146 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



Ed. Not at all, if our countrymen could be made to look upon 

 the matter in the same light as yourseE But while no men contri- 

 bute money so -willing^ and liberally as we Americans for the sup- 

 port of religion, or indeed for the furtherance of any object of moral 

 good, we are slow to understand the value and influence of beauty 

 of this material kind, on our daily lives. 



Trav. But we must believe it, because the Beautiful is no less 

 eternal than the True and the Good. And it is the province of the 

 press — of writers who have the public ear — to help those to see 

 (who are slow to perceivfe it), how much these outward influences 

 have to do with bettering the condition of a people, as good citizens, 

 patriots, men. Nay, more ; what ah important influence these pub- 

 lic resorts, of a rational and refined character, must exert in ele- 

 vating the national character, and softening the many little jealousies 

 of social life by a community of enjoyments. .. A people will have 

 its pleasures, as certainly as its religion or its laws ; and whether 

 these pleasures are poisonous and hurtful, or innocent and salutary, 

 must greatly depend on the interest taken in- them by the direcfing 

 minds of the age. Get some country town of the first class to set 

 the example by making a public park or garden of this kind. Let 

 our people once see for themselves the influence for good which it 

 would effect, no less than the healthful enjoyment it will afford, and 

 I feel confident that the taste for public pleasure-grounds, in the 

 United States, will spread as rapidly as, that for cemeteries has done. 

 If my own observation of the effect of these places in Germany is 

 worth any thing, you may take my word for it that they will be, 

 better preachers of temperance than temperance societies, bettei; re- 

 finers of national manners than dancing-schools, and better promot- 

 ers of general good feeling than any lectures on the philosophy, of 

 happiness ever delivered in the lecture-room. In short, I am in 

 earnest about the matter, and must therefore talk, write, preach, do 

 all I can about it, and beg the assistai)ce of all those who have pub- 

 lic influence, till some good experiment of the kind is fairly tried in 

 this country. 



Ed. I wish you all success in your good undertaking ; and will,., 

 at least, print our conversation for the benefit of the readers of the 

 Horticulturist. 



