3S 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
PERSISTENCE ESSENTIAL IN IMPROVEMENT WORK 
The title Improvement Society has 
been used to cover an infinite variety 
of associations for doing public work. 
Almost the entire range of public utili- 
ties have been taken up, and as a rule 
much good accomplished. A somewhat 
peculiar feature of the work is the fact 
that they are very often Christ-like in 
their experience in that they are often 
crucified — are martyrs for the particu- 
lar cause which they espouse. It is 
this which has led to the rise and un- 
timely fall of so many improvement so- 
cieties. For example a small suburban 
town had a fairly successful society. It 
was lighting the streets and doing a 
variety of good works when some one 
suggested that the name of the town 
be changed from Pearsall’s Corners to 
Lynbrook (Brooklyn reversed). All at 
once the society split and with the ac- 
complishment of the change of name 
the societ}- came to an end, although 
the result was a large increase in real 
estate value. I'liis was several years 
ago and no one has had the courage to 
ever propose its resurrection. The so- 
ciety was immolated upon an altar of 
its own creation and this is the history 
of many a society started under bril- 
liant auspices. 
It is plain sailing as long as an im- 
provement society holds weekly or semi- 
monthly meetings, consisting chiefly of 
literary and musical entertainment and 
refreshments. At such meetings the best 
talker is the hero or the heroine, and 
the topics are the ideal village — the 
preservation of Niagara, — the detestable 
bill boards and posters. Too often the 
force of the society is spent in talk and 
while it is perpetuated and makes no 
enemies, little or nothing is accom^ 
plished. 
The doing of the actual work of vil- 
lage improvement is another and a very 
different matter. It takes courage and 
executive ability above the ordinary for 
an individual or society to antagonize 
some of the wealthiest and most in- 
fluential politicians and tax payers in a 
town for the sake say of the poster — 
billboard nuisance — ^or the enforcement 
of the law against saloons or the dis- 
posal of garbage. There are always 
plenty of fair weather Christians, full 
of advice and schemes for town better- 
ment. who are usually found wanting 
when trouble and work begins. For ex- 
ample, complaint was made against a 
particularly objectionable saloon near a 
school houses — of the dozen complainants 
only one appeared at the trial, and he 
left in disgust. 
It doesn’t perhaps pay to attempt too 
much, but what is seriously attempted 
should be accomplished even if the so- 
ciety has to go into temporary or even 
permanent retirement in consequence. 
WORKING FOR A MORE BEAUTIFUL CLEVELAND 
THE HOUGH SCHOOL YARD, CLEVELAND, O. 
CHILDREN S GARDEN AT DETROIT SCHOOL, CLEVELAND. 
The remarkably successful work of the 
Cleveland Flome Gardening Association 
in conducting school and home gardens, 
beautifying school grounds, vacant lots, 
and unsightly back yards, has been pre- 
viously commended and its methods de- 
scribed in these columns. The report of 
the association for 1906 from which we 
show herewith some illustrations, gives 
evidence of continued progress and ex- 
tension of the good work. There were 
435,038 packets of seeds sold in 1906 of 
which 190,839 went to schools and or- 
ganizations outside of Cleveland. The 
distribution of bulbs this year reached 
101,000. The notable features of the 
distribution included a large increase in 
the number of vegetable seeds, a very 
considerable extension of the work by 
schools and organizations outside of 
Cleveland, and a phenomenal increase 
in the demand for bulbs. 
Six school gardens were successfully 
operated. The garden at St. Clair 
School being used for flowers. A de- 
tailed account of the plan of work in 
these gardens has been given in Park 
AND Cemetery. 
A new departure this year, growing 
