CHAPTER XIII 

 SEATS IN PUBLIC PARKS 



I sat on one of the benches, at the other end of which was seated a man in 

 very shabby clothes. We continued to groan, to hem, and to cough, as usual 

 upon such occasions ; and at last ventured upon conversation. 



" I beg pardon. Sir," cried I, " But I think I have seen you before ; your face 

 is familiar to me." 



" Yes, Sir," replied he, '' I have a good familiar face, as my friends tell me." 



IT WAS in this manner that Ohver Goldsmith met the "Merry 

 Andrew " at dinner time in St. James Park; and in similar fashion, 

 by means of the park bench, many another friendly conversation has 

 been started between otherwise strangers, — and the democratic spirit 

 of the country thereby fostered. 



If one would study the people of a country, intimately and at first 

 hand, there is no place where he may be sure to find so representative 

 a gathering for his purpose as that congregated on the park benches 

 almost any afternoon. Which would go to show that park benches 

 are a national institution, of equal importance with parliament build- 

 ings and the houses where the representatives of the people meet. The 

 park benches are where the people themselves meet. In the creating 

 of parks, therefore, let benches neither be omitted nor be given scant 

 attention in their design and placing and number. 



First of all, let them be comfortable. Not by that is meant that a 

 park bench should be given the ease of a Morris chair, for they are not 

 primarily for lethal purposes. In humanity's name, though, and until 

 the lodging problem of the cities' destitute can be adequately solved, 

 it is less heart-rending that the forsaken ones shall have at least the 

 hard comfort of a park bench to turn to at nightfall, as in the park 

 squares of New York City, than that they shall huddle together in 

 misery, sleeping actually in the gutters, as may be observed any night 

 in the great city of London. 



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