216 



PARRS AND PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



benevolent spirit, and expressed with much earnestness 

 of manner, the departed artist labored to show that, in 

 the public park, the pale mechanic and the exhausted 

 factory operative might inhale the freshening breeze 

 and some portion of recovered health ; the busy shop- 

 keeper and the more speculative merchant might enjoy 

 relaxation and bracing exercise in temporary seclusion 

 from their toils and cares ; and that the family troop, 

 the children with their nurses, or the sportive juveniles 

 in the company of their staid seniors might take their 

 walk or spend their play-time apart from the bustle of 

 the streets, and secure from the accidents to which, in 

 crowded thoroughfares, they are necessarily exposed. 

 Without doubt, it is also good- for the mental health of 

 those who are habituated to the wear and tear of the 

 busy haunts of men to be brought face to face with the 

 tranquilizing as well as suggestive works of God in the 

 world of nature. It is well that all who are capable — 

 and we can n£>t tell how many these may be — should 

 have an opportunity to "reap the harvest of a quiet 

 eye" in scenes which, 'if not invested with all thewild- 

 ness of the rural districts, have yet as much of the 

 treasures of vegetable forms and colors as are accessi- 

 ble to the inhabitants of cities without a considerable 

 expense of time and labor. Certainly the resort to 

 such places of recreation is very great. Looking to 

 the metropolitan parks of the United Kingdom, we find 

 all classes of the community, the day-tasked official, 

 the night-worn senator, the slaves of business, and the 

 votaries of fashion, even royalty itself, all availing 

 themselves of the air and exercise, and scenes of gayety 

 and opportunities of social intercourse and enjoyment 

 which these much frequented places afford. Nor is it 



