PARK AND CEMETERY 
47 
j. .lace was concerned, came to naught. The scheme 
j..ogressed so far that the small stream and marshy 
pools were drained, and the lake formed by widen- 
ing and damming up the stream; paths were formed 
and trees planted — all this so done that £20,000 out 
of the Royal purse was used by Walpole for the 
work without the knowledge of the King, who 
imagined that the Queen was all the time paying 
for it out of her own coffers. The truth was known 
only at the Queen’s death. 
The Serpentine is too well known to the Lon- 
doner to require detailed description. Upon its 
waters boating and skating take place during the 
respective seasons. Bathing is also indulged in be- 
tween stated hours, and under regulations as to the 
area set apart for the purpose. 
Kensington Gardens possess another lake — the 
Basin — which, though much smaller than the Ser- 
pentine, is very popular as a model-yacht racing 
pool — a pastime for which the waters of the park 
are greatly used. 
A description of Hyde Park would hardly be 
complete, perhaps, without mention of the north- 
east corner, near the Marble Arch, which is given 
up on Sundays and certain other days to the discus- 
sion, in more or less active form, of certain relig- 
ious, social and political problems — thereby gaining 
the name of “Agitators’ Corner.’’ If a park is the 
lungs of a city, then surely this corner must be the 
lungs of the oppressed, for here one may hear the 
venting of grievances, colorless and colored, real 
and imaginary, which serve, if to no otlier purpose, 
as a safety valve to the whole of our wonderful 
social engine. 
The First County’ ParK System — IV. 
( Concluded. ) 
It is unnecessary to follow this unhappy state of 
affairs in any detail. The growing antipathy of the 
general public to the commission, the constant effort 
of the traction company, the complications brought 
about by the material interests of the ruling members 
of the commission and the co-operation of other or- 
ganizations in order to bring out of chaos a prospect of 
some promise to the people, creates such a complica- 
tion that it requires hard study to gasp it. 
The Trolley corporation secured its ordinance which 
was almost a foregone conclusion, and the mayor 
had signed it. Public indignation was immediately 
aroused; the Park Commission was severely criticised, 
charges of “boodle’’ were made, and the press assailed 
the vicious proceedings. And so the merry war pro- 
ceeded until 1904 when the parkways movement and 
the plans for the completion of the Essex County park 
system culminated. 
On February 29 of that year the Court of Errors 
and Appeals handed down a decision in the East 
Orange Central Avenue trolley ordinance case revers- 
ing the ruling of the Supreme court and declaring the 
ordinance invalid. This cleared the parkway atmos- 
phere and active operations were instituted in several 
directions to induce the Park Commission to exert 
itself for the fulfillment of the park plans. Legal and 
legislative proceedings were commenced to unravel 
the tangle and to make plain sailing, but the opponents 
and corporation interests were also vigilant and ap- 
parently more powerful than the people. Another or- 
dinance was before the East Orange City council, 
June I3,i904,and the session was carried far into the 
night; everything was done to convert the council to 
the popular will, but a majority were determined, in 
any way possible, to carry the ordinance for trol- 
ley interests, and to the eternal disgrace of their fel- 
PZ-RK AVENUE BRIDGE, ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., PARK SYSTEM. 
