0f Parka 



It is very poor economy of human life, it is very poor econ- 

 omy of money, to postpone their [parks'] purchase any further. 

 "Nothing is so costly," it has been well said, "as sickness, disease, 

 and vice; nothing so cheap as health and virtue. Whatever 

 promotes the former is the worst sort of extravagance; whatever 

 fosters the latter is the truest economy." 



And now every argument that has been thus far adduced bears 

 with at least equal force upon the question of the country park 

 or the public park proper. In the town squares and boulevards, 

 men and women will find fresh air and shade and decent surround- 

 ings for their hours of sociability, and safe playgrounds for the 

 children, and fresh nurseries for the babies. But there is an im- 

 portant element in human nature which the town square cannot 

 satisfy. This is that conscious or unconscious sensibility to 

 the beauty of the natural world which in many men becomes a 

 passion, and in almost all men plays a part. 



The providing of what I call country parks to distinguish 

 them from squares and the like is as necessary for the preserva- 

 tion of the civilization of cities as are sewers or street lights. As 

 our towns grow, the spots of remarkable natural beauty, which 

 were once as the gems embroidered upon the fair robe of Nature, 

 are one by one destroyed to make room for railroads, streets, fac- 

 tories, and the rest. The time is coming when it will be hard to 

 find within a day's journey of our large cities a single spot capa- 

 ble of stirring the soul of man to speak in poetry. Think of what 

 this will mean for the race, and start to-morrow to secure for your 

 children and your children's children some of those scenes of 

 special natural beauty which I trust are still to be found within 

 a reasonable distance of this hall. CHARLES ELIOT. 



[v] 



