SEATS IN PUBLIC PARKS 



must pass through a rain of flying tomahawks. Many a woman, to 

 avoid the inevitable comment, prefers the long way round to the short 

 way through such a lane of seats. Especially in the evening is it apt to 

 be the rendezvous of "mashers"; and some parks, supposedly well 

 policed, are often frequented by characters of a sort that make it 

 dangerous for a woman to pass through unattended. Without park 

 seats placed along these main cross lines, there can be no excuse for 

 loiterers, and an annoyance by day and a -danger by night will be 

 eliminated. 



Furthermore, as already pointed out, no average person likes to sit 

 one of a row of people, with another row of people directly facing. 

 There is enough of this sort of thing in the street cars ! It's a wonder 

 even in street cars that the seats shouldn't be arranged back to back 

 down the centre, allowing the passengers to look out of the windows 

 instead of at each other or at the row of already memorised advertise- 

 ments. If there is room enough on top of an omnibus for such an 

 arrangement, why isn't there room enough inside for the same? 



The one exception when seats may properlj^ be placed opposite 

 each other is in the case of promenade walks. There they are located 

 for formal effect in the design and for the gratification of the park 

 visitor. Such seats, when used, are more or less like box seats at a 

 theatre, — the occupants are to see and to be seen. It is evident, there- 

 fore, that in this case the elementary purpose of the seat is not that of 

 rest and relaxation, and its arrangement may not be taken as con- 

 tradicting the general rule. Generally speaking, if seats are to fulfil 

 their purpose of offering a place for rest and quiet, they must be 

 placed only along the secondary lines of the park plan. 



AMPLE SEATING ACCOMMODATION 



There is but one other point to be emphasised, — let there be seats 

 enough for any and all that come ! It will not be necessary to speckle 



272 



