226 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
And especially with the young would such a fea- 
ture be of marked educational value. But to make 
the plan effective and of the utmost usetulness, it 
should be the duty of every park or garden super- 
intendent to see that the labels are maintained in a 
legible and attractive condition, a duty which has 
hitherto been performed in a more or less perfunc- 
tory manner. 
I F the number of bills introduced into Congress 
for the erection of memorials and monuments 
in various parts of the country, and the aggre- 
gate of appropriations asked in the several bills for 
the work is any criterion of current conditions, 
prosperity surely prevails. Quite a number of the 
projects arc worthy of immediate action, while 
others require more mature consideration. One 
thing is certain that future public monumental work 
must'conform to the canons of art and refined taste, 
and the work from inception to finish must be free 
from the ridiculous conditions which have made re- 
cent competitions for several important monuments 
but little less than farcical. 
I N the last report of the Public Schools of Car- 
thage, Mo., very pronounced views are ex- 
pressed on the desirability of including a share 
of nature study in the geography course. The 
superintendent holds that for the time usually spent 
in teaching geography, “we do not add to the abil- 
ity of the individual or the good of the community 
as much as we should.” He further says the school 
ought to teach them tastefully to arrange and care 
for the home yard, and how to make even a small 
garden plot contribute to the pleasure and profit of 
the family. Strong recommendations are made to 
the teachers to devote a certain amount of time to 
this line of study. In the training of the young of 
the present day lies the hope of the future, and 
nothing will contribute more to the home improve- 
ment of the community, or to a proper regard for 
our forestry interests than this inculcating into the 
minds of our public school pupils a knowledge of 
tree and plant life and their relation to human wel- 
fare. To extend this idea so that all public schools 
may incorporate it as a part of school training will 
hasten incalculable good in the near future. 
M any years have elapsed since it was possi- 
ble to express ourselves exuberantly in 
taking a restrospect over the past year. It 
is scarcely proper to say that there ever was a year 
in either the individual or national life, in which 
there was nothing to be thankful for. Such a con- 
dition in either case will not bear a thought. But 
glancing backward over the year 1H99, there are so 
many vi-.tas along which we may look with ardent 
satisfaction, that we would fain draw the balance 
sheet and rest contented with the result prepara- 
tory to the massing of endeavor for a new year of 
work. In the line of the artistic development of 
the country, few years have marked such substan- 
tial progress. Art is becoming not only a part of 
the educational scheme of our people, but its prin- 
ciples and the knowledge of its effects on their 
lives are becoming interwoven in the daily affairs, 
and the recognition that a thing of beauty is a joy 
forever is the influential factor in the vast improve- 
ments made in many departments of applied art. 
This includes art in its broader applications as 
well as in particular lines. Looking over the field 
of monumental work, this condition is preeminently 
apparent. Were the desire for better and more ar- 
tistic memorials and monuments not a matter of 
fact, it would have been impossible to witness the 
improvement in such work that has marked the 
past ye ir and is demanded for the future. The peo- 
ple are rapidly coming to understand more of the 
principles of form and proportion, and their rela- 
tion to surroundings, and this being so they will 
not be satisfied with less than their intelligence re- 
quires. 
A BILL has been introduced into Congress to 
amend existing copyright law, the proposed 
amendment being of particular intt.rest to 
sculptors and designers generally. Its main features 
are as follows: If any person, after the recording 
of the description of any painting, drawing, statue, 
or statuary, or model or design intended to be per- 
fected and executed as a work of the fine arts, shall, 
within the term limited, and without the consent of 
the proprietor of the copyright in writing with sig- 
natures of witnesses attached, engrave, etch, work, 
copy, print, publish, or import either in whole 
or in part, or by varying the main design 
with intent to evade the law, or, knowing the same 
to be so imported, shall sell or offer for sale any 
copy of such article, he shall forfeit to the proprie- 
tor all the plates on which the same shall be copied, 
and every sheet thereof, either copied or printed, 
and shall further forfeit $i for every copy of the 
same in his possession, and in case of a painting, 
statue, or statuary, he shall forfeit $10 for every 
copy of the same in his possession or by him sold 
or exposed for sale: Provided, however, that in 
case of any sr.ch infringement of such described 
copyright the sum to be recovered in any one ac- 
tion brought through the provisions of this section 
shall not be less than $250 nor more than $10,000. 
One-half of all the penalties would go the proprie- 
tor of the copyright, the other half to the use amd 
benefit of the United States. 
