LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. 39 



longing for relief from the din and turmoil of the streets, 

 and of the facility with which they might be made avail- 

 able for purposes of instruction by a truly artistic use of 

 objects of natural beauty and interest. 



A little area in" the south part of the city, known as 

 Ellis Park, is a pleasing exception to the general rule, 

 making no such display of absurdities, and being beauti- 

 ; fully kept and richly decorated with flowers tastefully 

 i arranged in masses set in a velvet sward. Few people, 

 except those in the immediate vicinity, are aware that the 

 city is indebted for the possession of this little gem to the 

 enthusiasm of an amateur, who furnishes and watches 

 over the flowers and provides for the wants of the trees 

 and grass, and finds his reward in the gratification of his 

 ruling passion and the consciousness of the pleasure he 

 confers on others. 



The reservation of the area now occupied by Lincoln 

 Park was the earliest and most judicious selection of land 

 for the purpose of public recreation, and it will always 

 possess a peculiar and superior value and interest from 

 the facts of its vicinity and ease of access to the business 

 portions of the city and its position on the shore of the 

 lake, which is the only natural feature of the whole region 

 around Chicago, which possesses any distinct characteris- 

 tics of sublimity. These are in effect the same as those 

 of the ocean, whether in the idea it ^conveys of grandeur 

 by its vast extent, of terrific power when roused by storms, 

 or of living, sparkling beauty in its ordinary condition^ 

 when its rippling surface is dotted with fleets of sails and 

 steamers. The shores possess none of the picturesque 



