PARK AND CEMETERY. 
286 - 
OUTDOOR ART IN PUBLIC SCHOOL GARDENS 
There is no more direct and per- 
sonal means for extending and foster- 
ing an appreciation of outdoor art than 
is afforded through the medium of 
the public school gardens. Why these 
great educative factors have been so 
long neglected is beyond comprehen- 
sion. A concrete or graded play- 
ground, enclosed by a wall or high 
board fence, barren of trees or shrubs, 
is not conducive to the highest ap- 
preciation of the eternal fitness of 
home surroundings. 
Children who constantly play in a 
dreary school yard are not shocked 
or annoyed by the barren conditions 
of their own home yards, while on the 
contrary if the school grounds are 
adequate and planned, planted and 
cared for with some degree of taste, 
the refining influence will undoubtedl}^ 
be felt, and unsanitary, unsightly and 
ugly home conditions will not satisfy. 
When the same expenditure of money 
and taste that is made for pictures and 
statuary for the decoration of school 
interiors, is made for the improve- 
ment of school grounds, a man will not 
be willing to spend ten thousand 
dollars for a house and two hundred 
for improving his yard. 
A new, up-to-date, beautiful school 
house was built in a Bohemian dis- 
trict. When the children moved into 
it in the spring, there were more 
clean collars, more starch in the little 
dresses, more flowers on the hats 
and the pink, blue, red and green rib- 
bons were of a more vivid tone. 
The fine, new school in “Little 
Italy” has reduced discipline to the 
minimum. There is no careless march- 
ing, the backs are erect, bodies 
straight — the children have something 
to live up to. 
What is true of the school house, is 
equally true of the school yard. Cities 
maintain well-kept parks and boule- 
vards; private citizens plant gardens 
that are a delight to those who have 
access to them; but what of the chil- 
dren who live in the tenements, alleys 
Or even on good streets. They are 
not in touch with the beautiful things 
the rich can provide for themselves 
or the city maintains for those who 
By LO VISE KLEIN MILLER 
Curator of School Gardens.^ Clex'cland^ O- 
can go and enjoy them. The school 
must be the radiating center for civic 
improvement. It is not enough to 
point the way, it is necessary to show 
the way. 
Last autumn the writer was super- 
intending some planting in a school 
garden. The garden includes a rock 
garden, formal garden, vegetable 
garden and herbaceous botanical gar- 
den. The design called for arches, 
arbors, a sun dial and two garden 
seats. The plan was submitted to the 
Women’s Club with the result that 
the Cleveland Federation of Women’s 
Clubs gave the seats and the Cleve- 
land Sorosis the sun dial. The seats, 
which are of sandstone, were de- 
ROSEDALE SCHOOL GARDEN, CLEVELAND. O. 
Showing Stone Seats, Sun-Dial, and Entianee. 
yard in a smoky manufacturing dis- 
trict in the city, and noticed the 
keen interest manifested by one of 
the nei.ghbors. The woman finally 
came to the fence and with an ex- 
pression of the highest appreciation, 
said: “My! but ain’t you layin’ it 
out swell!” Another woman in a 
congested district told her she was so 
glad there would be one beautiful 
garden in the neighborhood. 
The most commodious school 
grounds in Cleveland are at Rosedale 
school, where there is a large lawn, 
playground and space for the school 
.signed, made and put in place by the 
sculptor, Mr, Joseph Carabelli of the 
Lake View Granite Works, A large 
glacial boulder around which the 
children of Oakland school had played 
for years, before they moved to the 
new school, w'as movetl, set in place, 
marked and surmounted by the sun 
dial. The dial is of bronze, modeled 
after an old one, bearing these in- 
scriptions: “Time is valuable" and 
“Thus we sec how the w'orld wags.” 
The dedication took place, Alay 
11th in the garden and was a signifi- 
cant affair. The program consisted 
