I found to my joy, when, for my own freedom of thinking, I incurred 
 some theological disrepute even in the house of my friends. He was in 
 
29 
 
 politics conservative, a Webster-Whig, but in religion more of a radical than 
 a traditional faith. A destructive nihilist or iconoclast he was not. He did 
 not break the idols, but moved them out of the way, as useless furniture is 
 put in a garret or loft. He was utterly unsectarian ; yet called himself a 
 Christian Unitarian instead of a Unitarian Christian, not being a Trinitarian 
 at all. In his conception on all subjects Mr. Norcross was clear; and his 
 moral sense was like crystal, and pointed as the needle to the pole. He had 
 no signal ability for forging a speech, which is almost like forging a note ; 
 but could express efficiently his views on any real matter, and I fancy it were 
 well for the country if the ratio of intelligent business men like him, as 
 compared with talkers and lawyers, in Congress and Legislature, were 
 increased. 
 
 He detected at once what in any scheme, presented for his judgment, 
 was unsound or unjust. When an appropriation from the city-treasury 
 had been made for a charitable institution, he objected to and stopped it, 
 although he himself was one of the managers of the concern. Whatever 
 place he held, he was eminently useful in ; as Alderman, Mayor, School- 
 Committee man, in the House of Industi)', on the Board of Trade, the 
 Water- Board, Soldiers' Fund, State-Charities, Home for Aged Men or 
 Women, Recruiting Offices, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Natural History 
 Society, City-Hospital, Governor's Council, Museum of Fine Arts, Young 
 Men's Christian Union, and a score beside. A divine obligation for human 
 benefit was his law. He wrote it down for his maxim: "True manhood 
 can find no foundation upon the shifting quicksands of popular opinion." 
 This too from Shakespeare : 
 
 This above all, — to thine own self be Iruv 
 And it must follow as the night the day 
 'lliou canst not then be false to any man. 
 
 It was not strange that he manifested at all times, imder trial and oppo- 
 sition, and most beautifully as I can testify, and his household knows, in 
 
sickness, pain and approaching death, a perfect, even wonderful composure 
 and peace. Whenever I went to cheer him in the long period of sickness 
 and debility, from which he seemed partially to rally for a season, I received 
 the comfort I meant to impart, and found for myself the lesson which, if there 
 be need, it is the business of my profession to convey. Sick beds, mourning 
 cliambcrs, djing pillows, funeral rites, still more, doubting and discouraged 
 hearts, draw heavily on the strength and spirit of the clergyman strongest in 
 bodily frame and most assured in the anchorage of his faith and the bright 
 dawning of an immortal hope. It is therefore a relief and peculiar pleasure 
 when the very object of sympathy communicates to the minister more than it 
 receives. I desire to sa)' that, with Mr. Norcross, whatever load of pain or 
 disappointment he had to bear, I was never e.xhausted, but only refreshed. 
 He made no demand. The exact man was, in such circumstances, unexact- 
 ing. He only wanted to converse and exchange views in mutual help and 
 good will. 
 
 But, be it frankly owned, Mr. Norcross was a particular man, if that be a 
 fault. On decaying wood he did not use a smoothing plane. He was 
 particular when he went to the City Hospital to see, as he said, that all was 
 " kept clean and no dust swept into the corners." How-, then, but by sleep- 
 less and extreme particularity can the management of the largest scheme or 
 corporation, mill, factory, railway, become either prosperous or just ? Is it 
 safe to leave any loop down in }our house or firm ? May the cashier as well 
 put in his column five or four and nine-tenths when the right figure is four ? 
 I have known one in a Savings Bank hunt a day for a missing cent on his 
 books. Shall this shop or human ant-hill of a city be less watchfully attended 
 to and arranged ? No : so at least Mr. Norcross thought. Who was this 
 man, deemed more nice; than wise? One that gave away in charity as one 
 item his entire five thousand dollar salary, as he was always giving money or 
 advice. I think the man was entitled to secure the city's property, who 
 expended, almost lavishetl on good objects his own. Vet he would not 
 bestow by dictation or tor show. 
 
31 
 
 In this country are no classes ; a class here is an impertinence. We. 
 have and we are the people, from whose great middle rank such men as Mr. 
 Norcross spring, to subsist and ascend by their own wit and work, and to be 
 the hope of the land, self-lifted and mainly self-taught, supplying most and 
 best of our rulers, from governors of States and heads of departments to the 
 presidential chair, — Washington, the surveyor, Lincoln, the rail-splitter, and 
 Grant, the errand-boy. The people we may trust. Under God we lean on 
 nothing else ; not on a Democratic or Republican party, Init on the whole. 
 We run two risks, the first in our universal suffrage, unless ignorance be 
 over-ruled by intelligence, and moral weight prevail more than brute numbers; 
 and secondly, in the easy defence and deliverance of great criminals from due 
 and condign doom. How weakly we Americans pardon and pardon out ! 
 But forgiveness ceases to be a virtue when it causes villainy to have \'irtue for 
 a prey. 
 
 We raise annually hundreds of millions of bushels ot corn and wheat, 
 and breed monsters too, not a valuable crop. We try those whom we indict 
 by a jury sworn to have formed no opinion on the merits of the case ; that 
 is, to have applied to it no conscience or sense, as if they had had none to 
 apply I We have lawyers for defendants, too many of whom use arguments 
 that have no weight to their own minds ; and are tempted, in their zeal tor 
 their clients, to act hypocritical emotion in court, like actors on the stage. 
 How leo-al rights stretch like India-rubber bands ! But the law is condemned 
 when the transgressor escapes penalty and goes scot free. Against perils 
 and evils so great a moral and religious as well as intellectual education is 
 our only guard; and Otis Norcross is a pattern of the sort of character 
 which for our rescue we must cultivate in our children, by maintaining it in 
 ourselves and in the social frame. We are in debt, for guidance and succor, 
 to the professions, medicine, divinity, and law. But, without training ol the 
 immense fifty million outside and outlying mass, we cannot be saved. Mr. 
 Norcross was prepared for no profession ; yet how few of the graduates of 
 our colleges and professional schools rise to an influence so beneficently 
 
32 
 
 oreat ! A university is a net or sieve to separate the chaff from the wheat 
 or q-ather botli bad and good, one to keep, the other to throw away. 
 Knowledge or language is vain, lacking wisdom and love. How the judi- 
 cial bench is drawn into the disputes of the bar, and becomes a third 
 party with the quarreling counsel in the strife of tongues! 
 
 Although Mr. Norcross has been out of business, in the trading 
 sense, for the last fifteen years, it is well to note that his commercial charac- 
 ter had the same mark of precision or equity with all his life. He was not a 
 speculator. His fortune came of sound and sure investments. A full weight 
 and balance is the Lord's ; and it was his ; " He was as quick," says his 
 partner, now head of the firm, "to correct in the bill the least overplus in his 
 favor as a shortage in the payment. He was the best man I ever knew in 
 my life." He was of the merchants to whom the Lawrences and Appletons 
 and hundreds besides have given so fine a name. 
 
 Not to pronounce a panegyric on our common friend, do I utter this 
 discourse. His reputation needs not my praise. If history is morality 
 teaching by example, the best sermon from the pulpit is the portrait of a 
 good man, a painting that lives and lasts forever. Let us remember, it is no 
 trick, technical skill, or even-cut accomplishment which can make our life a 
 blessing, wanting that principle of devotion to God and our kind before 
 which, whenever we see it, we bend and bow, as at the shrine and shekinah 
 of the Most High ; and it is apparent in the man of business, man of 
 affairs, as plainly as in any learned barrister, healing doctor, church votary, 
 or gowned priest. My or anybody's speech of it is but the electric spark, 
 whose element, vast and invisible, Hows through and quickens the world. 
 
PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CITY COUNCIL OF BOSTON, 
 
 SEPTEMBER 7,. 1882. 
 
PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 PECIAL meetings of both branches of the City Council were 
 held on the morning of Thursday, September 7th, 1882, upon 
 the call of the Mayor, Hon. Samuel A. Green, to take action 
 upon the death of Ex-Mayor Otis Norcross. The Common 
 Council met at eleven o'clock, Charles E. Pkatp, President, 
 in the chair. The President read the following : — 
 
 Executive Department. 
 To the Honorable the City Coiiiieii. 
 
 It becomes my sad duty to inform you of the death, at his residence, 
 on Tuesday evening, September Fifth, of the Honorable Otis Norcross, 
 formerly the Mayor of Boston, and a citizen whose three-score years and 
 ten have much inured to her pride and welfare. I suggest that such 
 action as may seem just and fitting in the premises be taken by )our 
 body. 
 
 Samuel A. Green, Mayor. 
 September 6th, 1882. 
 
36 
 
 The President. — It has seemed proper to liis Honor the Maj-or, that 
 the City Council sliould take some appropriate action in the matter 
 referred to in this communication. I have no doubt that the opinion of 
 the Common Council will agree with that of his Honor. Mr. Norcross, 
 although not at any time a member of this branch of the City 
 Government, was Tor three years a prominent member of the Board of 
 Aldermen, for one year chairman of that board, for one year Mayor of 
 the City of Boston, and at diflerent times held other prominent and 
 responsible offices in the City Government. Since his entrance upon 
 public and cit)' aflairs, he has been a most conspicuous citizen. It is 
 not my purpose, and perhaps it would not be my place, in presenting 
 to this meeting the subject, to consider which you have been called 
 together, to attempt any eulogy upon the character of Mr. Norcross. 
 Your action to-day will indicate the respect and esteem in which you, 
 as representing in part the present City Government of Boston,, and 
 as successors in the affairs in which he took so eminent and honorable 
 a part, still hold his memory. What is the pleasure of the Council? 
 
 Mr. Parkman, of Ward 9 — It seems a little sad, Mr. President, that 
 tin; first meeting of the Common Council, after this long vacation, should 
 be called to take recognition of the death of one of our fellow citizens. 
 But it has been the custom of previous city governments to take official 
 recognition of the deaths of those who have been called to serve as the 
 head of the municipality of Boston. The services of Mr. Norcross to the 
 city are so well known to every member present that it is hardly neces- 
 sary for me to go into any extended enumeration of them. As you have 
 well said, sir, he was for three years a member of the Board of Alder- 
 men, one of which years he was their chairman. Before being elected an 
 Alderman he had held various positions of trust upon boards connected 
 with the government of this municipality. In 1867 Mr. Norcross was 
 Mayor of this city, and made a record in that position which showed the 
 great courage of his convictions, and his fidelil\- tt) what he believed 
 
37 
 
 to be the best interests of this city. His long and successful career, 
 reaching as it has, only slightly beyond the allotted period of man, has 
 been marked by the gradual growth and increase of the city, and has 
 shown the steady development of his character. I have never had the 
 pleasure of being privately acquainted with the ex-Mayor, but have 
 known those with whom he was intimately connected, and have known 
 his character in prixate and public. There will be many charitable 
 societies in the city which will miss him at their meetings ; many persons 
 will miss his charitable hand extended to them. As a citizen he has 
 " always been willing to come forward and assist in any of the great public 
 works which have been started since he was Mayor, and has led in all 
 good works to the improvement of an honored name. I desire, therefore, 
 Mr. President, to offer the lollowing resolutions : — 
 
 Resolved, — That we receive with unfeigned regret, the announce- 
 ment of the death of Otis Norcross, formerly Mayor of the City of 
 Boston. That in this event we recognize the loss to the city of one of 
 its most valued citizens, whose singularly pure life and whose unflinching 
 honesty, ability, and undeviating devotion to the interests of the city, 
 reflected the greatest honor alike upon himself and upon the municipality 
 into whose service he was so often called. 
 
 Resolved, — That a committee of six be ap.pointed (of which the 
 President of this Council shall be one) to represent this body at the 
 funeral of the deceased. 
 
 Mr. Morse, of Ward 9 — Mr. President, this scene and this occasion 
 remind me of a like meeting of this Council at the beginning of this year, 
 when the sad announcement was made to us by his Honor the Ma^or, 
 that John P. Healy, the faithful and efficient law officer of the city, was 
 dead ! And it is meet when a man like Otis Norcross, who has served 
 the city with distinction in so many capacities, and who lias filled so ably 
 
the chair of Mayor, passes away, that we should be called together to 
 take appropriate action upon his death. 
 
 Mr. President, the city has met with no common loss. Few men 
 can be found in this vast community who have served her so ably, so 
 disinterestedly, and so entirely from a sense of duty as did Mr. Nor- 
 cross. Boston born and Boston bred, and from his birth to his death 
 a resident of Boston, few there are who cherished her institutions more 
 dearly, or who did more to advance her material and moral welfare, than 
 he. The public journals of the day have already informed us of his 
 birth, his business, and his public career. That these were alike success- 
 ful and honorable admits of no doubt. Upon every thing his name was 
 connected with, his character was stamped. Whatever he undertook, he 
 applied the whole force of his powerful mind to do well. As one of 
 Boston's merchants he was careful, sagacious, painstaking, polite, firm, 
 and most honorable and most successful. In whatever public office he 
 served, he conducted the trust as he did his own private affairs. He 
 loved truth for the sake of truth ; he loved honesty for the sake of 
 honesty. He was a man of principle for principle's sake, and once his 
 mind made up, no considerations could swerve him from what he 
 regarded right. 
 
 He never sought office or courted public favor. When he accepted 
 office it was from a sense of duty and at the earnest solicitation of his 
 friends. He acted upon his own judgment and not upon that of others. 
 He had a mind of his own and a superabundance of good, honest, com- 
 mon sense. No influence could move him or impel him to do any act 
 which had not the approval of his own conscience. 
 
 " He would not have flattered Neptune for his trident, 
 Or Jove for his power to thunder.'' 
 
 He would have told the truth as he knew it, and acted upon his 
 convictions of right as he understood them, whether it pleased or 
 displeased his most ardent friends. His administration while Mayor of 
 
39 
 
 Boston was marked for the purely business principles of its nianag-ement. 
 He was at the head of a great corporation, and all his official acts were 
 for the benefit of all the corporators. He was absolutely independent 
 in his office ; he had no friends to favor, no enemies to punish ; those 
 who supported him in devotion to the city's interest were his friends ; 
 those who had selfish or partisan interests to serve were his enemies. 
 
 No man will be more missed than he in the large charities our citi- 
 zens so much delight to cherish. The Young Men's Christian Union, 
 the Old Men's Home, the Old Women's Home, and many other kindred 
 institutions, have lost a generous benefactor, and a warm-hearted and 
 zealous Iriend. To some, perhaps, he may have seemed austere and 
 rigid, but to those who had the pleasure of his nearer acquaintance, 
 such an idea will sound preposterous. He was a kind-hearted and 
 genial friend, full of love for the young and ever ready with wholesome 
 advice. I shall never forget my conversation with him on the eve of my 
 entrance into the city's service in another branch of the government. 
 Every word he spoke to me was the word of a sage ; every sentence 
 was replete with honesty and integrity ; every thought breathed patriotism 
 and devotion to the public trust imposed upon me. His private life, like 
 his public career, was singularly pure, and devoted to his family. Without 
 wishing to intrude upon the privacy ot their grief, I may be permitted to 
 say, that a loxing husband and father has passed from this earthly realm, 
 whose loss is not theirs alone, but that of the whole city he so often and 
 faithfully served, and so ardently loved. Mr. President, 1 second the 
 motion for the adoption of the resolutions offered by m)' colleague. 
 
 The resolutions were ordered to a second reading, read a second time, 
 and put upon their passage. 
 
 Mr. Whitmore, of Ward 12 — Mr. President, I feel impelled to make 
 one suggestion in regard to the public career of the late Mayor Norcross, 
 which I have not noticed as being mentioned bv the gentlemen who have 
 
40 
 
 already spoken. Possibly his friends declined to dwell upon it, from 
 what I think is a mistaken scrupulousness. It is an undeniable and well 
 rei'nembered fact that Mr. Norcross served as Mayor but one term ; that 
 he did not receive the contemporaneous endorsement which now we feel 
 was his due. But now I think we should dwell for a moment upon the 
 reasons for this temporary failure, and draw from it two lessons. 
 
 So far as I can judge, he was a man of an antique mould. He was 
 perhaps a man living a little too late. He reminds me of the men who 
 li\ed in Boston fifty to eighty years ago, and who are now looked upon 
 as no longer models for us, because of their faithful adherence to the 
 ])rinciple that econom)' in the expenditure of public money is a duty 
 which every man owes to his constituents. Mr. Norcross was conspicuous 
 for that virtue, and that, of coiu'se, was the reason for his temporary lack 
 of popularity. It did not arise from any meanness or niggardliness of 
 his own disposition, for no man could have held the position he did as a 
 merchant without enjoying broad and enlightened views in regard to the 
 expenditure of money. It was not because he was not willing to give 
 his own time to every call made upon him, or to spend his own money 
 with liberality, but it was because of his views upon the expenditure of 
 pul)]ic mone\-, that he failed to receive the favor of those who wished to 
 put their hantls into the public purse. I feel, to-day, that it is a more 
 glorious record for a man to have been Mayor of Boston for one year, 
 and to have iailed of a rq-election because he was so economical in the 
 expenditure of public money, than to have been elected for a score of 
 years if he was not economical in such expenditures. 
 
 But the lesson I woukl draw from this fact is, that we have met 
 to-day to do honor to the memory of Maj'or Norcross because we feel 
 that he was right. We point to him as an example of what should be 
 the typical Mayor of Boston, one that woukl protect the public interest. 
 Beyond that, the idea which has occurred to me from looking over his 
 career is this: That, ihoLigh he was disappointed, perhaps, in not receiving 
 the cordial endorsement he looked for, he did ncjt withdraw his services 
 
41 
 
 from the community, and was willing to serve his city where he could. 
 This recalls to my mind, that, as lately as 1875, he was willing- and ready 
 to be named as one of the Commissioners who undertook the thankless 
 duty of revising the city charter. It was in that connection I first met 
 him, upon an occasion when the citizens were called together to hear the 
 proposed new charter explained, and I found that Mr. Norcross had spent 
 a great deal of time in correcting, remodelling, and reframing our charter. 
 I think we can safely say, to-da)-, that in two respects Mr. Norcross was 
 a model for us ; first, in his economy in the e.xpenditure of public money ; 
 second, in the cheerfulness which he showed to serve his fellow-citizens 
 without feeling depressed or offended at any temporary disagreement 
 between him and the majority of the voters. 
 
 The resolutions were passed by a unanimous rising vote. 
 
 The President appointed Messrs. Parkman of Ward 9, Morse of 
 Ward 9, Brown of Ward 23, Huntress of Ward 11, and Fitzpatrick of 
 Ward 8, upon the committee to attend the funeral. 
 
 Mr. Morse, of Ward 9, offered an order — That the Board of Police 
 Commissioners be instructed to cause the flags on City Hall to be 
 placed at half-mast on the day of the funeral of ex-Mayor Norcross. 
 Passed. 
 
 Severally sent up. 
 
 Adjourned on motion of Mr. Morse of Ward g. 
 
 The Board of Aldermen met at 12 M., Alderman Stebbins, Chairman, 
 presiding. 
 
 A message from the Mayor announcing the death of ex-Mayor Otis 
 Norcross was received from the Common Council, with resolutions in 
 relation thereto. The resolutions were passed in concurrence by a 
 unanimous rising vote. 
 
An order came up to cause the flags on City Hall to be placed at 
 lialf-mast on the day of the funeral of ex-Mayor Norcross. Passed in 
 concurrence. 
 
 On motion of Alderman Hersey, the Chairman, and Aldermen 
 Hersey, Slade, and Hart were appointed a committee to represent this 
 board at the funeral. 
 
 Adjournetl. 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 AT THE 
 
 Boston Yoiino- Men's Christian Union, 
 
 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1882. 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICE. 
 
 SPECIAL service was held at the rooms of the Boston 
 
 Young Men's Christian Union, in Boylston Street, on Sunday 
 
 evening, November 5, 1882. in memory of Mr. Norcross, 
 
 who was for many years a hte member ot the Union, and 
 
 the Treasurer of its Board of Trustees. Mr. William H. 
 
 Baldwin, President of the Union, in opening the services 
 
 spoke as tollows : — 
 
 Friends, we have met here this evening in memor\- of a 
 a friend of us all, a friend of this institution, a tViend, I may 
 say, of all the citizens of this good city. We have met here that we may 
 pass the evening in thinking of him whose seventy-first birthday anniver- 
 sary occurred last Thursday, November 2, and we ha\e invited some ot our 
 friends to speak to the young and to others of the life antl character of 
 Otis Norcross, a Boston boy, born here, and brought up here. 
 
 If our friends had time to trace him from his carK' Ijoyhood, through 
 bo)ho()(.l, and youth, and earl_\- manhood, as a bo\- al home-, as a bo\- at 
 school, as a young man entering i)usiness, as a )()ung merchant, as a citizen. 
 
46 
 
 ill his ])ul)Iic position ihrough life here, as Ma)-or oi the cit\', — it lhc\ had 
 time to trace him ami to speak ot him in all those relations, we shoukl all 
 ha\'e a lesson tor each ot ns to consider. I can only say this — tor it is 
 not tor me to take the valuabk' time ot this evening — this institution has 
 k:)st a dear friend. 
 
 Otis Norcross as one ot our Board ot Trustees, as a lite member, as a 
 trienil ot this Union, was an active friend. I can see him now comini^- into 
 lliis l)ui]ding along towards evening — a favorite time of his for doing so — 
 coming towartls my office with a bright smile upon his face, and it was always 
 with a i)leasant wortl or some little joke. He would say, "How are the boys, 
 and how is the Union?" If the young men of Boston knew of the many 
 kind words he has said here in regard to the importance of this work, in 
 regard to institutions that shall look after the young men as they come to 
 this cit\-, that shall care for the young men of Boston, I am sure the)- would 
 have a lesson they would never forget. 1 should be very glad to take the 
 young men ol this institution, one by one, and pour into their mimls and 
 hearts the lessons his life has given to them and to us all. 
 
 Mr. Norcross was a worshiper at the West Church for man)- years. The 
 )()ung men ot the I'nion remember that within two years we met here to 
 commemorate another member of the Union who worshiped in that church, 
 Mr. Eaton, who b)- his munificent bequest put the Union into a soimd finan- 
 cial condition. 1 will now ask Dr. Ijartol, minister of that church, to speak 
 to us. 
 
 Dk. Bak'i-()1, said: — 
 
 Mr. President, l)rethren, and .Sisters, whose silence in the seats is 
 as e.xprcssive as can be aii)- words from the platform, I suppose the memor)- 
 and memorial of the glorified dead is not so much for their .sake as for ours ; 
 tor no [jraise of virtue, of truth, though in marble or bronze, is virtue's proper 
 recom|)ense. X'irtue, indeed, is its own reward : for every act and every 
 word ot it increases and strengthens it, as the iron loads the magnet, and 
 as proper exercise strengthens the limbs and members of iIk' human trame. 
 
47 
 
 Any eulogy of the man, regarded as adding to the fame or blessed- 
 ness of that man in whose name we meet to-night. 1 should consider as 
 an insult and a disrespect; Init it is good tor us to remember, to com- 
 memorate, to celebrate the wt)rth which has dwelt amone us, and shone 
 so brightl}', and it is in this view, simply and alone, for the sake of the 
 young in this institution, that I am willing to appear and to speak of 
 Otis Norcross. 
 
 When the Bible wishes to put a mark on a man, to single him out from 
 his kind, to emphasize him, )'ou will remember it calls him a just man : and 
 I have to say this of Otis Norcross, that he was eminently a just man. \'ou 
 may have seen — certainly you who are familiar with mechanical operations 
 and the building of houses have seen — in the carpenter's hands, a tool, not 
 very large, called a spirit level, made of wood, glass, mercury, air, used to get 
 the exact level of every beam and window, the little bubble that floats so 
 lighth' on the quicksilver pointing surely to the far horizon, and with its right 
 angle giving a plumb-line to the centre oi the earth, and the zenith in the 
 skies. Otis Norcross had in his possession, antl used, da\' by day, all his 
 life long, a spirit level, not made of wood, and glass, and quicksilver, and a 
 bubble of air, but of the intention to do right, and to be right in all his wa\s, 
 as sure and more exact than any instrument that could be made of earthly 
 material. He was a singularly honorable, fair-minded man. You speak of 
 the level head to praise a man for shrewdness and sagacity; it was not onl\- 
 his intellect, but his conscience, his moral sense and sentiment that was 
 perfectly level. And he carried this into all his affairs. Being engaged in 
 political life, which almost uniform!)-, as certainly as the hidden bit ot iron 
 sways the needle in the compass, gives a bias to a candidate tor office, 
 he preserved the same imijartial veracit)- and sincerity in all his words ami 
 ways. Indeed I will say, there was always, to my nu'nd. in his walk and 
 deportment something that was not exactly Yankee — shall I dare to say 
 not exactly American? — l)ut Roman and dreek. reminding one of the 
 examples of Roman and (ireek \irtue. He was in [lublic lite a sort ot 
 Coriolanus, as the great poet .Shakespeare has drawn him, unwilling to 
 
48 
 
 stoop and perfect]}' rdusino- to (;o wrong and seek the " sweet voices" ami 
 votes ol the nniUitiule. It was impossible tor hiin to clo that; he; was no 
 lover ot popularit)', though he was a humane lo\'er of mankind, and he 
 paid the price which ever)- man in this country must pa}' for neglecting to 
 sue and pa}' aught to what we call the majority of votes. 
 
 I spoke of Coriolanus ; he reminds me more of Aristides. 1 do not wish 
 to be pedantic or learned, but simpl}' true in saying this. I hope all you 
 young men have, and you ought all to have, a cop}' of that wonderful 
 work, Plutarch's Lives. I suppose it is in }'our librar}'. Turn to the volume 
 which contains the story of Aristides, and }'ou may read how he, when 
 requested by an Athenian citizen to write "Aristides" on a shell, with 
 which he was about to vote to ostracize — you know the meaning of that 
 word, ostron, a shell, — to ostracize, that is, to e.xile him, to' banish him 
 from the cit}-, Aristides asked why he ditl that : " B'ecause," answered the 
 citizen, "I am tired of hearing hiiii called the just." I am seriously afraid 
 Plutarch has not jnit it all down. I guess that citizen had a job ! I tliink 
 that citizen niust have had a very dull axe to grind. I aui afraid that citizen 
 suftered from the justice of Aristides: for the justice of Aristides was not 
 simpl}' that of the man who pays his debts, but it required antl constrained 
 everybody who was related with [)ublic afiairs to be just also. 
 
 I have heard of a man who dwelt in Boston, I won't say whether it was 
 in I5oston ]jroper, or in .South Boston, or in East Boston, who was sent 
 lor by Mr. Norcross, when he was Mayor, to give an account of some 
 extraortlinarv expense; I believe it was for carriage hire. Some twentv 
 dollars it took to get him to his home. He resented the call of Mr. 
 Norcross, the Mayor, who didn't wish a man to jjut his hand into the 
 public treasury and |)ull out fifteen extra dollars; Mr. Norcross would 
 have been much more willing if the man hatl plundered from his pocket. 
 And when the next election of Ma}'or came, that nian, jubilant, exultant, 
 rejoicing, came with a great armful of votes to distrilnite against Mr. 
 Norcross. In a communit}' depending on the popular vote, though it is 
 an honor to be Ma\'or of the citv of Boston, the election of no maii 
 
49 
 
 since the foundation of the cit^• to that office, was a ereater honor than 
 tlie tleteat ot Mr. Norcross was an honor to him. 
 
 He was a just man, Init not only just. Simple equity, giving as much 
 as I take, being square at the grocer's and the butcher's and the baker's, 
 paying my taxes punctually for what I get lawfull)- in return, is after all 
 not a ver)' shining ground for a man's character. W'e are scarcely more 
 than unprofitable servants if we do no more than that. Mr. Norcross Avas 
 a good man. a kind man, a benevolent man, a Christian man, who put his 
 goodness not into professions, ( 1 never heard him make a profession of 
 any sort, religious or political, in my life,) but put his goodness into his 
 deeds. 
 
 Now, the nature of fjoodness is to crive more than we receive, as God 
 gives more than He receives and never reclaims a benefit of His bestowino- ; 
 as the sun shines for ages, lavishing his beams on all the planets in the solar 
 system, filling the sk)- with light, to store it up in all animate existence, 
 never withtlrawing one single one of those mjriads of rays ot light and 
 heat. Plant, animal and man, under God we are creations of the sun. The 
 very coal under ground that is heating this building is only so much consoli- 
 dated sun; as the English speak of their consols, so everything in this world 
 is a con sol ot the sun. 
 
 As the spring pours out its sweet waters and takes not back a single 
 drop, as the mountain pours down the streams and sacrifices itseli in the 
 effort to make the soil on the plains, and the level territory, and the fertile 
 banks of the rivers, on which grow the mighty elms and the corn fields, so 
 eoodnesfi oives, is ever eiving-, is nothino- but gift, as God is nothing but 
 giver and gitt ; and that was Mr. Norcross. 
 
 I suppose some of the speakers to-night will refer to the various institu- 
 tions, not onl)- this but other institutions, which have felt his beneficent hand. 
 Indeed, I suppose no man has lived in Boston who was more zealously 
 engaged in beneficent enterprises and societies oi all kinds, — in businc;ss, 
 in civil life, in religion, in philanthropy, than Mr. Norcross. That is to sa\- 
 — he was a gootl man. Then he had a large mental horizon; a man ma\- 
 
so 
 
 be pretty good and lie vei'\' small-minded. He was large-minded ; he was 
 a man of free an<l l)<)]cl thought on all matters, political and ecclesiastical, 
 and during his long illness I got a great deal ot consolation from him, 
 having long been, Mr. President, myself a poor heretic, though my heres\- 
 and that of others like me seems becoming with amazing rapidity pretty 
 orthodo.v in these da)"s. 
 
 I got a great deal of comfort from Mr. Norcross ; and, it you will permit 
 me. though it is so himiliar and perhaps trivial a mention, I had the other 
 tla_\- a message from the spiritual world. I do not belong to the Spiritualists, 
 but I have a great respect tor them. I think there must be a great deal of 
 honesty in a bod)- which numbers millions of people, perhaps the greatest 
 sect numerically at present in the United States. I am not a .Spiritualist ; 
 but, Mr. President, I would a great deal rather be a .Spiritualist than a 
 .Sadducee, who don't believe there is any -Spirit, Hoi)- or other, on earth 
 or in heaven, init that we are all the children of matter, all tarred with 
 that stick, and going down into that grave. 
 
 Well, a distinguished literar)- lady, whose name it would not be proper 
 to mention, said lateb' to me, "I came to see you — no. I was sent to 
 you, I was sent to you Ijy Theodore Parker, who wished me to tell you 
 what a con-ifort )-ou hatl been to Otis Norcross." I onl) wish. Mr. Presi- 
 dent, that the message had come to me directly; for then, as we stop, 
 )-ou know, a telegraph boy to send back an answer to a despatch, I 
 should have very much wanted to inform (")tis Norcross what a ver\- great 
 comtort he had been to me I The onl)- light 1 can get about the incideiit 
 is that no tloulit Mr. Norcross was as free, as bold, as radical, as un[)reju- 
 diced, as spiritual, as nioral, in his st)-le of thiid^ing as Theodore Parker 
 hiniselt — a free-minded mai-i. 
 
 Well. .Sir, 1 have occupied as much lime as 1 ought. What n-iade ( )tis 
 Norcross? How was there such a man — a mai-i who nexer went through a 
 college, had i-io title of Master of Arts, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Dixinit)-, 
 or an)-thing else which uiiiversities bestow, and yet he distinguished himself 
 b)' his intellectual and n-ioral influences far l)e\-ond the vast majoritN' of the 
 
51 
 
 graduates of our American colleges. I can onl\- say, ( iocl made him. Let it 
 be said once more — ot him — "An hont^st man 's the noblest work of God." 
 
 I say, he was tree in his thought. He was not surprised by any progress 
 or theological ad\ance. I am not ecclesiastically connected in an\- associa- 
 tion, institute or conference ot what is called the I'nitarian bod)'. .So I may 
 say without boasting, either tor myselt or tor you, that Unitarian ism to-day, 
 that little, despised minority, as Theodore Parker himself said, does make 
 after all some very good saints. Roman Catholicism makes them, the 
 Episcopal Church makes them, the Baptist, . the Methodist, the Orthodox 
 Church makes them. The L'nitarian denomination makes them. All hail 
 to the ecclesiastical manufactories that can strive and strucruli^ too;ether 
 to see which will turn out the best and the most. 
 
 Let us honor Mr. Norcross as a tree-thinker, whose treedom went into 
 no license, whose freedom was connected with the strictest obedience to law, 
 with the worship of God and the service of man. Let us honor him who in 
 sickness, in pain, in long physical disability, and facing of death, year alter 
 year, and da)- after da)-, was devoid of fear. Says Mr. Emerson, "It I cjuake. 
 what matter what I quake at." He quaked at nothing, for I verily believe 
 that the Scripture was justified and verified in him, that perfect loxe — 
 perfect love — casteth out tear, even of death. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin next introduced Mr. Hknrv P. Kidder, Chairman of the 
 Board of Trustees, who said: — 
 
 The tidines of the death of our friend Mr. Norcross came to me without 
 previous knowledge that he was dangerously ill; although I had known, what 
 I believe he realized, that the attacks from which he had for some time 
 suffered, would probably soon take him from us. But except in a gratlual 
 reduction of cares, as his strength tliminished, I could see no change in his 
 ever cheerful appearance, which came, no doubt, from a calm resignation and 
 quiet trust that all would be well. 
 
 When 1 received Mr. Baldwin's letter, announcing that Mr. Norcross had 
 passed on, I felt that the jjublic had met a great loss; and not only his 
 
52 
 
 family, but all who had been associated with him so long- and so pleasantly, a 
 personal bereavement. He was not an ordinary man ; and, while I am sure, 
 could he speak to us now, it would be to say, I ask no words ot eulogy, 
 having simply tried to do ni)- dut)' as 1 understood it, yet it seemed not 
 unwise to devote this evening to a few words of remembrance, hoping that 
 such an example might serve as an inspiration to others who are present with 
 us at this commemoration service, and may, possibly, fail to appreciate the 
 source and cause of so much influence. 
 
 Let me assure such, if any there be, that it came not b)- any sudden 
 growth, but was a structure, the foundations of which were deep and broad, 
 laid in early life, and added to day by day. He soon saw that "to crown the 
 narrow span of life with wise designs and virtuous deeds," was the duty of 
 every good citizen, and, while attentive to his business, found also time for 
 public interests, in aiding others less fortunate, in the education of the 
 young, and throwing around them good influences, realizing, as I have heard 
 him say, " In that lies the safety of our institutions." He estimated highly 
 the oi^jjortunity of the clergy and of the newspapers for good. 
 
 He was not a politician in the accepted sense of the word ; and, while 
 holding clear and distinct views on public [jolicy, which he was always ready 
 to advocate and work for, he regarded \vith respect and toleration those who 
 differed with him. This feeling was reciprocated when he was a candidate 
 for the office of chief magistrate of the city, persons of all parties voting for 
 him. \'ou all know how honorably and satisfactorily he filled the place. He 
 cared more lor public good than party success. 
 
 He had a holy horror and contempt for men who believe the public need 
 them in office. 1 think it was by his motion that, at one of the Citizens' 
 Con\entions, it was voted, that "No member of the Convention will accept 
 a nomination for any office." 
 
 To unswerving integrit)- and conscientious devotion to any service he 
 undertook, he brought also a rare decree of grood common sense, which 
 never lorsook him, so that his guidance and counsel were often sought 
 and welcomc-d in public enterprises, for which, when his judgment 
 
S3 
 
 commended, his mone)' and time were freely given. You all know his 
 rare modesty, and that it was impossible to persuade him to address 
 a large audience ; but the influence of his coim.sel was often felt where 
 his voice was not heard. 
 
 As a business man he was most exemplary — one of whom it could 
 be trid)- said. " His word is as good as his bond." I am happy to say, 
 that, through much experience, I am persuaded this is not so rare a 
 virtue among business men as some believe. The success attending his 
 business lite was owing to his intelligent application to the special line 
 he had chosen, resisting temptation to turn aside for greater gain, 
 through greater risks, which has been so often the cause of pecimiar\- 
 disappointment and tailure. 
 
 We shall not again look upon his genial face, nor listen to his kiml 
 and wise words : but we can benefit by his example, remembering that 
 honesty, truthfulness, integrit)-, unselfishness, will surely command the 
 love and respect of our fellow citizens. 
 
 Many of us are on the western slope of life, and soon will pass the 
 line of time ; ant! what can we ask more than that when we have passed 
 on, the memor}' of us ma)- be as bright and clear and spotless as 
 ours of Otis Norcross? And, what is required of us to ensure this, but 
 simply "that we do justl)," "that we lo\e mere)'," and "walk humbly 
 before God." 
 
 Mr. Baldwin then read the following letter from Mr. Jkru.me Jones : — 
 
 Brookline, November 4, 1882. 
 Ukar Mr. Bai.dwix, 
 
 I cannot trust myself to put in oral form the tribute I would gladl\- 
 pay the memory of the true man in whose remembrance your special 
 service is held. 
 
 Twenty-nine years as boy and man, I was intimately associated with 
 him, to gain each year deeper respect for his absolute integrit)-, his 
 remarkable fidelit)-, his perfect truthfulness, and his large-heartedness. 
 
54 
 
 Finn ami independent in action, he always observed genuine courtesy 
 to employees and associates, as well as to those with whom he dealt on 
 equal terms. 
 
 His aims and stantlards were high, exacting ot those subordinate to 
 him, conformity to principles combining the highest virtues, with the 
 soundest business wisdom. A surplus in goods received was as rigidly 
 reported and paid for, as a shortage claimed. There was but one rule, 
 exact accuracy. 
 
 His instructions were, " Never misrepresent the goods." Employees 
 were enjoined to observe firmnesjs, with politeness to all, — the latter as 
 scrupulously to the humblest customer as to the largest. Another motto 
 was, " Never make haste to be rich ; make slow and steady gains if 
 you would prosper." 
 
 No business firm of whom he bouoht, and none to whom he sold, 
 ever doubted his honesty, or found him other than strictly just. 
 
 When called upon to pass upon the differences that had arisen 
 between other merchants, as he frequently Avas, absolute impartiality 
 characterized his every act. He would not suffer one party to com- 
 municate anything relating to the controversy in the absence of the 
 other. His justice to employees was never limited to the strict letter of 
 the bond, if he felt that more was due from himself. 
 
 A model man has gone from us. We can no more profit b)- his 
 direct precepts, or the gentle influence of his presence, but his well 
 rounded life has not lost its power to aid us to follow the right ; a 
 perpetual standard of excellence, no worthier mission of the Young 
 Men's Christian Union than to induce the young men coming into 
 responsible business life to emulate his example. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Jerome Jones. 
 
 Mr. WiiiiAM H. Baldwin, 
 
 Presideui, B. Y. M. C. U. 
 
55 
 Mk. Samuf.i, Wf.i.i.s was next introduced, and said: — 
 
 " Whatever you undertake to do, do it with aU )our might." 
 This seems to me to have been one of the principles of action 
 adopted by our revered friend to govern liis |jerformance of the duties 
 of life. 
 
 I doubt if he ever (,listinctl\-, or consciousl)- to himself, laid down this 
 principle or put it into words, or if he ever considered the subject of 
 how he should perform an)- duty as one open to questic^n. It was rather 
 a natural quality of his mind than a calculation as to the results of such 
 a course, and he could not have neglected a duty if he had tried to do 
 so; his whole soul would have revolted at the thought. The moment any 
 proposed action became a duty, he at once, without a thought of whether 
 or not it would aftect his personal comfort, his popularity, or his purse, 
 put all his powers of mind and action into the work, looking forward 
 only to see how it could be successfully accomplished. 
 
 When I first had occasion to observe his methods of action in busi- 
 ness aftairs, I was surprised at his ready apprehension of all the details 
 of the work, and his patient watchfulness in seeing that they were all 
 carried out. It seemed as if even the minutest part had had his careful 
 attention, and had been fully considered in its relation to the whole. 
 Everyone associated with him could feel that when his hand was at 
 the wheel, not a movement of the compass, nor the slightest variation in 
 the wind would escape his notice. 
 
 While, however, his thoroughness led him to such a complete knowl- 
 edge of every detail, he did not lose sight of the great purpose of 
 the work in hantl, and his al)ilit\' tor ofeneralization was not in the least 
 impaired by his attention to the less important particulars. 
 
 This combination of (jualities is very rare. The majority of young- 
 men do not appreciate the importance of knowing and attending to all 
 the details of their work. They are too apt to feel a certain degree of 
 contempt for such small things, as if the)- were too pett)- to occupy their 
 
56 
 
 ihouo'hts : the\' conccixc thai an\' one can look alter the small thin<;-,s, 
 and that it is the part of urcat minds to take general views and deciile 
 on broad c]uestions of policy. It is this error on the part of yoimo- men 
 that leads them to be constantly seeking for higher positions than they 
 are competent to fill. 
 
 This error is not altogether unnatural. It seems a \er\' easy matter 
 to decitU' whether this or that article ot goods should be bought, or 
 whetlier this or that |)olic\' in the carrying on. or development oi business 
 should be adopted. A young man teels so sure ot knowing what he 
 would do if he were in a certain position, that he has not the slightest 
 doubt ot his capacity. 
 
 It certainly looks as it it recjuired onl)- a little common sense to be 
 able to sit behind a desk, to occasionally ring an electric bell, and to say 
 yes or no to the \arious questions presented by subordinates. But here 
 is the error: to perlorm such a dut)', to superintend the work ot others, 
 to know their characteristics, and obtain the best results from them, to 
 direct e\-en a portion ot the machinery of a business enterprise, requires 
 a long course ot attention to, antl study ot', minute details, so that when 
 a cjuestion is presented, its bearing and effect on all these details and 
 their ramifications is instantly comprehended. 
 
 A difference ot one per cent, on the total amount of business done 
 often means a profit or a loss, and the managers can only make it a 
 protit by a careful attention to ever)- part of the business. 
 
 \'oung men do not alwa)s ap]jreciate this. In entering upon a busi- 
 ness career they are set to work on some part of the business that they 
 deem beneath their abilities. They do this work, — well enough, perhaps, 
 — but without having their hearts in it ; and when it is done, they idly 
 pass their leisure moments waiting imtil time shall bring about their pro- 
 motion. These men .soon find their level, and the highest poml the)- 
 reach is tar below the goal set b)- their glowing anticipations at the 
 outstart. ( )n the other hand, the young man who does whatever he is 
 required to do to the utmost of his abilit)-, and occupies every spare 
 
57 
 
 moment in the study of the details of the business he is connected with, 
 comparing- and classit\ino' these details until he has them thorouo^hly 
 digested in his mind so that he can form generalizations from them, is 
 sure to rise eventually to the higher business levels, and to those 
 positions of control whicli form the object of his ambition. 
 
 It cannot be denied, however, that there is such a fault as too great 
 attention to minutiae, although this is a fault much less common. ( )cca- 
 sionalh' we find one whose time is so much occupied with small matters 
 that he has no opjjortunity to take broad views of his affairs. .Some- 
 times, and perhaps often, this is owing to a want of mental power to 
 view things in their proper relative proportions. 
 
 While Mr. Norcross had this remarkable faculty of comprehending 
 and looking after details, he had an almost instinctive knowledge of the 
 true prospective of the different parts of his work. This combination 
 of qualities contributed largely to his success in his undertakings both 
 public and private, and rt'udered his services so desirable and so valuable 
 to the city, and to the various corporations with which he was connected. 
 
 They led naturallv and inevitably to another prominent qualit\', 
 which no one who knew him could have failed to obser\-e, and that was 
 his untiring industry. He allowed nothing but illness to interfere in the 
 L-ast with his application to his work. He, of course, full)' appreciated 
 the value of time and the importance of punctuality ; usually among the 
 first to keep an appointment, he was good natured to those who were 
 later, being willing to suppose that they had good reasons for their 
 tardiness. 
 
 Young men can find few examples in life and thought so worthy of 
 imitation as that presented by Otis Norcross. 
 
 It is not his material prosperit\- that we would present as a reason 
 for imitating his niethods — that is subordinate to the possession of his 
 mental and moral qualities. Hut, whoever can attain to his clearness ot 
 thought, his calm and direct methods of accomplishing his purpose, his 
 freedom from selfish motives and from views of personal ambition, will 
 
58 
 
 fintl far greater satislaction in lite and action than can possibly exist in 
 the feverish, absorbing contests for wealth and place that occupy the 
 thoug'hts of so man)- of our )oung men. 
 
 Whatever you undertake to do, do it with all your might. Do not 
 stop to think whether it will give you credit or blame; do not think of 
 your own comfort, but go to work, learn all there is to be known about 
 it. Omit nothing. See that every part of it is in good hands and well 
 done;, and when success rewards your efforts, you will find your greatest 
 satisfaction in the thought that you have done it with all your might. 
 
 
 •'m^^" 
 
RESOLUTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 SOCIETIES AND CORPORATIONS. 
 
HOME FOR AGED MEN. 
 
 [from the annual report, JANUARY, 1 883.] 
 
 k CLOSE another year of the hfe of our Home under a deep 
 sense of the loss which we have sustahied hi the death of 
 our greatly trusted President, the late Hon. Otis Norcross. 
 
 ^J^M Full of y^^'^ ^'^^^ *"" °^ '^'''''''' '^' ^'*' '"'"'' '''' '°"''^ '" 
 
 l^t^f spare him from this as from so many other places which 
 ^^ shall know him no more. His name will aKva)-s be honor- 
 ably associated with this excellent charity. 
 
 At a meeting of the Directors, held on September 8th, the follow- 
 ing resolves were unanimously adopted : 
 
 RcsoM That :n the death of our President, the Hon. Otis Norcross, our 
 Home for A,ed Men has lost a most capable and devoted head, and our manage- 
 „.ent one who was as dihgent to share our work as he was wise pru ent and 
 tender to guide our deliberations. Mr. Norcross needs no testn.on.al words n. the 
 Citv whici. he has so nobly governed and served ; in the many rehg.ous and 
 charitable organizations with which he has been actively connected; amongst the 
 
62 
 
 fellowshiijs of enterprising anti honorable merchants, the compan\' of o|ien-lianclcd 
 and warm-hearted givers, the neighborhoods and households of our every-cLi}' life. 
 He was a citizen whom we all are proud and glad to claim as our own, from 
 the day of his birth to that death-day which even at the close of the threescore 
 and ten years, seems to us to have come all too soon, 
 
 Kcsoivfd, That the Directors rec|uest their Clerk to spread upon his records 
 and transmit to the family of the deceased this expression of their high regard for 
 their late President and associate. 
 
 HOME FOR AGED WOMEN. 
 
 [from the annual KEl'UkT, JANUARY, I 883.] 
 
 In Board of Managers, Oct. 19, 1882, the President, Mr. Henry B. 
 Rocrers, addressed the Board in the followino- words: — 
 
 o o 
 
 As we come together once more in this room we cannot fail to recall 
 the lact that since our last meeting this Association has sustained a 
 serious loss by the decease of our late associate, the Hon. Otis Nor- 
 cross. Indeed, this whole community have felt that they also have met 
 with a serious loss, and have willingly and generously paid to his memory 
 their tribute of gratitude and respect. Ami, in my judgment, he con- 
 spicuously deserved it; for, in the first place, he was a good man; his 
 private lite was pure, an e.xample to all, ami in these da\s of peculiar 
 temptation and trial in man\' tlirections, this is an inestimable public bless- 
 ing. And, in the next place, all his actions as a public man were in 
 harmon)- with his persona! character. 
 
63 
 
 Called to high office, and engaged in many important public and 
 private trusts and responsibilities during a long life, he was found to 
 be conscientious, wise, diligent, and entirely reliable in them all, — a 
 good and faithful public servant, respected and honored wherever known. 
 
 In 1S70 he was induced to become a Manager of this Institution, 
 for he had sympathy with the wants of the aged and desolate as well 
 as for those of the public at large. He did not refuse honors, but he 
 loved usefulness. He took a deep interest in its inmates. He gave 
 his time largel\- to the promotion of its welfare. For nine years — 
 from January, 1873, to January, 1882 — he was the Chairman of its 
 Executive Committee, in charge, under the Board of Managers, of the 
 general conduct of the House. 
 
 His careful and minute investigations into all matters that came 
 bjiore him, his caution, sagacity, and good sense, made his services in 
 behalf of the Institution of great value; and his departure fills us with 
 genuine sorrow and regret. It would seem proper, therefore, that we 
 should place on our records at this time some just expression of our 
 feelings on this occasion. 
 
 The following resolutions, submitted b)- the President, were then 
 unanimously adopted : — 
 
 Resolved, That the Managers of the Home for Aged Women de.sire to 
 record tlieir deep regret and sorrow at the loss tliey have sustained by the decease 
 of their late associate on this Board, the late Hon. Otis Norcross, and their high 
 appreciation of his character and services. 
 
 Elected Mayor of the city and called to assume numerous important public 
 trusts and responsibilities — in all of which he gained credit for integrity, fidelity, 
 and capacity, — he was willing to give much of his time and thoughts to the more 
 humble, but not less important, cares and duties of this charitable association ; and 
 for many years, as a member and as chairman of the E.xecutive Committee, by 
 the dignity and courtesy of his presence, by his untiring zeal, his careful con- 
 sideration of all matters coming before him, his prudence, good sense, and wise 
 
64 
 
 siii;'gcstions, he made himself honored and respected by his fellow-members, and 
 greatly promoted the welfare and success of this Institution, 
 
 Rcso/vcd, That the regard and sympathy of the members of this Board be 
 respectfully tendered to the widow ancl family of the deceased in their sudden 
 and great bereavement, and that the Secretary be rec|ucsted to transmit to them 
 a copy of these resolutions. 
 
 BOSTON YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 
 I FKflM THE ANNUAL REPORT, APRIL, 1883.] 
 
 Hon. Otis Norcross, for many years a member of the Board of 
 Trustees, Treasurer oi the Permanent Fund, and a Lite Member of the 
 Boston Young Men's Christian Union, died in Boston, Sept. 5, 1882. 
 
 At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of tlie Union, held Sept. 
 26, 1882, a committee was appointed to prepare resohitions, together with 
 an account of Mr. Norcross' connection witli tlie Union \yith which lie 
 had been so actively interested for man)' years as a member of the Board 
 of Trustees and a Life Member, and to present the same to the I)oard 
 of Trustees at their next meeting. 
 
 The committee, thus appointed, submitteil the following account 
 and resolutions, which were accepted by the Trustees, and recorded, 
 a cop\' being sent to Mrs. Norcross and family: — 
 
 Hon. Otis Norcross became an annual memlic'r of the Union about 
 thirty years ago, and a Life Member in May, 1S72. 
 
 After the Board of Government in 1S70 decided to establish a 
 Permanent Inunl for the benefit of the I'nion, and to place the custod)- 
 
65 
 
 of that fund in the hands of a Board of Trustees, they turned to Mr. 
 Norcross as one eminently calculated to inspire public confidence ; and he 
 was chosen the treasurer of this fund. 
 
 P'or a few )ears, this fund grew steadily larger ; and the demands of 
 the Union rapidly outgrew the accommodations then existing. Mr. Nor- 
 cross watched this growth with care and interest, and was one of the 
 first to perceive the necessity of a larger building, which should be espec- 
 ially adapted to the growing needs, and which should be owned by the 
 Union. 
 
 The first meeting held by friends of the Union to discuss the 
 desirability of such a Iniikling was on Feb. 24, 1S74, where he not only 
 gave his words oi advice and encouragement, but joined with those who 
 early contributed money toward its erection. 
 
 During the process of building, he took an active interest, devoting 
 much time and attention to the details of the jilans and various disburse- 
 ments connected with carrying them out. 
 
 After the completion of the building, he was a frequent visitor, and 
 often examined with interest the various departments of the Union, watch- 
 ing with much pleasure the increasing membership and influence of the 
 Union, and, among other friends, he was extremely gratified to find, 
 much sooner than had been expected, further room was required tor the 
 various purposes of the institution. 
 
 When the need of further enlargement was made known to the 
 public last April, Mr. Norcross was especially gratified with the readi- 
 ness with which the friends of the Union responded to the call made by 
 the Trustees for this purpose, antl with the fact that the full amount was 
 subscribed in a few weeks, he himself being one of the liberal donors. 
 
 It is a source of great pleasure to the Trustees to lliink that much 
 of his time of the last six months of his life he gave to the supervision 
 of preparations for this extension of the Union Building, and we deeply 
 regret that his death occurred before the completion of this work In which 
 he was so much interested. 
 
66 
 
 ()n(! of the oldest, best, and most useful ol the friends of the Union 
 has left us ; and we desire to place upon record some expression, how- 
 e\er inadequate, of our orrief at this great loss. We therefore recom- 
 mend the atloption of the following resolutions: — 
 
 Riso/i'ftf, That, ill the death of Otis Norcross, we have lost a beloved friend and 
 associate, to whom we are under a special debt of lasting g'ratitude for his unswerv- 
 ing devotion to the welfare and success of this institution, and his deep interest in its 
 pi-ogress and growth. 
 
 Rcso/vcd. That the death of Otis Norcross comes to each of us, and to all 
 actively interested in the work of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union, as a 
 personal bereavement. 
 
 Rcso/vcd, That we shall ever cherish and honor his name, and that we would 
 hold up to the members of the Union and to young men everywhere his noble 
 character and purity of life, urging upon them to emulate his uprightness, his 
 integrity in all the affairs of every-day life, so marked whether in matters of 
 small moment or in the large and important trusts and duties imposed upon him. 
 
 Resolved, That we tender to his bereaved family our warmest sympathies for 
 their great loss, and feel that, when he left this his earthly home, he was greeted 
 with the blessed welcome, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into 
 the jo\' of thy Lord." 
 
 FIRE RELIEF FUND. 
 
 At a meeting of the E.xecutive Committee of the .Summer .Street Fire 
 Relief IhukI, October 17, 1882, the following resolutions were adopted : — 
 
 W'/wrcas, we ha\'e learned with profound sorrow of the decease of our late 
 friend and associate member, Honorable Otis Norcross, who fur nearly ten years 
 served as the custodian of the Fire Relief Fund, it is hereliv 
 
6; 
 
 Rfsoh'c-d, That in the death of Mr. Norcmss this committee has lost a con- 
 spicuous and valued member, and this community one of its best citizens, whose 
 well-known puiit\- of life and integrity of character, combined with rare business 
 ability and sagacity, and his readiness to bear his full share of the public burdens, 
 afford an example of faithful stewardship and of uncompromising devotion to 
 principle and duty which will cause his memory to be long cherished anion-'- us 
 
 Rcsoh'cd, That a copy of this preamble and resolution be sent by the Secretary 
 to the family of our late treasurer, and entered upon the records of this mettinij-. 
 
 EARTHEN AND GLASS-WARE DEALERS. 
 
 At a meeting of the dealers in Earthen and Glass-ware, held at the 
 rooms of the Boston Board of Trade, on Thursday, September ;, 1882, 
 the following- resolutions were adopted : — 
 
 W/iciras, it has pleased the Almight\- in 11 is Providence to remove by death 
 our late friend Otis Norcross ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Norcross we have lost one of our noblest 
 associates and wisest counsellors; one who possessed in an eminent degree all the 
 elements of a high-minded, honorable and successful merchant. 
 
 That by his sound judgment, strict integrity, and industrious life, he leaves 
 a record that all may safely emulate, whether regarded as a friend, citizen, merchant, 
 or public official. 
 
 That while we cannot expect to mitigate their sorrows, we tender to the widow 
 and family of the deceased our heartfelt sympathy in that great berea\ement which 
 has taken from them a kind and affectionate husband and father. 
 
 That in token of our respect we will close our places of business on I'riday, 
 the 8th inst., froni 11 to 2 o'clock, and attend the funeral of the deceased. 
 
 That a copy of these resolutions be sent to his family and to his successors in 
 business. 
 
68 
 
 NEW ENGLAND TRUST COMPANY. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the New England 
 Trust Company, held January 17, 1883, the following preamble and 
 vote were adopted : — 
 
 JV/u'/ras, Since the last annual meeting of this Corporation, Hon. Otis Nor- 
 cross, a Director of the Company for many years, and for several its President, 
 has deceased, 
 
 Voted, That the Stockholders desire to place upon the records their sense of 
 the valuable services rendered by Mr. Norcross to the Corporation as a Director 
 and President, and their regret at the great loss which this Company, with the 
 community, has sustained by his death. 
 
 MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS 
 
 [from the an.\u.\l report, dece.viber, 1882.] 
 
 Mr. Oris Norcro.ss deserves from this corporation a particular tribute 
 of gratitude and respect. At every stage of its progress he has been 
 most valuable in his advice and energetic in his assistance. The interest 
 which he took in everything to which he gave his attention, and the 
 thoroughness with which he did everything which he undertook, were 
 never better shown than in his connection with this institution. His e.\- 
 ])erience in municipal affairs and the weight which his opinion always 
 had in Boston were at diflerent times of great importance to the 
 
69 
 
 Trustees. Of the many public enterprises with which this judicious, 
 energetic, and public-spirited citizen was connected, there are few to 
 which he proved so useful, and none by which his loss will be more 
 severely felt, or where his place will be more difficult to supply. 
 
 REVERE HOUSE. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Proprietors of the Revere House, held 
 March 13, 1SS3, ^''^^ following resolution and \ote offered b)' the Hon. 
 Frederic W. Lincoln, were adopted : — 
 
 Wlicreas, We are reminded at this, our annual meeting, of the decease, during 
 the past year, of the Hon. Otis Norcross, one of our most esteemed and respected 
 members, therefore. 
 
 Resolved, That although time may have assuaged to a limited e.xtent our grief 
 at his departure from the scenes of earth, yet we cannot fail on this occasion to 
 honor his memory, and to place upon our records our testimony to his public spirit 
 and private worth, and to the fidelity with which he discharged b}' eminent service 
 the man}' trusts which this community placed in his hands. Naturally possessing 
 a strong personality of character, it was yet combined with the more gentle traits 
 which foster and cement friendship. Fond of labor and patient with details, he was 
 thoroughly accpiainted with all matters which required his super\ision. .Sagacit)' 
 and industi-ious habits made him a successful man of affairs, while the philanthropic 
 and charitable institutions with which he was connected gave evidence of his 
 interest in the amelioration of the sufferings of his less-favored fellow-men. One 
 of the founders of this corporation, and a Director from the first, his interest in 
 its concerns never abated, bis presence cm the more informal occasions which have 
 made part of our history was always welcome, and his absence from them will 
 long be deplored. By his decease his native city was deprived of one of its best 
 citizens and the members of this organization of one of their most valued associates. 
 
70 
 
 ]"oli-(i, That a copy of the foregoing Resolve be transmitted by the Clerk to 
 the family of Mr. Norcross, with the assurance of our sympathy in the loss which 
 they were called upon to sustain by his death. 
 
 FRANKLIN SAVINGS BANK. 
 
 At the quarterly meeting of the Trustees of the FrankUn Savings 
 Bank of the City of Boston, October 31, 1882, the following preamble and 
 resolution was adopted : — 
 
 The Trustees of the Franklin Savinos Bank, at their meetino; this 
 mornino-, are reminded of the absence of two ot their number, the Hon. 
 Otis Norcross, and Charles E. Jenkins, Esq., both of whom by the decrees 
 of a wise Providence have been removed from the scene of .their earthly 
 labors. 
 
 Mr. Norcross' connection with the institution embraces the whole 
 period of its corporate existence until his death. He was one of the original 
 members, serving- on its Investment Committee, orivqng- at times almost 
 daily attention to its affairs, until failing health compelled him to relinquish 
 the personal duties of the trust, but never abating his interest in its 
 success anil prosperity. The resolutions already upon our records, passed 
 unanimously by the Board at the time of his resignation, bear testimou)- 
 to the value of his services, and our sense of the loss that was sustained 
 by the Bank in his withdrawal from its concerns. 
 
 Mr. Jenkins was also one of our original Trustees, discharging to tin- 
 lull measure, the appropriate duties belonging to that official position. 
 Prompt at the meetings of the Board, attentive to committee business, 
 and uniformly evincing a warm interest in its affairs. 
 
7' 
 
 The death of I>oth of these associates we deplore, not only on account of 
 the institution which they faithfully served, but on account of the genial 
 character which ever distinguished our personal relations with them : — 
 
 Rcsohfd, That the Secretary be requested to transmit to the families of our 
 late members a letter of condolence, expressing our sincere sympathy in tlie bereave- 
 ment which they have been called upon to sustain, with the assurance of our 
 tender respect for the memory of those they mourn. 
 
 The following resolutions, referred to above, were adopted at the annual 
 meeting of the corporation, January 3, 1881, after the reading of a letter 
 from Mr. Norcross resigning his position upon the Board of Trustees : — 
 
 Resok'cd, That we sympathize with Mr. Norcross in the cause which has led 
 to his resignation, and trust that after a temporary retirement from active duty 
 he may again, with health renewed, resume his position in our body, and give to 
 our interests his influence and experience. 
 
 Rcso/vcti, That the thanks of this corporation are due, and are hereby ren- 
 dered to him, for all his labors in its behalf, and especially for the services he 
 rendered during that crisis in our affairs, when, in common with other institutions of 
 a similar character, we were passing through a season of pecuniary embarrassment, 
 which called for the exercise of sound judgment and unremitting industry to sus- 
 tain its financial credit, reputation, and good name. 
 
 BUNKER HILL MONUMENT ASSOCIATION. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Bunker Hill Monument As.sociation, 
 held June 18, 1883, the President, the Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, in 
 his annual address, said : — 
 
 And now, gentlemen, we are called on to remember, at this anniver- 
 sary meeting, those of our number who have died during the past year. 
 
Indeed, we couKl ncit forget tlieiii if we would. Though liappily tliere are 
 but two names lost to our living roll since it was last made up, yet 
 those two, I need hardly remind you, are the names of men who had 
 not only rendered devoted services to our Association, Init who hatl in 
 every way entitled themselves to our warm regard and respect. 
 
 The Hon. Otis Norcross died on the 5th of September, in the seventy- 
 first year of his age. He had been one of our Directors for fifteen years, 
 during six of which he was a member of the Standing Committee. No 
 one of the Board was more attentive, more vigilant, or more practically 
 useful. He brought to our service the sterling qualities which marked 
 his whole character and career. He was a man of great intelligence, of 
 remarkable firmness, and of the highest integrity, never weary in well-doing, 
 and one whose counsel and co-operation, in all the concerns of this Associa- 
 tion and of the community in which he lived, were as highly valued as they 
 were cheerfully and generously aflorded. I knew him intimately in the days 
 of the Civil War, when I was enofasfed, as Chairman of the Overseers 
 ot the Poor, in the reorganization of that Board, of which he was the 
 Treasurer; and I can thus bear personal testimony to his wisdom, his 
 diligence, and his unswerving fidelity. But this was only one of the 
 relations which he sustained for so many years to the charitable institu- 
 tions of our cit)'. He was, indeed, more or less prominently associated 
 with almost all of them. Meantime, as Chairman of the Board of Aldermen, 
 as Mayor oi Boston tor at least one )ear, and as a member of the Executive 
 Council of the State, his name was honorably associated with im|)ortant 
 political offices and affairs, and it will not soon be forgotten as that of 
 an honest man, a valuable citizen, and a good and faithful public servant. 
 
 The Honorable Frederic W. Lincoln offered the following resolution 
 and vote, and they were adopted : — 
 
 In assembling at our annual meeting, the members of the Bunker Hill Monu- 
 ment Association arc reminded of tlie death during the year of our esteemed 
 as'sociate, the Mon. Otis Norcross, long identified with its interests and an efficient 
 ofificcr of its government. 
 
73 
 
 Resolved, That in Mr. Norcross' career were exemplified the best character- 
 istics of a good citizen, a staunch patriot, a sagacious business man and warm friend. 
 He gave to the pubHc in different positions a service without selfishness, and to 
 the many charitable institutions with which he was connected, a personal devotion 
 of time and means, creditable to himself, and of great value to the community in 
 which he lived. Active in our own organization, he discharged with cheerful 
 alacrity and promptness all official duty placed in his charge, and full of the spirit 
 which created the association and fosters its continuance, his name and memory 
 will ever be cherished as one of the most honored on our i^oU of members. 
 
 Voted, That the above resolution be entered upon our records, and a copy 
 of the same transmitted to the family of Mr. Norcross, with the assurance of our 
 heartfelt sympathy in the bereavement they were called upon to sustain by his 
 decease. 
 
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES. 
 
BOSTON JOURNAL. 
 
 HE announcement of the death of Hon. Otis Norcross will 
 be received with deep regret by his fellow citizens. The 
 sad event took place at his residence, No. 9 Commonwealth 
 %) Avenue, Mr. Norcross dying of heart disease at 10.20 
 last evening. For some few years past he has been an 
 invalid, the seat of the trouble being the kidneys, with 
 attendant complications, terminating in heart disease. A 
 few weeks since he visited Saratoga, and returned to the 
 city sooner than he expected on account of his health. 
 The death of Mr. Norcross is a public loss, for few of his contem- 
 poraries are more largely identified with personal and charitable trusts. 
 It was characteristic of him to hold a laboring oar wherever he was 
 interested. He will be missed in varied circles, for, in the fulfillment of 
 what he regarded as a duty, he never spared himself. He was never 
 content to be an ornamental member of any association. He was 
 impelled by a sense oi duty to thoroughly miderstand all the details of 
 each trust which he accepted. In the performance of his official duties 
 he was faithful and exacting, for with him the acceptance of responsibility 
 carried with it a determination to perform the attendant duties with the 
 same fidelitN' that he would give to his personal afiairs. 
 
78 
 
 Mr. Norcross, who was born in Boston, November 2ncl, 1811, com- 
 menced his business career when he was about fourteen years ot age, 
 entering the store of his father when the firm of Otis Norcross & Co., 
 crockery dealers, which was founded in 18 10, moved into South Market 
 Street, which was in the year 1826. He was admitted a member of the 
 firm in 1833, and retired from active business Februar)- ist, 1867, making 
 forty-one years of business hfe in one store. The wclbknown house of 
 Messrs. Jones, McDuffee & Stratton succeeded the okl house of Otis 
 Norcross & Co., and the deceased has always retained his counting-room 
 with his successors. 
 
 For many j'ears Mr. Norcross was one of the hardest working 
 merchants in this city. He toiled more hours each day than even his 
 naturally wiry constitution could endure, and before he retired Irom 
 business he was obliged to seek repose by a foreign tour. Though 
 frequently solicited to accept office, he declined till he was induced 
 to act as a member of the School Committee from old Ward 5, Mr. 
 Norcross then beingf a resident of McLean Street. The commencement 
 of the war induced him to participate more actively in public aftairs, for 
 he was zealous in the cause. In the earlier days of the war Mr. 
 Norcross contributed $3,000 to the cause, which he placed in the hands 
 of Ciovernor Andrew. 
 
 In 1862, 1863, and 1864, he was a member of the Board of Alder- 
 men, holding the position of Chairman in 1864. He declined a re- 
 nomination. In 1867 Mr. Norcross was Mayor of the City of Boston. 
 His administration was beneficial to the city, for it was one conducted 
 upon ])urel\- business principles. He vetoed the building ot an insane 
 asylum at Winthrop, and he changed bad methods of management 
 which had long existed. He looked after the interests of the ta.x- 
 payers by the adoption of rigid economy. It was a matter of in- 
 difference to iiini who was aftected by a change if he deemed it 
 advisable to make it. While he made the city his debtor l)y his 
 independence he naturally created enemies. _ When he was renominated, 
 
79 
 
 he was the first Mayor who refused to accept the honor a second time 
 unless he could be informed who his associates were to be in the Board 
 of Aldermen. This was regarded as dictation by many Republicans in 
 the Convention, but Mr. Norcross claimed that as he was to occupy a 
 position where every act could be nullified by an unfriendly board, it was 
 proper that he should know in advance whether he was to be supported 
 or opposed in his theory- of government. The gentlemen nominated to 
 the Ijoard were acceptable, but he was defeated by Dr. Shurtleff, lacking 
 only a few hundred votes of a re-election. It was a happy release to 
 Mr. Norcross, who gladl)- sought relief from the se\'ere strain of private 
 business and official duties. His salary as Maj'or he gave to charitable 
 institutions. 
 
 In 1869 Mr. Norcross was a member of ' the Governor's Council, 
 where he exercised a large influence. In 1872 he was appointed an 
 Inspector ot the State Prison by Governor W'^ashburn, and he was also 
 one of the commissioners appointed to issue the fire bonds under a 
 special act ot the Legislature, which act was subsequently declared uncon- 
 stitutional. He refused an appointment as Harbor Commissioner. He 
 was the second President of the New England Trust Company, which 
 office he relinquished January ist, 1879, and he held the position of 
 Treasurer of the Fire hund, raised at the time of the great fire. He 
 was one of the Trustees and Treasurer of the Board of the Young Men's 
 Christian Union, and has been connected with the Franklin .Savings 
 Bank and many other financial institutions. He was a valued member 
 of the Board of Trustees of the Fine Art Museum. He acted for a 
 term of years as Treasurer of the Board of Overseers of the Poor, 
 the reorganization of whicli board was largely owing to iiis zeal and 
 perseverance. The late Hon. David Sears presented to him a silver 
 salver for his efficient services in promoting the Searston Charter 
 House, a trust in chartje of the board. He was also a member of 
 the Commission to revise the City charter, and was Vice-President of 
 the Board of Trade for 1867-69. Mr. Norcross has been an active 
 
8o 
 
 member of man)- public committees, and notably of those which gave 
 to the city the statue of Edward Everett, and to the State the statue 
 of fohn A. Andrew. 
 
 It will be admittetl from a mere glance at this impertect record of 
 his trusts, that he was a faithful steward and a public-spirited man. 
 Official honors had no attraction to him, but he did not avoid oppor- 
 tunities to labor on behalf of the public when he telt that he could be 
 useful. In addition to all the work which the above-named offices imply, 
 the care of his own large property, and the private trusts which he held, 
 taxed him to an extent which we feel shortened his days upon earth. If 
 he had been more mindful of himself and less ready to work for others, 
 he would have prolonged his stay here. But his mission was to do good 
 in his way, and though remonstrated with tor devoting himself so assidu- 
 ously to such duties, he never made but one reply, and that was that he 
 did not seek such burdens, but that he could not shirk them. 
 
 Mr. Norcross was never ostentatious in his gifts, but he was a liberal 
 giver and a good friend to many. He was active in promoting the Old 
 Men's Home, and the Old Women's Home, with both of which he was 
 officially connected. During the Centennial Exhibition he sent three 
 worthy mechanics to Philadelphia that they might profit by the instruction 
 to be gleaned from the great exhibition. He promoted the interests of 
 many by timely help, and he was the judicious counsellor ot hundreds. 
 
 The removal of a man like this from the communit)- is indeed 
 to be deplored. It is not, perhaps, remarkable that one so up- 
 right and downright had opponents, but we do not belie\'e he leaves 
 behind one who iloubted the integrity of his motives and the purity of 
 every impulse. 
 
 Mr. Norcross married a daughter of the late George Lane, who 
 survives him, and he leaves a dauijhter antl two sons. 
 
BOSTON TRANSCRIPT. 
 
 In the decease of Hon. Otis Norcross, Boston parts with a prominent 
 citizen, whose influence was felt as a conserxine and beneficent force both 
 in [jrivate and pul)Hc aftairs. Mr. Norcross was an excellent ilhisiration 
 ot the enterprising trader, scrupulously exact and just in all his dealings; 
 one who achieved success, not by overreaching and chicaner)-, but as 
 the result of sagacious combinations and intelligent forecast. His word 
 was as good as his bond, and that is very high praise for an\' man in 
 times like the present. He will be greatly missed in many charitable 
 circles, where his active efforts, careful and conscientious supervision, as 
 well as philanthropic deeds, will long be treasuretl as a precious remem- 
 brance. His connection with municipal matters, and management ot the 
 executive power of the city for a time, may almost be said to have 
 constituted an era in local administration to which no small number ot 
 citizens trequentl)- look back as a red-letter period in our history as a 
 municipality. The same rigid integrity d'lsplayed by him in |)rivate trans- 
 actions was carried into public relations whenever he was called b)' the 
 community to discharge any trust. In office, he would not swerve a hair 
 from what he regarded the right course, to gain popularity. He had 
 backbone, and never sought official position, though he willingly incurred 
 responsibilit)- in obedience to an unmistakable popular request. He was 
 one of those cautious, calm, decided indivitluals, to whom all within the 
 radius of their power instinctively look for counsel and guidance. His 
 death will be much regretted in varied departments of business antl 
 l)hilanthropic activit)'. But he leaves behind an example ot public and 
 private worth which will long continue to work for good in this cit>-, in 
 whose progress and prosperity he evinced deep interest throughout his 
 busy life. 
 
82 
 
 BOSTON GLOBE. 
 
 Hon. Otis Norcross died at his residence, 9 Commonwealth Avenue, 
 at 10.20 o'clock last evening. Ex-Mayor Otis Norcross was born in Fleet 
 Street, November 2, 181 1. He was educated in the Grammar and High 
 Schools of Boston. * * * Mr. Norcross was the first Boston merchant to 
 open up the trade with the West, and, perhaps, did more than any one 
 East to open up that great field of trade and commerce. He was Mayor 
 for one year, and his administration was characterized by strict economy 
 and a close observance of the rules laid down for the government of city 
 affairs. As a politician he was very pronounced in his views, a Webster 
 Whig, and a most consistent temperance man. As a business man he 
 was a credit and an ornament to his native city. Socially he was reserved, 
 and at times was cold. 
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 Otis Norcrcss, ex-Mayor of Boston, ex-Councillor of the State, and 
 a citizen otherwise of renown and influence, died Tuesday night, at the 
 age of nearly .seventy-one. He was a native of the city, and was brought 
 up with his father in the crockery business on South Market Street, in 
 one of the stores first occupied for business by him. He was a man of 
 great energy and sagacity, and both as a business man, and since, 
 accumulated property rapidly. 
 
Mr Norcross was a " clean-cuf ' man in all respects. He impressed 
 one with his decision, independence, and self-reliance, in every word. 
 With a quick humor and much bonhomie, he was always dignified in 
 their expression, as in all other utterances. He made an admirable 
 Mayor though his positiveness and individuality alienated some persons. 
 We have no doubt he was honestly elected for a second term m 
 December 1867, but cheated out of his honors by North-end politicians 
 on the niaht of the election. Originally a Webster Whig, he became a 
 stronc. Re^publican, and at the outbreak of the war was foremost with 
 money and generous words. It would be a long story to tell all he had 
 at stake in our various charitable and industrial movements, but he never 
 was without a deep interest in all that concerned his native city. Tal 
 and commanding in. personal attributes, he looked as he was, a typ-al 
 Bostonian, well poised, intelligent, a lover of art and literature, at home 
 with his friends, and not indisposed to help upward all deserving of favor. 
 
 BOSTON STAR. 
 
 Hon Otis Norcross, one of the most esteemed and honored citizens 
 in our community, died at his residence, No. 9 Commonwealth Avenue, 
 on Tuesday evening, Sept. 5. Mr. Norcross was born in Boston, Nov^ 
 . .811; there he always resided and paid taxes. He was educated 
 in Boston schools and at the age of fourteen years entered his fa hers 
 ore which was styled Otis Norcross & Co. After his fat ers death and 
 a"he age of twenty-one, he took charge of the business until he was dected 
 Mayor in 1867, when he retired from business with ample means. 
 Tpoitics h was formerly an old Daniel Webster Whig, but m later 
 IJs was a Republican. Deceased was a thorough gentleman u. eveiy 
 act and word, and a temperance man in the broadest sense. 
 
«4 
 
 BOSTON HERALD. 
 
 Hon. Otis Norcross died last evening, at his residence, No. 9 
 Commonwealth Avenue. Mr. Norcross, although by no means a poli- 
 tician, was a firm belicner in the duties of citizenship. It is a noteworthy 
 tact that he not onl)- always resided here, but paid his taxes in Boston. 
 He was kind and e.xceedingly charitable, although so unostentatious that 
 few of his good deeds were known beyond the circle of his beneficiaries. 
 During Governor Andrew's term of office he headed a charitable sub- 
 scription with $5,000, on condition that his name should not be mentioned 
 therewith. Mr. Norcross was among the pioneer importers of earthen- 
 ware in this cit)-. '^^ "" ■■" As a business man, Mr. Norcross enjoyed an 
 enviable reputation : he was very enterprising, and his firm was always 
 in the front rank. He was the pioneer in the western trade, and it is 
 related of him that, in 1S45, he travelled by stage and canal far into the 
 western countr\', ami discovered the great possibilities awaiting eastern 
 enterprise. ()n his return he sent out salesmen, and the result was that 
 the western and southern fields were thoroughly canvassed by this 
 enterprising house in advance of all competitors. It was said of him that he 
 would always report an "over" as promptly as a "short," and he was gener- 
 ally regarded by the trade as an honorable competitor. His advice to his 
 employes was, " Be firm but polite," and the principles which he laid down 
 enabled his house, in the hands of his successors, to increase its business, 
 year by year, so that the firm to-day ranks among the foremost in the 
 countr\-. It is said that no crockery importer was better or more faxorably 
 known in Staftbrdshire and the other great earthenware markets. Toward 
 his employes he was rigid in his requirements, but also liberal in compensa- 
 tion, and his clerks were not infrequently agreeably surprised \)y liberal 
 presents. No one will ever know the extent of Mr. Norcross's charity, and 
 
8s 
 
 he will be missed by a long list of pensioners, in whom he took a more than 
 friendly interest. Though not a total abstainer, Mr. Norcross believed in 
 temperance in its broadest sense. While in public life, he declined innumer- 
 able invitations to social and festive occasions, because of his convictions in 
 this respect. Unlike the politicians of to-day there stands against Mr. Nor- 
 cross's name on the books in City Hall not a single entry charged for 
 dinners, champagne or cigars. 
 
 He was very affable and polite ; tender in his manner toward children, 
 but strong in his convictions and firm in his dealings with men. He was 
 possessed of keen perception and sound judgment, and was never afraid to 
 assert his opinions when he deemed it necessary. He was retiring in 
 disposition, though he rigidly observed the rules of society. He entertained 
 a supreme contempt for the modern style of politics, and when .solicited 
 to allow the use of his name a third time as the candidate for Mayor, with 
 every assurance ot election, he firmly declined, and has since taken no part 
 in municipal aft'airs. He, with William Graj-, came forward nobly after 
 the great Boston fire, and by generous donations and valuable counsel 
 rendered inestimable services to his fellow-citizens. 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON. 
 
PRINTED BY PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHERS, JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO. 
 
 o 
 
FROM THE CHAPTER 
 
 BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS. 
 
 N 1864 an important and much-needed improvement %vas made in 
 the municipal organization for the relief of the poor. Under 
 the provisions of the first City Charter, one person ^vas 
 y elected in each ward of the city to be an Overseer of the 
 / Poor, and the persons thus chosen constituted the Board ot 
 Overseers, ^vith all the powers formerly exercised by the 
 Town Board. In the administration of their department they 
 i, claimed the right to spend money to any extent, and in any 
 manner they saw fit. Grocers, coal dealers, and others got 
 elected on the board for the sole purpose of turnishmg, either 
 directly or indirectly, the articles for which the cit)' paid. 
 Mayor Ouincy attempted, in 1824, to obtain additional legislation by 
 which ti; doings of 'the board would be brought under the super^-ision 
 of the City Council, but he failed; and his successors who aftenvard 
 renewed the attempt failed, for the reason that the people could not 
 be made to understand why the persons elected by them to the Board 
 of Overseers were not as trustworthy as those elected to the City Council. 
 
90 
 
 The change effected hi 1864 was due more, perhaps, to Alderman Norcross, 
 than to any other person. As the chairman of a committee which inves- 
 tigated the subject in 1862, lie exposed the loose and irresponsible methods 
 of the old board so effectually that the City Council petitioned the 
 General Court for authority to appoint the overseers and to audit their 
 accounts. An act giving that authority was passed April 2, 1864, and 
 the new board, composed of honest and capable men, was organized July 
 4 following, with Robert C. Winthrop as chairman. 
 
 In the charter election of December, 1866, Otis Norcross the Re- 
 ])ublican candidate was successful, receiving nine hundred more votes 
 than his Democratic opponent. Dr. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff. Mr. Norcross 
 held the office of Mayor only one year. His failure to receive the 
 customary re-election for a second term was due, perhaps, to a certain 
 stiffness of virtue, which in political life at least, seldom receives the 
 reward it merits. His administration is chiefly to be commended for what 
 it did not do. It fell upon a time when some very sensible people were 
 congratulating the country on the blessing of being in debt ; and when 
 municipal aid was sought and often granted for the promotion of private 
 enterprises. A great number of projects, involving the expenditure of 
 millions of dollars, were under consideration when Mr. Norcross took office; 
 and had he not been a man of considerable firmness, one who had an 
 intelligent idea ot the scope and purpose of municipal government, and 
 old-fashioned notions concerning municipal indebtedness, the city would 
 have been committed to some enterprises of very doubtful expediency. 
 Amonof other measures which claimed the attention ot the orovernment 
 was one for the improvement of the flats on the northerly shore of South 
 Boston, extending from Fort Point Channel to Castle Island. The im- 
 provement was intended partly for the benefit of the harbor, by deepening 
 the ship channel and increasing the movement of the water therein, so 
 
91 
 
 as to prevent it from shoaling, and parti)- for the direct benefit of com- 
 merce, by providing- additional facilities for the delivery at deep water 
 of freight from the West. It was proposed that the city should enter 
 into a contract with the Commonwealth to fill these flats, build docks, 
 streets, sewers, and bridges, and reimburse itself by the sale of the 
 property to corporations and individuals. It was a magnificent scheme, 
 but the Mayor did not believe that the city ought to undertake to carry 
 it out alone. He endeavored, and successfully, to secure the co-operation 
 of all the parties interested— the State, the city, and the railroad corpor- 
 ations which desired additional terminal facilities. Had the city under- 
 taken to do the whole work, it would have been called upon to spend 
 an enormous amount of money, and the property would, probably, have 
 been thrown upon the market, before it could be utilized so as to cover 
 the cost of the improvement. 
 
 In his inaugural address the Mayor called attention to the unhealthy 
 condition of the territory lying south of the Public Garden, caused by 
 the want of suitable drainage. This territory was on the border of the 
 Back Bay, and had been built upon before a grade was established, and 
 wdien there was a right of drainage into a basin ii-i which the water did 
 not rise more than three feet above low water. The filling of the basin 
 by the Commonwealth and the Water Power Company made it necessar)- 
 to extend the sewers to points where the natural rise of the tide pre- 
 vented the sewers from discharging 'their contents during the greater 
 part of the day. The drainage of the whole territory lying west of 
 Washington Street, between the Public Garden and the Roxbury line, 
 was injuriously affected by the Back Bay improvement; but it was only 
 within the district lying between Boylston Street and Dover Street, which 
 had been built upon many years before any scheme for filling the adjoin- 
 ing flats had been seriously considered, that the injury was of a character 
 to^call for immediate action. The householders in that locality thought that 
 the city should bear all the expense of providing suitable drainage, but 
 the city authorities took the ground that the estates should be assessed 
 
92 
 
 for a portion of the benefit which would accrue from raising" the grade 
 of the territory. The subject had been chscussed for some years, and 
 with much bitterness. Mr. Norcross recommended an apphcation to the 
 Legislature tor special authority to abate the nuisance and to recover a 
 portion of the expense for so doing. His recommendation was adopted ; 
 and an act was passed during the session of 1867 giving the city authority 
 to take that portion of the territory known as the Church Street District, 
 raise the grade, and either reconvey the several estates to their former 
 owners upon payment of certain expenses, or sell them to the highest 
 bidder. The act contained provisions new to the legislation of the State ; 
 but it was drawn with great care by an eminent jurist, and it enabled the 
 city to carry out a great sanitary improvement without hardship to the 
 numerous individuals whose property was taken, and without large expense 
 to the city. 
 
 In the following year the provisions of the act were extended to the 
 territory known as the Suffolk Street District, thereby covering all the 
 low territory lying between the Public Garden and Dover .Street. The 
 net cost to the city of carr)ing out these improvements amounted to 
 $2,558,745. Forty-seven acres of territory, occupied by one thousand 
 two hundred and thirty buildings, and two thousand one hundred and 
 fifty-five families, were included within the provisions of the legislative 
 acts. The streets, alleys and backyards were raised to the grade of 
 eighteen feet above mean low water ; the cellars were raised to the grade 
 of twelve feet ; and the buildings were raised to correspond to the grade 
 of the streets. It took four hundred and five thousand three hundred 
 and four cubic )'ards ol gravel, mostly brought irom the country b)" steam 
 power, to do the filling. The work was not entered upon until June, 
 1868, after Mr. Norcross had gone out of office; and it was not completed 
 until 1872. 
 
 Near the close of the year 1867, the Cit)- Council passed orders 
 approving certain plans for the erection ot a new hospital tor the in- 
 sane, on a lot of land purchased for the purpose several years before 
 
93 
 
 in the town of Winthrop. The hospital at South Boston, erected in 
 1839, and enlarged in 1846, was reported by the Directors for Public 
 Institutions to be overcrowded at times, and to be lacking in many of 
 the conveniences which medical experts deemed essential to the proper 
 care ot the insane. The Mayor, while recognizing the need of some 
 improvements in the accommodations furnished to the city's patients, 
 was strongly opposed to the erection of an hospital on the exposed 
 headland at Winthrop, and was opposed to the erection, on any site, 
 of a building projected on the magnificent plans which had received 
 the approval of the City Council. He vetoed the orders, and saved the 
 city trom building and maintaining a very expensive institution, which it 
 was clearly the duty of the State to provide, and which the State did 
 provide some ten years later. 
 
 Among the notable events of this year was the annexation of the 
 City of Roxbury to Boston. The subject had long been under consid- 
 eration. Commissioners appointed by the governments of the two cities 
 in 1866 to confer upon the subject, reported early in 1867 in favor of 
 the project, and on June i the Legislature passed an act, to take effect 
 upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters in the two cities, 
 providing that all the territory then comprised within the limits ot Rox- 
 bury, with the inhabitants and estates therein, should be annexed to and 
 made a part of the city of Boston and the county of Suflolk, and should be 
 subject to the same municipal regulations, obligations, and liabilities, 
 and entitled to the same immunities in all respects as Boston. On the 
 second Monday in September the inhabitants of the two cities voted to 
 accept the act, and on the first Monday in January following, Roxbury 
 became a part of Boston, constituting the thirteenth, fourteenth, and 
 fifteenth wards. 
 
 Roxbury, at the time of its annexation, contained about thirty thousand 
 inhabitants, and real and personal property valued for purposes of taxation 
 at $26,551,700. Most of the wealthy residents had their places of busi- 
 ness in Boston ; and the controlling argument for annexation in this case, 
 
94 
 
 and in the case of other municipal corporations subsequently annexed, 
 was that many men doing business in Boston were forced by its limited 
 area to live outside of the city, and to lose the privilege of voting on 
 questions of local government where they had the larger interest. Another 
 argument in favor of the union, and one which had some influence, prob- 
 ably, was that the relations between the two municipalities had recently 
 become much more intimate through the occupation of the territory 
 reclaimed from the sea on both sides of the narrow neck of land which 
 had formerly united them by only a very slender tie. 
 
 
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