Public Parks. 7 



subject, and the success which has attended the laying out of the 

 Central, Fairmomit, Prospect, Druid Hill, and other parks in this 

 country. This feeling is extending, and as the squares which are 

 found in nearly all our cities no longer satisfy the longings of the 

 inhabitants, who now demand the laying out of hundi'eds of acres 

 in a style proportionate to the hopes and expectations of the future 

 of the locality. The immense throng that daily resort to such places, 

 — not simply the millionaire, or the aristocratic merchant, but the 

 laborer, the mechanic, and those from the humblest walks of life, 

 coupled with the decorousness of their behaviour, and their cheerful 

 compliance with the necessary regulations, — all attest the popu- 

 larity and beneficial influence of such dedications. Can we not 

 have such resorts in Chicago ? 



It is true that we have not that relief and depression of soil, of 

 ledgy rock and deep valley, which are to be found in the Central and 

 other parks of this country ; but we can have ample drives, graveled 

 walks, fountains, lakes, and all the forms of vegetable and animal 

 life which have been acclimated in our latitude. We can have parks 

 which shall be the ornament and pride of the city ; where, by easy 

 access, our people can enjoy the beauties of nature, and all the 

 pleasures of landscape gardening. 



If we analyze the sources of our happiness, we shall find that they 

 are reducible to two — external and internal ; but while it is from the 

 external world that we derive all our ideas, the office of reflection 

 and of imagination is performed in the interior world of thought. 

 Man, however much he may boast of the superiority of mind over 

 matter, is as sensitive to external changes as the barometer is to those 

 of the atmosphere. A pleasing landscape or a bright sunshine 

 exhilerates his spirits, while a dreary waste, or a leaden sky pro- 

 duces depression. We associate these ideas of external nature with 

 our present sources of happiness or misery, and carry them into our 

 conceptions of a future state. 



Hence, in every age, and among every nation, whether Christian 

 or Pagan, who have made any progress in intellectual development, 

 the idea of Paradise has been one not purely of mental culture, of 

 converse and friendship, but one in which the sensuous nature was 

 largely to participate. 



Milton has described the abode of our first parents as a combina- 

 tion of sensuous delights, with a gorgeousness of word-painting 



