194 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



as a good roadway for carriages. A skating pond 

 would belong fitly to the requirements, and, if no 

 river or harbor offered better space, an opportunity 

 for boating would be wisely included. It is not 

 supposed that a feasible spot of ground in the neigh- 

 borhood of most cities can command and make good 

 these requirements. But much more can be done 

 than is imagined if the best available talent is secured 

 for the work in hand. Even in our fast days, it is 

 quite wonderful to find what a multitude of people 

 go to sleep upon advantages which, judiciously 

 ordered, would make them rich. There is many a 

 river valley, in the close neighborhood of cities, 

 covered now with rank and unprofitable grasses, over 

 which, at small cost, might be given flow to a lake 

 that would wash on either shore the banks of high- 

 lands, admirably fitted for drives, and already clothed 

 with the forest growth of half a century. 



'Equipment of Public Gardens. 



AS I have already said, it is requisite that a town 

 park should offer a charming drive ; so far 

 charming that every townsman will feel it incum- 

 bent on him to give each stranger guest a full view 

 of its attractions. These latter must lie, either in 

 commanding views of the town itself and its environs, 



