42 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS. ^4-. 
Conducted by .•/). 
Frances Copley Seavey. 
Leave the World a pleasanter place than you fotind it. 
METHODS. 
We have found, stated broadly, that the pur- 
pose of Improvement Associations is the building 
up and the beautifying of towns, villages, com- 
munities and neighborhoods, to the direct end of 
making them more inviting places of residence. 
The incidental results are many and include: 
(1) the increased healthfulness of such locations, 
(2) the added comfort and pleasure of the residents, 
and (3) the increased value of real estate. 
Diverse methods of accomplishing these ends 
have been and may be adopted. Those that prove 
successful in one place may not fit the conditions 
elsewhere. It is for officers and executive com- 
mittees to choose wisely among the many, those that 
in their judgment, best suit local prejudice and feel- 
ing. The tact that is able to do this is pretty sure 
to carry the entire undertaking to a successful issue. 
Among the methods that we shall suggest are 
some that would seem adapted to all locations and 
conditions, and some that have been successfully 
tried by established societies whose officers have 
kindly reported their proceedings for the common 
good of writer and readers; to all of whom I now 
return grateful thanks. 
A favorite method with some of the eastern as- 
sociations, and one that would seem applicable 
everywhere, is the “Field Day” so-called, which 
consists of a forenoon devoted to the work of the 
organization (carefully planned before hand), fol- 
lowed by a public dinner with speeches, toasts and 
perhaps some other features of entertainment. In 
applying this method it would probably sometimes 
be better to give a full day to work followed by a 
supper and a social evening. 
In some places this is called the “Sidewalk 
Dinner”, because the society keeps the walks in or- 
der, but in incorporated villages of the middle west 
this work would be outside the province of the Im- 
provement Club. There can be as many Field 
days as seems desirable and they may be set for any 
time that seems best, but there are several semi- 
legal holidays in the spring anyone of which would 
serve. 
Washington’s or Lincoln’s birthday would do 
very well for preliminary spring work, but Arbor 
Day is a pre-eminently fitting choice either for the 
first Field Day of the year, or in its individnal ca- 
pacity as the time wisely set apart by the Govern- 
ment primarily for tree planting — though the plant- 
ing ought not to be limited to trees. 
Arbor Day work may appropriately include plant- 
ing trees and shrubs in streets, and in church, school 
and railway station grounds; preparing and plant- 
ing any unsightly plot that may be utilized, even 
temporarily, as a little park; preparing and turfing 
a generous strip of ground between sidewalks and 
street driveways, where street shade trees are set 
and where shrubs can often be used with excellent 
effect; gathering and carting away rubbish from 
streets, public ground and vacant lots, and either 
utilizing such material for drainage or burying it; 
the removal of ash heaps that should not have been 
allowed to accumulate, but rather have been spread 
in low spots in unpaved streets; setting street hitch- 
ing posts in shaded, hut out of the way situations 
where they will not become a public nuisance; and 
such other work as is necessary to make streets, 
and public and vacant property tidy. 
Such work adds to the pleasure and comfort of 
living, tends to better sanitation, sets an example 
that influences individuals to make improvements 
that they might otherwise overlook, and even spurs 
a town in its corporate capacity to appropriate 
money for needed, but too often neglected, im- 
provements. 
The features mentioned are necessary prelimin- 
aries common to all communities, and while it is 
not probable that all can be done in a day — even a 
Field day — still, with good management and en- 
thusiastic leaders, an excellent start can be made, 
and an impetus generated that will push the spring 
work to completion. 
Some Improvement Associations place galvan- 
ized iron receptacles at intervals into which it is re- 
quested that ashes, banana skins, apple cores, waste 
paper, etc., shall be thrown instead of in the streets, 
and organize children into a volunteer street clean- 
ing department, whose business it is to see that 
such rubbish is so deposited, or, if there are no re- 
ceptacles that it is otherwise decently disposed of. 
Decoration Day may well be chosen as appro- 
priate in time and character for certain phases of 
the work. It is the time of universal interest in the 
“sweet grave ground,” so the efforts of the day 
should, as heretofore, be devoted to cemetery work, 
but with these differences: let permanent planting 
at least partially replace the ephemeral decorations 
that perish before sunset; and, if it is possible, in- 
culcate a broader view of what constitutes good 
cemetery decorations by considering the ground 
as a whole, instead of as an aggregation of indivi- 
dual lots, and planting in such a way as to improve 
the looks of the entire inclosure. This may be done 
