CHAPTER XXXVIII 

 THE NEW YORK PARK * 



THE leading topic of town gossip and newspaper para- 

 graphs just now in New York is the new park pro- 

 posed by Mayor Kingsland. Deluded New York 

 has until lately contented itself with the little dooryards of 

 space - - mere grass-plats of verdure - - which form the 

 squares of the city, in the mistaken idea that they are 

 parks. The fourth city in the world (with a growth that 

 will soon make it the second), the commercial metropolis of 

 a continent spacious enough to border both oceans, has not 

 hitherto been able to afford sufficient land to give its citi- 

 zens, the majority of whom live there the whole year round, 

 any breathing space for pure air, any recreation ground for 

 healthful exercise, any pleasant roads for riding or driving, 

 or any enjoyment of that lovely and refreshing natural 

 beauty from which they have, in leaving the country, re- 

 luctantly expatriated themselves for so many years, perhaps 

 forever. Some few thousands, more fortunate than the rest, 

 are able to escape for a couple of months into the country 

 to find repose for body and soul in its leafy groves and pleas- 

 ant pastures or to inhale new life on the refreshing seashore. 

 But in the mean time the city is always full. Its steady 



* Original date of August, 1851. 



* It might be said that this essay on "The New York Park" has only 

 a historic interest. Certainly it is of the utmost value from the standpoint 

 of history, but il must seem worth while to everyone to review the devel- 

 opment of the city park idea in America. In this development Mr. 

 Downing played an important role. Another essay entitled "A Talk 

 about Public Parks and Gardens," and dated October, 1848, has been 

 omitted from the present edition, but it does not seem proper to neglect 

 altogether the very important connection between the work of Mr. 

 Downing in that lime and our present enjoyment of splendid park sys- 

 tems in all American cities. -- F. A. \V. 



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