PARK AND CEMETERY. 
15^ 
giving thought to the monumental question as it 
relates to the natural features involved in the new 
order of cemetery improvement, will readily come 
to the conclusion that too much stonework whether 
in monuments or otherwise is opposed to the spirit 
of landscape art. So to prosecute a campaign of 
education on the subject of monuments, with a 
view of teaching how in their multiplicity they are 
comparatively valueless, and, so far as the sentiment 
is concerned which moved their erection, how short- 
lived it is, would appear to be a proper course to 
pursue. It will take much time to create reaction 
on the lines suggested in the, paper, but the land- 
scape cemetery will never attain its highest perfec- 
tion until the monument accentuates and does not 
overwhelm the outlook, nor until the monument is 
erected to teach great lessons, and is to this end 
designed on such lines of high art, that nature and 
art shall be made to combine their beauties to the 
uplifting of the observer. Then the desire to per- 
petuate the cemetery will be an inheritance of in- 
creasing import as the generations succeed to the 
trust. 
’THE GALVESTON The shocking and terrible disaster 
’DISASTE%. which has overtaken the city of 
Galveston has touched the chords of sympathy 
throughout the world, but horrible and devastating 
as it has been, it is evident that in the undercurrent 
of thought there has lurked a premonition of some 
such calamity. It is certain that had it been pos- 
sible for scientific knowledge to have been applied 
to the building of Galveston, the houses, which 
have proved to have been built upon sand, in name 
as well as in fact, would have been constructed 
more substantially in their lower stories. In the 
matter of rebuilding the city with its important 
business accessories, the question of more substan- 
tial construction is the controlling one in the minds 
of those discussing the situation. Had the found- 
ation stories of the buildings been adapted to the 
peculiar conditions of the site, whatever the hurri- 
cane may have done in the way of destruction, it is 
more than probable that that due to the encroach- 
ment of the sea would have been trifling in com- 
parison. 
SMALL The necessity of more breathing spaces in 
TcAEKS. Q^jj. larger cities, and the difficulty of ob- 
taining appropriate sites at reasonable outlay, has 
developed many suggestions to overcome this snag 
in the course of their establishment. The ob- 
stacles encountered in the older cities should serve 
as a most powerful incentive to our growing towns 
to secure or set apart while it is yet time, suitable 
areas in appropriate situations to meet the demand 
for small parks when the proper time comes. In 
Chicago the authorities are having quite a serious 
time in finding such sites and it is possible they may 
have to resort to expedients to serve temporary 
purposes. In this connection it might be said that 
had the grounds surrounding the public schools 
been improved and cared for in the past as should 
have been the case, conditions would have been 
present in the city, which by proper regulations 
could have readily served to a limited extent such 
temporary needs. The difficulty in the choice of 
sites, a serious part of the problem, bids fair to be 
solved satisfactorily, the committee on small parks 
having requested the co-operation of the heads of 
the several “settlements” and other workers in the 
crowded districts. Such co-operation promises ex- 
cellent results and with little opportunity for quib- 
bling. A number of property owners have also 
offered the use of vacant property for a specified 
time under conditions, almost free of cost to the 
city, and it may readily be concluded that in one 
way or the other the now well understood necessity 
of small parks and play spots for the overcharged 
districts will be met in one or the other avenues 
opening up for immediate results. 
MUNICITAL The efforts of the sculptors and archi- 
tects to give to the people some ex- 
amples of municipal art for special occasions, have 
recently been seen in New York, Philadelphia and 
Chicago. The Dewey Arch in New York, a splen- 
did suggestion as to the power of American art, 
opened the series, which recently culminated in 
the Court of Honor, in Chicago, erected in greet- 
ing of the Grand Army of the Republic at its en- 
campment. The architects succeeded in producing 
two arches, which were markedly chaste in design 
and effectively harmonious in proportion and de- 
tail, and they were accentuated by groups of 
sculpture, whose motives appealed both to the pub- 
lic and to the veterans of the civil war. As with 
the Dewey arch in New York, a strong sentiment 
prevails to perpetuate the arches in more durable 
material at some prominent locality of the city, and 
the idea is an excellent one; but the experience in 
the New York project does not augur well for the 
erection of such costly decorative work at present. 
Art is young in this country, and there is so much 
to be done to create a public interest in it. Until 
that time comes there must be many available and 
highly laudatory schemes exploited and postponed. 
The time is coming, however, and that rapidly 
when our cities will not only be noted for refine- 
ment in architecture and the homes, but in the 
larger features of municipal decoration. Art is 
making rapid headway on our public buildings, it 
will soon become more familiar on our streets. 
