70 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



While Staten Island originally possessed natural scenery sur- 

 passing most of the places within a few miles of the City Hall, it 

 has not managed its birth right very well, and now we have annu- 

 ally the misfortune to go walking on charcoal when we would go 

 afield. What is the use of the Department of Education of the 

 City of New York having lecturers discourse on The Beauties of 

 Nature when the beauties themselves are deliberately destroyed? 



This article has been prepared with the hope that those who 

 read it will do what they can to preserve our island from the 

 destroyer, and that the teachers in the schools will mention the 

 matter to the children and request their cooperation in preserving 

 the wild flowers and the trees ; ask them not to set fire to the 

 woods, as it makes us all poorer and the island less beautiful and 

 interesting. 



