s a beautiful bed of
flowers, cared for with a constant devotion, and by the same loving
hands has been added a large natural rock, imbedded in the ground. On it
is fixed a large tablet with this inscription:

WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT,
Brigadier General and Brevet Major General
UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS.
BORN IN HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS,
June 6th, 1840.
DIED IN PITTSFIELD,
December 17th, 1876.
A Soldier, undaunted by wounds and imprisonment.
A Patriot, formost in pleading for reconciliation.
A Christian, strong in faith and charity,
His life was an inspiration,
His memory is a trust.

Pittsfield, although one of the largest towns in the country, is not
ambitious to try a city form of government. Five years ago a charter was
procured, but no action was taken upon it. There is no disposition on
the part of those who favor the plan to force it into notice before
public opinion is ripe on the subject At the annual town meetings where
a majority of the voters are present there have thus far been few
attempts at unfair management. The best portion of the community take
the most active share in the proceedings. Thus there exists a real
Democracy, an inestimable educator of the people possible only among an
energetic people, who, by inheritance, have acquired a love for the
practical; in the absence of arbitrary government have been long
accustomed to the use of political rights, and from their character
combine in their thoughts and actions, reason with understanding and
conscience with religious sentiment.

A review of the lives of these men, who made for the town its honorable
history, brings prominently to one's mind the frequency of instances in
which each gained by his own exertions his influence and reputation. It
is one of the best criterions of excellent social and political
institutions. Lemuel Pomeroy, who in 1799 brought his anvil to
Pittsfield; George N. Briggs, who served as an apprentice four years,
working for eight dollars a year; Thomas F. Plunkett, who for five years
travelled from town to town in Eastern New York, carrying on a trade
with householders and country dealers; John Todd, who worked his way
through college against poverty and ill-health; these are names that
deserve to be handed down to following generations, to the end that
their influence may still remain as an incitement to honest and
unwearied efforts by successors ready to emulate, though not to imitate,
the ex