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channels and repairing damages upon ground under construction. 

 These conditions were also unfavorable to the public use of the 

 park. 



The park has nevertheless served the ends for which it was de- 

 signed to an extent which could hardly have been expected in the 

 existing stage of its construction, and upon which the Commission is 

 to be congratulated, those resorting to it for health and pleasure 

 often numbering, on fine days, twenty to thirty thousand, and some- 

 times forty to fifty thousand. The influence of the park is percep- 

 tible in the rapidly increasing number of horses and carriages kept 

 for pleasure driving and riding in the city, and in the number of 

 men who have adopted the practice of taking a daily drive or ride 

 with their families. It is observed that these often bring guests with 

 them, and it is evident that the park is already regarded with some 

 degree of pride, though this must be for the most part rather in what 

 it promises than in what it is. 



The real economy of the large expenditure which the city is 

 making on the park will eventually be tested chiefly by the degree 

 in which it shall have come to be regarded as a convenient adjunct 

 of the household property of all the citizens, and in which its advan- 

 tages for the preservation and restoration of health shall be famil- 

 iarly recognized and set down on the credit of family accounts. A 

 satisfactory indication of what may be expected in the future, was 

 therefore afforded by the frequency with which in the latter part of 

 the summer it was to be observed that families had come to the 

 park, not merely for a drive or stroll, but to pass some hours, or a 

 full holiday, or half holiday, refreshments, and sometimes musical in- 

 struments being brought with them. Women often came alone, or 

 with their little ones, to stay for some hours, bringing their needle- 

 work ; and a number of invalids, aged people and convalescents were, 

 to be seen every fine day enjoying the air and the quiet which they 

 found in the groves of the park. 



Numerous schools and bodies of children connected with chari- 

 table establishments, also spent a day or half day on the park during 

 the summer, some returning several times, teachers, parents and 

 friends coming with them. When these parties were large, special 

 ground was assigned them, and they were protected from disagree- 

 able intrusion. Swings, scups, seats, tables and fresh water were 

 supplied to all without charge, as was the use of dressing and retir- 

 ing rooms, with proper attendance. An arrangement was also made 

 by which ice, ice-cream, biscuit, and lemonade could be provided on 

 the ground, at fixed moderate charges. Seventy-five considerable 



