CHAP. vill.| PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 125 
the woods for love of them half of each-day, he is 
in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he 
spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off 
those woods and making earth bald before her time, 
he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citi- 
zen. As if a town had no interest in its forests but 
to cut them down!” (Thoreau.) But now men are 
getting a little wiser, and, even in the mighty Metro- 
polis itself, are learning that the public parks and 
gardens and the trees by the wayside are a profitable 
investment after all. Profitable as breathing-spaces, 
as lungs to this heart of a mighty nation, as spots of 
beauty, veritable oases in a desert of brick and flag- 
stone. Proftable merely for the sake of the quiet 
and calm in the midst of a ceaseless babble, or as 
playgrounds for the little ones, Even the eye is 
glad of the repose afforded by the masses of quiet 
green, and altogether we have learned to regard our 
open spaces as among the most valuable and profit- 
able of our municipal possessions. Dean Swift, in 
his “ Travels of Gulliver,’ makes one of his characters 
hold the opinion “that whoever could make two ears 
of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot 
of ground where only one grew before, would deserve 
better of mankind, and do more essential service to 
his country, than the whole race of politicians put 
together.” Though we are not disposed to adopt 
that opinion in its entirety, we are sure that sucha 
person is a real benefactor to his country, especially 
if his work has consisted in the wresting of a common 
from the clutches of a rapacious lord of the manor, 
to devote it to the enjoyment of the people for ever, 
