153 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
PUBLIC RIGHTS IN GREAT NATURAL SCENERY 
The theory of Feudal days that 
every man’s home was his castle has 
been largely superceded by the divine 
command to love one’s neighbor as 
■one’s self. The idea that a 'man can 
do as he pleases with his own with- 
out regard to the rights of his neigh- 
bors no longer prevails. The most 
unpopular citizen is he who builds a 
stone wall in front of his flower gar- 
den or cuts down beautiful trees to 
make way for a trolley pole or who 
leases the privilege of putting unsight- 
ly bill boards in public places. The 
great majority of people feel that 
somehow public rights are invaded 
when the Palisades of the Hudson are 
converted into paving stones or the 
waters of Niagara are diverted into 
monstrous flumes to make power to 
run trolley cars. 
“In regard to places so noteworthy 
for sublimity or features of unique 
beauty,” said a writer in Garden and 
Forest, “there seems to be a feeling 
that these, at least, are the common 
heritage of all the people, and it runs 
counter to our innate sense of right 
that great mountain peaks or natural 
objects of commanding grandeur 
should be the private property of an 
individual to be monopolized for per- 
sonal profit or subject to the passing 
whims of any puny mortal. But if we 
adopt this reasoning we may as well 
go a step further and hold that all 
natural beauty is the inheritance of 
all the people, that it has a distinct 
value to them just as clear air and 
pure water have, and that the men 
who needlessly scar the face of na- 
ture or turn it into a desert when they 
bore their oil wells, dig out ore, quar- 
ry rocks, or build factories and rail- 
roads, are as truly public enemies as 
those who pollute springs of running 
water or load the air with noxious 
vapors. It is certain, at all events, 
that men who appreciate their duties 
as citizens will not needlessly mar the 
beauty of the earth in which we live, 
they will not wantonly destroy the 
forests which give a glory to our land- 
scapes, and they will treat with rever- 
ence natural scenery whose grandeur 
has an elevating influence and whose 
beauty brings refreshment to the 
spirit. 
“We are safe, too, in asserting that 
beautiful natural scenery has a posi- 
tive value as a refreshment to the 
mind, especially of those who are 
worn and wearied by the stress of city 
life. This is not a mere metaphor. It 
is asserted over and over again, not 
only by poets and philosophers who 
give expression to the profoundest 
truths in our nature, but the curative 
value of natural scenery is distinctly 
recognized by the medical profession. 
All of us have felt the soothing and 
restful influence of natural beauty, act- 
ing in a subtle way through the very 
highest functions of our being, and 
tending to establish sound minds in 
sound bodies.” 
In view of these facts it is aston- 
ishing that men of wealth and cul- 
ture should fail to recognize the rights 
of the public in property which is 
owned in fee by individuals or cor- 
porations. Putting up bill boards, 
unsightly walls or fences, the cutting 
of a sightly tree or hedge or the fail- 
ure to cut an unsightly one are of- 
fences against the public which the 
owner of otherwise private grounds 
has no moral right to commit. 
We should remember that the earth 
was made for man — that we should 
keep and leave it more beautiful than 
we found it. This is true of our home 
acre as well as the more elaborate 
park systems of our largest cities. 
IN MEMORY OF FIRST AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND 
In the presence of what is reported to have been the 
largest crowd that ever assembled at a public function 
in Delaware, a memorial statue to Thomas F. Bayard, 
secretary of state in President Cleveland’s first cabinet, 
former United States senator and the first ambassador 
to the court of St. James, was unveiled in Wilmington, 
June 23, with exercises of the simplest character. There 
was no military pageant and the ceremonies were con- 
fined to addresses, prayer and the singing of hymns. 
In the absence of former President Cleveland, who is 
ill at his home, his address was read by John Bassett 
Moore. The other participants in the ceremonies were 
Judge George Gray of the United States Circuit Court 
and the Rt. Rev. Leighton Coleman, D. D., bishop of the 
Protestant Episcopal diocese of Delaware. 
The memorial occupies a commanding position at the 
entrance to Rockford Park. The site is a triangle formed 
by three avenues and overlooks the city of Wilmington, 
where Mr. Bayard was born and lived during all his life. 
Its design is simple, but imposing, and it is said to be 
the most pretentious public monument in the state. 
The statue is of bronze, larger than life size, and is 
an excellent likeness, showing the ambassador standing 
in an easy, natural attitude, a manuscript in one hand. A 
robe falling from the other arm, is utilized to relieve the 
severe lines of the legs, one of the sculptor’s most dif- 
ficult problems in trying to make the best of modern 
■clothing in a portrait statue. It was modeled by Miss 
Efifle Stillman, now Mrs. William Ritchie, a London sculp- 
tor, and was cast in Surrey, England. 
The pedestal proper is of Brandywine granite, with two 
sides rock-faced, and is flanked by a severely plain exedra- 
seat with a radius of feet. The memorial is illustrated 
on the cover of this issue. 
Following is the inscription on the tablet on the east side: 
Thomas Francis Bayard 
Born Oct. 29th, 1828 
Died Sept. 38th, 1898 
“Bayard is the purest and most patriotic man I know.” 
Grover Cleveland. 
The tablet on the west side reads as follows: 
United States District Attorney for Delaware 
1853-1854 
United States Senator from Delaware 
1869-1885 
Member United Staes Electoral Commission 
1877 
President Pro-Tem United States Senate 
1881 
Secretary of State of the United States 
1885-1889 
First United States Ambassador to Great Britain 
1893-1897 
“And shall these labors and these honors die?” 
— Shakespeare 
The statue, which cost $10,000, -was donated to the Bay- 
ard Memorial Association by a close friend of Mr. Bayard. 
The pedestal cost ^6,000 and was erected from funds 
raised by popular subscription. Stewart & Donohue, of 
Wilmington, were the contractors for the granite work. 
