lo8 ROUND ABOUT CHICAGO 



the south end speaks of the future. The trees 

 are merely sprouting sticks, and the tall Lombardy 

 poplars stand guard over grass that is sparse and 

 yields under the feet, and over walks that are too 

 gravelly for walking; but in a decade it will be 

 splendid. Before the Fair this part of the park was 

 in a state of nature and many a picnic table have 

 we spread among low cleft phlox and violets beneath 

 the oaks. After the Fair the foundation holes 

 were left unfilled and the debris of buildings re- 

 mained in hideous heaps until the wind-sown 

 summer flowers covered it with a mantle of gold 

 and purple and green. Then again we gathered 

 blossoms there. But now it is only the convent 

 of La Rabida and the yacht basin that attract. 



On a fine Saturday afternoon the basin is all 

 astir with life. Gay groups of young people are 

 rowed out to the yachts. Anchors are lifted, sails 

 are set, and one by one the boats slip through the 

 channel past La Rabid a 's granite sea wall. There 

 is wholesome exhilaration for those aboard and 

 there is quiet pleasure for those on shore watching 

 the gleaming white of the sails diminish into 

 the blue of the lake and the sky. 



La Rabida is beautiful by moonlight. A launch 

 will take you from the boathouse out into Lake 

 Michigan and along the park front, and you may 



