SEATS IN PUBLIC PARKS 



preferable to seats vis-a-vis. This occurs, moreover, in the early after- 

 noon, not in the evening when " pairs "are expected to gravitate to 

 single seats and only early comers and those with previous experience 

 can hope for isolated seats. 



Who doesn't feel sorry for the young couples nowadays, for whom 

 secluded shady lanes are no more; who, seeking the solitude of a park 

 bench in the evening dusk, find it either preempted by a dog in the 

 manger, or else fully exposed to the glare of an all-revealing electric 

 light. One would wish for them again: 



" The hawthorn bush with seats beneath the shade. 

 For talking age and whispering lovers made ! " 



It does not seem desirable to leave our parks as inadequately 

 lighted as most European parks, but it is possible to be a little less 

 harsh in spot-lighting the benches. 



There is another reason why single park seats are always more 

 popular than seats placed opposite each other: people don't like to be 

 stared at. Also, when they go out to the park, they in turn don't want 

 to stare across a walk at other people, but wish to enjoy a prospect of 

 park scenery. In the Berlin Tiergarten of all places, — where the 

 lovely woodland views charm and recreate the eye, and the ear is lulled 

 with distant hum of voices intermingled with the murmuring of leaves 

 and the floating sounds of music from the many cafes of the Weg den 

 Zelten, where the royal cars of state signal their coming with the 

 echoing notes of the bugle-like hiibe, — it is there that a park bench is 

 endowed with meditative value and should not be depreciated by being 

 faced with another bench of gaping mortals. 



SHADE AND SEAT VISTAS 



Generallj^ speaking, seats should be located with several very 

 definite objects in mind, and with several very definite objections to 

 be minded. To enumerate the desirable requisites for the placing of 



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