PUBLIC GARDENS 



HEINE compares France to a garden where all the 

 most beautiful flowers have been gathered and 

 woven into a garland. " The name of this flower 

 wreath is Paris," he says. This description of the gay and 

 buoyant city is vivid ; as is also his term of veneration 

 for our own wonderful London, with its smoke-begrimed 

 "inniger Schmutz," of which he was able to appreciate 

 the depth and quality ! 



Certain it is that the people's parks and gardens in 

 both great cities form a very considerable proportion of 

 their beauty. How different in composition and arrange- 

 ment is the style of each ! It would indeed be difficult 

 for an unbiassed mind to point out accurately where 

 superiority lies. We English cannot own that French 

 public parks and gardens are better than ours, because 

 the requirements in the two countries are totally different. 

 We are a people that make games and sport our chief 

 consideration. Therefore open spaces and playgrounds 

 are the essential point with us. The French, upon the 

 other hand, are more sociable. Their recreations centre 

 round arbours where " maman " and " bonne maman " 



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