LAYING OUT OF GROUNDS. 193 



they have not been educated to metropolitan esti* 

 mates. The Wall Street man sneers at two miles of 

 walk before business ; your small broker of a country 

 city, on the other hand, advertises for a tenement 

 " within half a mile of the post-office." I never see 

 such an advertisement but I think some Rip Van 

 Winkle has just waked, and that his friends should 

 give him a combing and nursing. 



Ready accessibility is the true measure of distance 

 in our day, and a town park must be easily accessible 

 to all classes. It must be a matter in which the 

 humblest citizens can take pride and comfort. Those 

 cities which have considerable open spaces in the 

 shape of" common," " green," or " squares," scattered 

 here and there, are the last to wake to any need of a 

 park which shall give drives, and such sources of 

 diversion as belong legitimately to a public park. 

 The central commons and greens may do very well 

 in the early stages of a city's growth, but there comes 

 a time when the municipal edicts forbid ball-playing 

 and cricket, at which date there is reason to plan 

 some larger forage ground for our youthful sports. 



And it is precisely this forage ground for the 

 developing muscle of Young America that the town 

 park should furnish. Cricket ground, base-ball 

 ground, and parade ground for the ambitious troops 



of the municipality should be as sedulously cared for 

 9 



