Lend A Hand Society was excited to hold an event at the Boston Public Garden last Sunday, April 3rd to commemorate our founder Edward Everett Hale’s 200th birthday! The celebratory gathering at the Hale statue in the Boston Public Garden was lively and festive. The crowd sang happy birthday and recited a round-robin of famous Hale quotes from notecards passed around to all who gathered to recognize E. E. Hale’s important life and legacy. Numerous readings were read by attendees and Bob Sessions, LAH vice president, read the following words from a moving letter written by Henry Cabot Lodge, for the 80th Hale birthday celebration in Symphony Hall attended by 3,000 people in 1902:
We all owe to Dr. Hale a great debt of gratitude for a life that has been a lofty example of devotion to beautiful ideals and a benefaction to the people among whom he has lived and to all who have come within his wide gracious influence. He has relieved human suffering, elevated the standards of conduct, led men and women to good deeds, and encouraged all the noblest aspirations of our nature. He has made the world better and happier for having lived in it.
E.E. Hale statue artist Bela Pratt chiseled the words: Man of Letters, Preacher of the Gospel, Prophet of Peace, Patriot at the base of the Hale statue to describe some of Hale’s accomplishments. Hale’s meaningful philanthropic contributions continue on through Lend A Hand Society’s work in the Greater Boston area today.