TOWN GARDENS: 



Few people will deny the peace of mind a sheet of 

 green grass can give, but few people, one imagines, 

 trouble to think how they are preserved in large Towns 

 and Cities. If it were not for Societies many little open 

 spaces would years ago have been covered with streets of 

 houses, many fair trees have fallen, none have been 

 planted, and those growing have been neglected and 

 allowed to die. Of the many Societies whose work has 

 been to preserve for the Public pleasure grounds, good 

 trees, parks, and flower gardens, not one deserves 

 such praise as the Metropolitan Public Gardens 

 Association, whose great work has been carried on since 

 1882. 



When one considers that in Hampstead over six 

 hundred acres have been preserved by energetic Com- 

 mittees from the hands of builders it is easy to see how 

 great is the debt of London to those who voluntarily 

 work for this and other Open Space Societies. 



It is not, however, by these large tracts of open 

 country that the towns and cities alone benefit. 

 Seats, fountains, flower beds, and pavements have been 

 placed in old church-yards and disused burial-grounds 

 opened for the benefit of the public. One has only to 

 look at the map of the Metropolitan Public Gardens 

 Association to see how wonderful their work has been 

 and still is. 



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