The Xcw York Park :i.s:> 



superb pleasure ground of five hundred acres, which makes 

 the Arcadia of her citizens. Even the smaller towns are 

 provided with public grounds to an extent that would beggar 

 the imagination of our short sighted economists, who would 

 deny a greenery to New York; Frankfort, for example, is 

 skirted by the most beautiful gardens, formed upon the 

 platform which made the old ramparts of the city- gar- 

 dens filled with the loveliest plants and shrubs, tastefully 

 grouped along walks over two miles in extent. 



Looking at the present government of the city as about 

 to provide, in the People's Park, a breathing zone and 

 healthful place for exercise for a city of half a million of 

 souls, we trust they will not be content with the limited 

 number of acres already proposed. Five hundred acres is 

 the smallest area that should be reserved for the future 

 wants of such a city, now, while it may be obtained. Five 

 hundred acres may be selected between Thirty-ninth-street 

 and the Harlem River, including a varied surface of land, a 

 good deal of which is yet waste area, so that the whole may 

 be purchased at something like a million of dollars. In that 

 area there would be space enough to have broad reaches of 

 park and pleasure grounds, with a real feeling of the breadth 

 and beauty of green fields, the perfume and freshness of 

 nature. In its midst would be located the great distrib- 

 uting reservoirs of the Croton aqueduct, formed into lovely 

 lakes of limpid water, covering many acres, and heightening 

 the charm of the sylvan accessories by the finest natural 

 contrast. In such a park the citizens who would take 

 excursions in carriages or on horseback could have the sub- 

 stantial delights of country roads and country scenery and 

 forget for a time the rattle of the pavements and the glare 

 of brick walls. Pedestrians would find quiet and secluded 

 walks when they wished to be solitary, and broad alleys filled 

 with thousands of happy faces when they would be gay. The 

 thoughtful denizen of the town would go out there in the 

 morning, to hold converse with the whispering trees, and the 

 weary tradesmen in the evening, to enjoy an hour of happi- 

 ness by mingling in the open space with all the world. 



