Trustees Records, Vol. 5, 1870 (page 194)

194

TRUSTEES' REPORT.

DURING the past year considerable advance has been made
in the excavation and improvement of Halcyon Lake, the
dryness of the season permitting the work commenced in the
autumn of 1871 to be continued during the winter months.

Improvements have also been made in Hazel Dell, Palm,
Maple, Sycamore and Yew Avenues, the Watriss Lot, vicinity
of the Engine-house and other localities, and a house has been
erected for the accommodation of the swans and other
water fowl.

The Watriss Lot has been connected with the Cemetery by
the removal of the stockade which formed the division line,
and a substantial wooden fence has been erected on the new
boundary.

The drainage of Spruce Avenue and the surrounding
territory has long been the subject of careful consideration,
and conferences have been held with proprietors whose lots
are affected, but all plans heretofore suggested, if feasible at
all, would have involved large expenditures.

Recently negotiations have been concluded for the purchase
of the "Chant Lot," containing about two and one-half acres
of land, the possession of which it is believed will enable a
plan to be matured for the drainage of the low section at a
reasonable cost; securing also a desirable addition to the
Cemetery.

In August last a monumental statue, imitated from the
Sphinx of antiquity, and designed to commemorate the great
war of American conservation, was placed on its pedestal in
front of the Chapel at Mount Auburn. It is cut from a single
block of Hallowell Granite, fifteen feet long, by about eight
feet in height, the face along measuring three feet in length.
It is a gift to the Proprietors of the Cemetery from the late
President, Dr. Jacob Bigelow, and was executed under his
direction by Martin Milmore, the distinguished sculptor.

The pedestal is of a plain oblong form, with emblems and
inscriptions. Its emblems are simple, being on the southern
end a figure of the Egyptian Lotus, and on the northern the
American Water Lily. On the two remaining sides are
inscriptions, on in Latin, the other in English, as follows: -