A TALK ABOUT PUBLIC PARKS AND GARDENS. 145 



pockets for a public park, which shall be the gieat wholesome 

 breathing zone, social mass-meeting, and grand out-of-door concert- 

 room of all the inhabitants daily ? Make it praiseworthy and laud- 

 able for wealthy men to make bequests of land, properly situated, 

 for this public enjoyment, and commemorate the public spirit of 

 such men by a statue or a beautiful marble vase, with an inscription, 

 telling all succeeding generations to whom they are indebted for the 

 beauty and enjoyment that constitute the chief attraction of the 

 town. Let the ladies gather money from young and old by fairs, 

 and " tea parties," to aid in planting and embellishing the grounds. 

 Nay, I would have life-members, who on paying a certain sum, 

 should be the owners in " fee simple " of certain fine trees, or groups 

 of trees ; since there are some who will never give money but for 

 some tangible and visible property. 



Ed. It is, perhaps, not so difficult to get the public park or gar 

 den, as to meet all the annual expenses required to keep it in the re- 

 quisite condition. 



Trav. There is, to my mind, but one effectual and rational 

 mode of doing this by a voluntary taxation on the part of all the 

 inhabitants. A few shillings each person, or a small per centage on 

 the value of all the property in a town, would keep a park of a 

 hundred or two acres in admirable order, and defray all the inciden- 

 tal expenses. Did you ever make a calculation of the sum volun- 

 tarily paid in towns like this, of nine thousand inhabitants, for pew 

 rent in churches and places of worship ? 



Ed. No. 



Trav. Very \vell ; I have had the curiosity lately to do so, and 

 find that in a town of nine thousand souls, and with ten " meeting- 

 houses " of various sects, more than ten thousand dollars are volun- 

 tarily paid every year for the privilege of sitting in these churches. 

 Does it appear to you impossible that half that sum (a few shillings 

 a year each) would be willingly paid every year for the privilege of 

 a hundred acres of beautiful park or pleasure-grounds, where every 

 man, woman, and child in the community could have, for a few 

 shillings, all the soft verdure, the umbrageous foliage, the lovely 

 flowers, the place for exercise, recreation, repose, that Victoria has in 

 her Park of Windsor ? 

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