5o 



aspiration and need of the great masses of the City for out- 

 of-door enjoyment." 



Mr. John Mullaly, the surviving member of the Commis- 

 sion, then asked an opportunity to speak, alluded feelingly to 

 the opposition and ingratitude he met with. Such men as 

 Theodore Roosevelt and Mayor Edson opposed the acquire- 

 ment of the Park System, to secure which he had personally 

 sacrificed much time and money. 



Albert E. Davis, an officer of the 22d Regiment Veterans 

 Association, complimented Scout Master A. G. Clarke and 

 Troop No. 117 on their soldierly bearing and Miss Niles un- 

 veiled the tablet. 



Then Commissioner Higgins treated the visitors and guests 

 to an unexpected trip up over Pelham Bridge and via the 

 shore drive to City Island Bridge. 



Speeding back over Bronx and Pelham Parkway to Bronx 

 Park and Mosholu Parkway, Van Cortlandt Park was 

 reached at half -past five, only fifteen minutes late despite the 

 Pelham Park side trip. Here Chancellor MacCracken spoke 

 as follows : 



"Van Cortlandt Park has been a popular playground 

 throughout the score of years that I have lived only two 

 miles from its southern border. Since the extension of the 

 Subway line it is becoming, on many days, a crowded play- 

 ground. Many a time it is the gayest looking place in the 

 whole Bronx to a visitor looking down from any of the many 

 lofty viewpoints which it affords. He sees the military 

 parade grounds, the golf links, the glittering lake in the time 

 of the skating season, the tennis courts, the polo and ball 

 grounds. 



" Van Cortlandt is likely to be more than ever the resort of 

 the people, since not only the Broadway line of the Subway, 

 but also, within a few years, the line up Lexington and Jerome 

 Avenues will carry all Manhattan Borough there for a nickel 

 a head. 



" In historical associations this park, with its vicinity, is 



