2,^6 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
for tlie purpose. This brought in many cases tlie 
Burial Board or Churchwardens into conflict with 
llie rector of the p.irisli, the latter being by law 
during his incumbency the holder of a freehold 
ri<2ht in all the land and buildings enclosed within 
the churchyard fence or walls. It is not surprising 
therefore, that so many of the burial grounds 
should have fallen into gross neglect, despite the 
legislative effort to keep them in good and whole- 
some order. Greater difficulties still arose in 
regard to unconsecrated and private burial places 
and even the dissenters’ burying grounds. The 
worse than neglect which some of those suffered 
became notorious. 
* * * 
Several of the burying grounds were converted 
into gardens before 1S77. ^he pioneer in such a 
radical movement as this was St. George’s in the 
Bast. The obstacles to be surmounted b'=fore this 
conversion could be effected were great. But 
when it was accomplished a useful precedent was 
established and it was quickly followed by the 
dean and chapter of St. Paul’s. St. George’s be- 
came in place of “a graveyard dank and clayey,” 
a f^arden of three acres “always bright and neat 
and full of people enjoying the seats and the grass 
and the flowers and the air.” 
* * * 
A .new movement -was begun in 1882. The 
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association was 
formed. It grew out of two organizations, the 
Kyrle Society and the National Health Society. 
Each of these had an “Open Space Committee,” 
m iking what effort was possible towards securing 
“out-door sitting rooms,” as some one very aptly 
called them — open spaces furnished with seats in 
the midst of the poor districts. The funds avail- 
able for this purpose were scanty, and the two 
committees accomplished but little save that they 
influ Ml :ed public opinion in the right direction. 
They did, indeed, procure grants of seats for 
some of the churchyards which were being laid 
out as gardens and they were valuable in showing 
the advisability of an association expressly de- 
s gned for preserving, acquiring and laying out 
open spaces in the midst of the densely populated 
cit3M The Public Gardens Association resulted 
and absorbed into itself the Open Space Commit- 
tee of the National Health Society. The Kyrle 
society continued its separate existence and under 
the stimulus given to its work by the newer move- 
ment, laid out as gardens four very important 
ttraveyards. 
° * * * 
There was no better way of providing for the 
wants of the poor of the congested London districts 
than by providing breathing places and play- 
grounds for them. There was no better way of 
taking up and cleansing the disused cemeteries, 
now made the dumping grounds of their respective 
neighborhoods, than to convert them into gardens 
or at least into open, paved or asphalted spaces, 
provided with seats where the wayfarer might stop 
and rest. No other ground was to be so readily 
obtained. It seemed an economic measure from 
whichever standpoint it was viewed. Nevertheless 
the work of the association was greatly obstructed 
and it was in the face of much opposition that it 
succeded in three hundred and twenty of its 
undertakings within the next thirteen years while 
it failed in its offers and attempts in about two 
hundred cases. And in the end it has succeeded 
in the conversion of over two hundred such plague 
centres as have been described as representative 
burial places in previous papers, into wholesome 
breathing spaces and recreation grounds for the 
poor of an over-populated capital. The Metropol- 
itan Board of Works, the London County Council, 
the city corporation, public vestries and private 
individuals were enlisted in this good work, which 
is not y^et finished, and the Public Gardens associa- 
tion met its best success in changing the tone of 
public opinion and in securing such legislation as 
will permit the readier accomplishment of its pur- 
poses without conflicting with any of the vested 
rights of individuals or corporations, or the recog- 
nized rights of consecrated grounds. And it is 
gratifying to record that the results of its efforts 
have been deeply appreciated by the class of 
people for whose benefit they were intended. 
-:i:- * * 
Incidentally the Public Gardens association has 
proved of economic value to the civic life in other 
ways than in merely improving the appearance of 
the city and ameliorating the conditions of the 
poorer inhabitants. A large part of their work 
was accomplished in two successive winters out of 
grants from the Mansion House fund for^the em- 
ployment of the unemployed. In this manner 
more than eleven thousand pounds have been dis- 
bursed among the poorer classes in payment for 
labor which went directly to their own benefit and 
to the benefit of their families. 
» * * 
The legislation secured by the Public Gardens 
association to enable it to carry out its schemes 
would serve as a model upon which similar work- 
might be done on this side of the Atlantic, always 
bearing in mind that conditions are very different 
here than in London. There is not here the same 
