230 



and prosperity of a city, that their own practical princi 

 pies would countenance and require them. 



Cleanliness, fresh air, the presence of vegetation are 

 essential to health. How can a sufficiency of these be 

 obtained in crowded towns, unless by the action of city 

 governments? Private enterprise even where aided by in- 

 telligence and wealth can not always in large cities obtain 

 these. It requires the interference of public authority to 

 provide open and accessible public grounds for the enjoy- 

 ment of these luxuries. A beautiful park in any city is a great 

 moral power. It does more than criminal courts or police- 

 men to repress crime. The feverish, restless brain is cooled 

 and soothed by the fresh breeze and the cooling shade. Shak- 

 speare makes FalstafF, the debauchee and drunkard, when 

 dying, go back in thought, to his earlier and happier and 

 more innocent days and " babble of green fields." Men are 

 wiser, better, more temperate, more loving, when they have 

 wandered amid trees and by water falls, and heard birds 

 sing and children laugh and play. The slovenliness and 

 filth, which sometimes unnecessarily disgrace the tenements 

 of the poor in cities, are put to shame by the sight of the 

 beauty and freshness of nature. 



The children who are compelled to live in narrow streets 

 and crowded houses, grow up happier, more healthful and 

 more virtuous, if now and then they can leave behind their 

 hot and unventilated dwellings and find solace and bounti- 

 ful joy in a well appointed park. When the laborer gets a 

 half holiday, how much more vigorously and contentedly 

 he will recommence his work, if instead of wasting its hours 

 in steaming bar rooms, he can find the accessible and at- 

 tractive walks of a park in which to find refreshment. 



Nor are the advantages to be derived from such a source 

 restricted to the poor. Nature has implanted the same 

 natural wants and longings in all. The rich man and the 

 poor must breathe the same air. The same sights of na- 

 tural beauty — the mountains and the valleys — the trees and 



