LAYING OUT OF GROUNDS 



in extent, shut off from the harbor front 

 by a low railway embankment, showing here 

 and there a riotous overgrowth of wild sedges, 

 foul with heaps of garbage, uninviting in every 

 possible way, and yet lying within stone's throw 

 of the centre of the city. Sandy highlands, 

 almost totally unimproved, flank it immediately 

 upon the west — disposed there, as it would 

 seem, for the very purpose of furnishing easy 

 material for the filling in of the flat below. 

 A few thousands would accomplish this, and 

 judicious planting and outlay would in three 

 years' time establish a charming promenade or 

 garden in the centre of the sea- front of the 

 town, and there is not one of the adjoining 

 pieces of property but would be doubled in 

 value by the operation. The neglect of such 

 opportunities, whether due to miserable local 

 jealousies, or, as often happens, to the short- 

 sightedness and indifference of municipal au- 

 thorities, is surely not complimentary to our 

 civilization. 



The term "near to town," in these times of 

 horse railways, has rather a relative than posi- 

 tive significance. Three miles, by a fair, broad 

 avenue, upon which well-equipped cars are 

 making their rounds every half hour of the 

 day, is not half so large a distance for either 



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