154 



A TALK ABOUT PUBLIC PARKS AND GARDENS. 



a country, I say, is felt to have an avoirdu' 

 pois about it, that weighs heavily in the 

 scale of nations. 



Ed. I am glad to see you so sound and 

 patriotic. Very few men who go abroad, 

 like yourself, to enjoy the art and antiqui- 

 ties of the old world, come home without 

 " turned heads." The greatness of the 

 past, and the luxury and completeness of the 

 present forms of civilization abroad, seize 

 hold of them, to the exclusion of everything 

 else ; and they return home lamenting al- 

 ways and forever the " purple and fine 

 linen" left behind. 



Trav. " Purple and fine linen," when 

 they clothe forms of lifeless majesty, are 

 far inferior, in the eyes of any sensible 

 person, to linsey-woolsey, enwrapping the 

 body of a free, healthy man. But there 

 are some points of civilization — good 

 points, too, — that we do not yet understand, 

 which are well understood abroad, and 

 which are well worth attention here at 

 home, at the present moment. In fact, I 

 came here to talk a little, about one or two 

 of these to-day. 



Ed. Talk on, with all my heart. 



Trav. I dare say you will be surprised 

 to hear me say that the French and Ger- 

 mans — difficult as they find it to be repub- 

 lican, in a political sense — are practically 

 far more so, in many of the customs of 

 social life, than Americans. 



Ed. Such as what, pray? 



T%-av. Public enjoyments, open to all 

 classes of people, provided at public cost, 

 maintained at public expense, and enjoyed 

 daily and hourly, by all classes of persons. 



Ed. Picture galleries, libraries, and the 

 like, I suppose you allude to ? 



Trav. Yes : but more especially at the 

 present moment, I am thinking of public 

 PAKKs and GARDENS— those salubrious and 

 wholesome breathing places, provided in 



the midst of, or upon the subufos of as» 

 many towns on the continent — full of really 

 grand and beautiful trees, fresh grass, foun- 

 tains, and, in many cases, rare plants^ 

 shrubs and flowers. Public picture galle- 

 ries, and even libraries, are intellectual 

 luxuries ; and though we must and will 

 have them, as wealth accumulates, yet I 

 look upon public parks and gardens, which 

 are great social enjoyments, as naturally 

 coming first. Man's social nature stands 

 before his intellectual one in the order of 

 cultivation. 



Ed. But these great public parks are 

 mostly the appendages of royalty, and have 

 been created for purposes of show and 

 magnificence, quite incompatible with our 

 ideas of republican simplicity. 



Trav. Not at all. In many places these 

 parks were made for royal enjoyment ; but 

 even in these, they are, on the continent, no 

 longer held for royal use, but are the 

 pleasure grounds of the public generally. 

 Look, for example, at the Garden of the 

 Tuileries — spacious, full of flowers, green 

 lawns, orange trees and rare plants, in the 

 very heart of Paris, and all open to the 

 public, without charge. Even in third rate 

 towns, like the Hague, there is a royal 

 park of 200 acres, filled with superb trees, 

 rich turf, and broad pieces of water, — the 

 whole exquisitely kept, and absolutely and 

 entirely at the enjoyment of every well dis- 

 posed person that chooses to enter. 



Ed. Still, these are not parks or gar- 

 dens made for the public ; but are the re- 

 sult, originally, of princely taste, and after- 

 wards given up to the public. 



Trav. But Germany, which is in many 

 respects a most instructive country to Ame- 

 ricans, affords many examples of public 

 gardens, in the neighborhood of the princi- 

 pal towns, of extraordinary size and beauty, 

 originally made and laid out solely far the 



