144 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



Ed. Enough. I am fully satisfied of the benefits of these 

 places of healthful public enjoyment, and of their being most com- 

 pletely adapted to our institutions. But how to achieve them? 

 What do we find among us to warrant a belief that public parks, 

 for instance, are within the means of our people ? 



Trav. Several things : but most of all, the condition of our 

 public cemeteries at the present moment. Why, twenty years ago, 

 such a thing as an embellished, rural cemetery, was unheard of in 

 the United States ; and, at the present moment, we surpass all other 

 nations in these beautiful resting-places for the dead. Greenwood, 

 Mount Auburn, and Laurel Hill, are as much superior to the far- 

 famed Pre la Chaise of Paris, in natural beauty, tasteful arrange- 

 ment, and all that constitutes the charm of such a spot, as St. Peter's 

 is to the Boston State House. Indeed, these cemeteries are the 

 only places in the country that can give an untravelled American 

 any idea of the beauty of many of the public parks and gardens 

 abroad. Judging from the crowds of people in carriages, and on 

 foot, which I find constantly thronging Greenwood and Mount Au- 

 burn, I think it is plain enough how much our citizens, of all classes, 

 would enjoy public parks on a similar scale. Indeed, the only draw 

 back to these beautiful and highly kept cemeteries, to my taste, is 

 the gala-day air of recreation they present. People seem to go there 

 to enjoy themselves, and not to indulge in any serious recollections, 

 or regrets. Can you doubt that if our large towns had suburban 

 pleasure-grounds, like Greenwood (excepting the monuments), where 

 the best music could be heard daily, they would become the con- 

 stant resort of the citizens, or that being so, they would tend to soften 

 and allay some of the feverish unrest of business which seems to 

 have possession of most Americans, body and soul ? 



Ed. But the modus operandi ? Cemeteries are, in a measure, 

 private speculations ; hundreds are induced to buy lots in them from 

 fashion or personal pride, besides those whose hearts are touched by 

 the beauiful sentiment which they involve ; and thus a large fund 

 is produced, which maintains every thing in the most perfect order. 



Trav. Appeal to the public liberality. We subscribe hundreds 

 of thousands of dollars to give food to the Irish, or to assist the 

 needy inhabitants of a burnt-out city, or to send missionaries to 

 South Sea Islands. Are there no dollars in the same generous 



