SOMETHING ABOUT PUBLIC PARKS. 101 



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^or the space of a 3'ear. But as tlie mind responds much 

 "tore quickly than the hody to its environment, it 

 demands the more frequent and thorough restoration. 

 Many minds need thorough ablution, — disinfection. 

 Every mind needs frequent rest and clarification. For 

 these purposes nothing is better than rural scenery, 

 quiet, and clean air. The quiet woodland shade, the 

 cool greensward, the budding and blossoming flowers, 

 have a powerfully refreshing influence which is felt by 

 everyone, but underestimated by most of us. The prob- 

 lem of modern city life seems to be less the development 

 of bodily perfections, than keeping the mind keyed up 

 to the highest point of efficiency; and in the solution of 

 that problem the open park ground must always prove a 

 very important quantity. 



If, now, we inquire how the best artistic effect is to 

 be realized in the development of municipal parks, we 

 have o[)ened a most difficult and important question. 

 Under the usual democratic method of management, an 

 artistic success is in the highest degree imj^robable. We 

 have already familiarized ourselves, in a previous chap- 

 ter, with the primacy of the demand for unity in land- 

 scape comi)osition. We have seen how necessary it is 

 tliat one mind, disembarrassed of all extraneous influ- 

 ences, shall create one coherent i^lan which shall ever 

 after be strictly followed. And yet the ordinary way is 

 to do these things by legislation ! Even after a park is 

 fully established in some fair degree of completeness it 

 must still suffer alterations with each change in the 

 board of aldermen. 



All this is not meant as an argument against dem- 

 ocratic city government, but to point out clearly the 

 tremendous difficulty of securing good landscape garden- 

 ing in ])ublic parks, and to show how imperative it is 

 that every means be taken to secure continuity and sta- 

 bility of park management. There is, of course, no 



