156 



A TALK ABOUT PUBLIC PARKS AND GARDENS. 



it to ourselves and our republican profes- 

 sions, to set about establishing a larger and 

 more fraternal spirit in our social life. 



Hd. Pray, how would you set about it ? 

 Trav. Mainly by establishing refined 

 public places of resort, parks and gardens, 

 galleries, libraries, museums, &c. By these 

 means, you would soften and humanize the 

 rude, educate and enlighten the ignorant, 

 and give continual enjoyment to the edu- 

 cated. Nothing tends to beat down those 

 artificial barriers, that false pride, which is 

 the besetting folly of our Anglo-Saxon na- 

 ture, so much as a community of rational 

 enjoyments. Now there is absolutely no 

 class of persons in this country whose means 

 allow them the luxury of great parks, or 

 fine concerts of instrumental music within 

 their own houses. But a trifling yearly 

 contribution from all the inhabitants of even 

 a small town, will enable all those inhabi- 

 tants to have an excellent band, performing 

 every fair afternoon through the whole 

 summer. Make the public parks or plea- 

 sure grounds attractive by their lawns, fine 

 trees, shady walks and beautiful shrubs and 

 flowers, by fine music, and the certainty of 

 "meeting everybody," and you draw the 

 whole moving population of the town there 

 daily. 



Ed. I am afraid the natural gene of our 

 people would keep many of those at home 

 who would most enjoy such places, and 

 that they would be given up to those who 

 would abuse the privilege and despoil the 

 grounds. Do you think it would be possi- 

 ble, for instance, to preserve fine flowers in 

 such a place, as in Germany ? 



Trav. I have not the slightest doubt of 

 it. How can I have, after going on board 

 such magnificent steamboats as the Isaac 

 Newton or the Bay State, fitted up with all 

 the same luxury of velvet ottomans, rich car- 

 pets, mirrors, and the costliest furniture, that 



I have found in palaces abroad, and all at 

 the use of millions of every class of Ame- 

 rican travellers, from the chimney sweep to 

 the president, and yet this profuse luxury 

 not abused in the slightest manner ! 



Ed. But the more educated of our peo- 

 ple — would the)'^, think you, resort to pub- 

 lic pleasure grounds daily, for amusement ? 

 Would not the natural exclusiveness of our 

 better halves, for instance, tahoo this med- 

 ley of " all sorts of people that we dont 

 know ?'' 



Trav. I trust too much in the good 

 sense of our women to believe it. Indeed, 

 I find plenty of reasons for believing quite 

 the opposite. I see the public watering 

 places filled with all classes of society, par- 

 taking of the same pleasures, with as much 

 zest as in any part of the world ; and you 

 must remember that there is no forced in- 

 tercourse in the daily reunions in a public 

 garden or park. There is room and space 

 enough for pleasant little groups or circles 

 of all tastes and sizes, and no one is neces- 

 sarily brought into contact with uncongenial 

 spirits; while the daily meeting of families, 

 who ought to sympathise, from natural con- 

 geniality, will be more likely to bring them 

 together than any other social gatherings. 

 Then the advantage to our fair country-wo- 

 men — health and spirits, of exercise in the 

 pure open air, amid the groups of fresh foli- 

 age and flowers, with a chat with friends, and 

 pleasures shared with them, as compared 

 with a listless lounge upon a sofa at home, 

 over the last new novel or pattern of embroi- 

 dery ! When I first returned home, I assure 

 you, I was almost shocked at the extreme de- 

 licacy, and apparent universal want of health 

 in my countrywomen, as compared with the 

 same classes abroad. It is, most clearly, 

 owing to the many sedentary, listless hours 

 which they pass within doors ; no out-of- 

 door occupations- — walking considered irk- 



