PARK AND CEMETERY. 
197 
IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS. "|L 
Conducted by (,•,,. 
Frances Copley Seavey. 
Leave the World a pleasanter place than yon found it. 
WINTER WORK. 
Tn time of peace, prepare for war, may be good 
advice for nations but in our line we must occupy 
the season of warring elements with preparation for 
the peaceful campaign of summer. 
In both cases, however, the ‘‘sinews of war” 
mean the same and are more or less a neces- 
sity, so raising money may be considered an im- 
portant part of the winter work of Improvement 
Associations, though the chief end of such work as 
I shall suggest is to arouse interest and, if possible, 
enthusiasm, in the subject while at the same time 
imparting wholesome information in a manner so 
agreeable that it is recognized as pleasant recrea- 
tion. 
The would be landscape painter has first to learn 
how to see; how to look at scenes and objects in 
their various aspects that he may learn the secrets 
of composition, of atmosphere, of breadth, of what 
to see and of what to overlook; of all that pertains to 
seeing what constitutes good landscape art. One 
who has not had this eye training is incompetent 
to judge such paintings, for they have never correctly 
seen the aspects of nature that are depicted. 
^ All this is in some degree true of the position of 
the general public in relation to various phases of 
landscape gardening, and if it can be shown the dif- 
ference between good and bad planting, a long step 
towards rousing interest, raising money, and the 
ultimate success of the work of any given associa- 
tion will have been taken. 
As has been intimated elsewhere in these papers, 
the best way to put the subject clearly before the 
people is by furnishing good examples, and the 
next best way is by illustrated talks by a competent 
landscape gardener or by a well informed amateur. 
The material for lantern slides to be used in il- 
lustrating such little lectures— talks is abetter word 
should be diligently gathered by club members 
who are camerists and can take pictures of good and 
bad front gardens and back yards, neglected 
grounds and those that have been nicely improved, 
barren railroad station grounds and those 
that are planted and cared for, littered commons or 
public squares and those that have been trans- 
formed by trees and shrubs, dreary graveyards and 
modern cemeteries that are cared for on the lawn 
plan, bleak or sun scorched school house grounds 
and others that have been reclaimed and human- 
ized, unsheltered churches and those that 
have been shaded and screened by planting, and so 
on. There is no end to the subjects that may be se- 
cured for showing the before and after effects of ap- 
propriate planting. If such negatives are not avail- 
able at home, it should not be a difficult matter to 
get them from other clubs. 
Once secured, these lantern slides with the talks 
to accompany them may be worked into a Lyceum 
course, utilized as a church or school entertainment, 
or boldly brought forward as one or two numbers 
for a course of entertainments gotten up by any Im- 
provement Association for raising funds to be used 
in prosecuting the campaign of the coming spring 
and summer. In anycase they will prove popular. 
Other entertainments included in such a series 
mightbe chosen to suit any community, as tableaux, 
living pictures, living statuary, a musical or literary 
evening, a play, progressive whist or other progres- 
sive games, etc., but at least two evenings of such 
a series should be devoted to carefully thought out, 
aptly illustrated talks, such as have been men- 
tioned here because they are most helpful, serving 
as they do the double purpose of bringing in money 
and making friends for the cause. In no other way 
can be so distinctly shown what may be accom- 
plished along these lines. 
Aside from developing means and interest, the 
next in importance of possible winter work, is de- 
ciding what needs to be done. 
A plan for the summer campaign is as neces- 
sary as interest among the residents and friends for 
the work. To do anything well there must first be 
a clear understanding as to what is to be done. 
There is a always someone thing. to be done, that 
is of paramount importance. That is the thing to 
do first. There is usually something else that comes 
a close second after the first, and that is what 
should be taken in hand as the second feature of the 
season’s work. And so on, taking up each bit of 
work in the order decided upon. In this way, by 
calmly, leisurely and intelligently planning in ad- 
vance, the most and the best can be done with both 
time and money when the season for active work is 
come, and there will be fewer false moves and less 
to regret when the working days are over and the 
results are reviewed. F. C. S. 
* * * 
It is well said that ‘‘in selecting work to be 
done the end to be accomplished must recommend 
itself. There must be real work to do, and its ex- 
pediency or its necessity must appeal to the moral 
and aesthetic sense. Something can always be 
done when the public recognizes the need of do- 
ing.” 
