DECORATIVE USE OF WATER 



cascades or in quiet pools and basins, it is a delight to the eye, a thing 

 of beauty in itself. For this reason of embellishment alone, the liberal 

 use of water is justifiable in park design. Secondly, active water in 

 brilliant jets and scintillating sprays may be depended upon to furnish 

 high light and sparkle to a pictorial scene as little else can. The play- 

 ing water disports and revels in the sunlight, absorbing of its brilliance 

 and emitting flashes and gleams in a hundred directions. As a point of 

 radiance in the light and shadow of a park scene, water display is 

 invaluable. Finally, as a palliative during the summer months of ex- 

 cessive heat, the liberal use of water in park development will be found 

 directly helpful. Fountains will not freshen atmosphere nor alleviate 

 climatic conditions to any appreciable extent, but the sight of cool 

 bubbling water will tend to lessen the physical strain caused by the 

 heat of summer, and in that sense will mitigate suffering and promote 

 health. In those unfortunate park systems where bathing beaches are 

 unobtainable and the welcome substitutes of swimming pools are 

 crowded to congestion throughout every hot spell, parks abounding in 

 fountains will be especially frequented, the mere sight of the playing 

 water appearing to give refreshment. As a means of alleviating 

 climatic conditions, water display in parks is indispensable. 



WATER DISPLAY SACRIFICED FOR SCULPTURE AND ORNAMENT 



Fountains at best are underestimated. In a paper by Joseph 

 Hornblower several years ago, regarding statuary in Washington, one 

 reads : " The site is chosen by a committee composed in part at least 

 of members of the association or groups of citizens whose gift the 

 statue or ornament may be. The whole District is laid before this 

 committee, and it is invited to choose, which it usually does with refer- 

 ence to nothing that has gone before or may come after, selecting as a 

 rule what it considers the most beautiful unappropriated park or circle. 

 If the park have a fountain, the fountain must go." What a condition of 



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