94 
PARK AND CE/AETCRY 
TENNIS COURTS — FRANK.I.IN PARK. BOSTON, MASS 
tinctly the reflection of Director Sargent’s eye and 
mind, Lynn Woods evidences the fostering care 
and sentiment of Mr. Chase, and so on. Usually 
the original movers or inceptors of these glorious 
openings or “breathing spaces” inspire the com- 
munity with enthusiasm for the earnest taken in 
the peoples welfare and I fail to And any mercenary 
motives of consequence which actuated the found- 
ers or workers in our present Park System. 
Franklin Park differs from Lynn Woods as much 
as Lynn Woods differs from the Arboretum. The 
former is effeminate, Lynn Woods, masculine 
and the arboretum a delicious sylvan re- 
treat. The Middlesex Fells, Blue Flill and 
other sections of our woody reservations all 
possess beauties quite individual, and the guiding 
hand of Baxter, the instigator of the Metropolitan 
Park Commission, and Devenport in his poetic 
words and efforts help to keep the former park 
simple and rural. 
It would be hard to say which of our parks are 
the most interesting, each one is a jewel set in the 
breast of Nature’s mantle. When I return from 
Franklin Park after an early morning’s walk, I am 
filled with the sweetest sensations. It is a poetic, 
receptive, gentle park, even the “Out look” and 
“Wilderness” do not shake off my aesthetic drowse, 
nor do the glacial bowlders of pudding stone for- 
mation, which rise like giant heads here and there, 
alter my impressions. The tangle of ivy, the wild 
shrubbery, the massive sweep of the rocky facades, 
which force the hard, smooth white drive ways to 
curve, and sway in another direction, these sugges- 
tive evidences of natural accessories to those ap- 
plied, do not disturb the tranquility of my mind, 
which the co(|uettish park has given me. I am 
subdued and quiet, the quest for the robust in 
nature does not occur here, nor was it intended 
that it should, as one may easily discover if he will 
but wander over the precincts, and as the space 
alloted for this article is too small for details, a drive 
will disclose the salient features of Franklin Park. 
The Park is named for Benjamin Franklin for 
the following reasons: — By the will of Dr. Benjamin 
Franklin approved in 1791, he directed that the 
sum of money left by him to the town of Boston 
(one thousand pounds), and known as the Franklin 
P'und, should be loaned at interest, and allowed to 
accumulate for one hundred years, at which period 
he estimated itwouldreach the amount of $655,000. 
Of this sum the trustees at that date (1891) were 
empowered to lay out $100,000 in some important 
public work or works, and the balance of the fund 
should again be put at interest and allowed to 
accumulate for one hundred years, when the town 
of Boston was to dispose of a portion of the fund 
and the State of Massachusetts to use the remain- 
der. Owing to the various causes the fund was 
not very productive in its early years, or it would 
have reached a larger figure than it now exhibits. 
Its annual growth at the present time exceeds 
5810,000. The sum ^388,000, of which the city 
took for the purpose of developing Franklin Park 
about $290,000, the remainder being placed at in- 
terest. 
From the Blue Hill avenue entrance, the lain- 
est of six, which spreads out its enticing broad arms 
of welcome, one obtains a glimpse of the proposed 
Deer Park of eighteen acres, on a rising gentle 
slope to the right of the carriage stand. Then 
comes the “Greeting” with nineteen acres in pro- 
cess of completion, and from this point we gain an 
