CITY PARKS. 291 



with trees, and from these you look out with peculiar en- 

 joyment over the expanse of the North Meadow. 



There are five and one half miles of bridle-paths, and 

 nine miles of drives, and thirty miles of foot-paths in 

 Central Park. Altogether, there are eight hundred and 

 fifty acres in Central Park, including the one hundred and 

 fifty acres of reservoir. 



It might doubtless be interesting to speak of many 

 other individual features of marked interest in Central 

 Park. I do not, however, think it expedient in such a 

 general description and illustration of general principles as 

 this to be drawn into such emphasis of details. Indeed, 

 the manifest superiority of the design as a whole is its gen- 

 eral adequacy to the effect sought, which was simple park 

 scenery in the midst of a city. 



This seems a proper place to remark that another great 

 attraction possessed by Central Park is the essential unity 

 of its design. Here is a park laid out on paper according to 

 definite artistic conceptions and then executed substantially 

 as conceived in the beginning. 



Before closing my remarks on Central Park I desire to 

 direct especial attertion to the popular-amusement feature 

 insisted upon in its arrangement. The chief and most 

 important office of Central Park is not to furnish agreeable 

 driving territory for the beau monde, the millionaires, and 

 the lovers of horseflesh. It is not a scheme to please and 

 attract the fashionable, but it is a playground for the 

 young people, a pleasant open-air breathing space for the 

 mothers and fathers who desire to go into the country and 

 cannot set there. 



