37 b 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
ment. From there the party went through Wade 
Park and along the beautiful drive following Doan 
Brook through Rockefeller and Gordon Parks, over 
the route which klr. Holden had described on the pre- 
vious evening. Mr. Holden’s beautiful residence on the 
lake shore was reached late in the afternoon where the 
visitors spent a delightful hour wandering aboitt the 
grounds. Light refreshments were served and the re- 
turn to the city was made at dusk. 
At the Thursday evening session President J. Hor- 
ace McFarland presented his illustrated lecture on the 
“First Steps in Improvement Work.” He said and 
emphasized that enthusiasm was the first requisite for 
successful work. The first series of pictures showed 
back yard and home improvements in Seattle, Wash. 
Here the method employed was to publish pictures of 
unsightly spots in the newspapers which generally re- 
sulted in a speedy cleaning up. A number of very 
dirtv back yards were shown that had been beautified 
at an expenditure of sums ranging from loc to $ 1 . 20 . 
Some good examples of successful planting of grass 
plots on streets were shown as profitable ways of util- 
izing unnecessary traffic space. Billboards were also 
taken' up and pictures of nuisances and how they had 
been abated were shown. The speaker advised that 
the best method of procedure was to make them ex- 
pensive — tax them and then clean up behind them and 
fail to patronize goods advertised in an objectionable 
manner. Street trees, he said, should be under mu- 
nicipal control. Many instances of mutilation and mis- 
use of trees he said could be prevented by property 
owners who can protect trees on or near their own 
land. Some interesting views of public baths, bridges, 
public parks and play grounds were also shown. 
An address on the improvement of Washington 
which was to have been presented by Charles Moore 
of Detroit was not presented owing to the absence of 
]\Ir. Moore, who sent his paper which is to be print- . 
ed in the proceedings of the Association. 
^hird Day, Friday, October 6th. 
Tfie Friday morning session opened in the Hollen- 
den Hotel with a paper on “Arts and Crafts as Factors 
in Civic Improvement,” by Mrs. M. F. Johnston, of 
Richmond, Ind., Vice-President of the Arts and Crafts 
Department. The Arts and Crafts movement, said 
the speaker, has done much to spread the appreciation 
of art among the people. Beauty in art helps one to 
understand beauty in nature. The art societies in small 
towns are of more democratic nature than in the larger 
cities. She described the successful work of the Rich- 
mond Art Association, which had been giving yearly 
exhibitions for nine years. About half of the popula- 
tion and many from surrounding towns attended. 
The exhibitions are given in a public school building 
and include both fine and industrial arts, which the 
speaker said should not be separated. 
Mrs. Charles F. Millspaugh, of Chicago, spoke on 
“Women as a Factor in Civic Improvement.” She 
took as her text “What would be fair must first be 
fit,” and declared that the first question was how to 
clean up. She instanced many successful examples of 
improvement work inaugurated by v»^omen. The 
South Park Improvement Association, of Chicago, was 
one of the most active of these. It has kept the streets J 
and vacant lots clean and has succeeded in interesting 
the school children by means of competition. A plan 
of the districts has been made and tree planting start- 
ed. The example of the Association has induced the , 
establishment of a number of other local improvement 
societies in the city. A Lincoln, Neb., association, , 
composed entirely of women, has conducted a success- ; 
ful war on weeds, improved school grounds, and in- 
duced a general cleaning up of the city. A Browning 
Club, in Stillwater, Okla., has never studied Browning 
but has regenerated the cemetery and organized an 
active Cemetery Board. The Woman’s Board of : 
Trade, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and organizations of : 
women at Pekin and Waukegan, 111., and Mason City, , 
Iowa, has also been successful in improving cemeteries, i 
The California branch of the Woman’s Outdoor ! 
League succeeded in arousing interest in the Calaveras 1 
groves, which has become a question of national in- | 
terest. The Improvement Association of Columbia, S. ■ 
C., of which a woman is president, has formed and ! 
prepared a systematic plan for improving the whole | 
city and placed the work in the hands of an expert ' 
landscape architect. Other successful work of women ■ 
was noted at Salt Lake City, Utah, Waterbury, Conn., 
and Portsmouth, Ohio. ' 
On motion of Harlan P. Kelsey a resolution was 1 
passed appointing a committee to take such action as i 
seemed necessary on behalf of the Association for the ' 
furthering of legislation for the establishment of forest 1 
reserves in the Southern Appalachean Mountains and ' 
also in the White Mountains. 
A symposium on “Ways and Means” consisted of i 
twenty-three very brief addresses in thirty-four min- j 
utes, making practical suggestions for carrying on dif- j 
ferent phases of the work. | 
The Second Step in Park Development was the sub- 1 
ject of an address by George A. Parker, Superintend- 1 
ent of Parks, Hartford, Conn., from which we quote 
as follows : 
Ihe first step in municipal park development began in 1849, 
with' the articles which A. J. Downing wrote for the New 
York papers. To them can be traced the formation of Elm 
Park in Worcester, Bushnell Park in Hartford, and Central 
Park in New York, the first three distinctly municipal parks 
in the United States. During the next five years a portion 
of the land now known as Fairmount Park, in Philadelphia, 
was taken from the water department and dedicated for park 
purposes. Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, Lincoln Park in 
Chicago were begun, and some other cities were taking steps 
towards installing municipal parks. During the period of our 
Civil War but little was done in park work, but about 1870 
it revived with considerable energy, and during the next 
