PARK AND CEMETERY 
85 
FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE AMERL 
CAN PARK AND OUTDOOR ART 
ASSOCIATION. 
There could hardly be a better criterion of the time- 
liness of the work of the American Park and Outdoor 
Art Association than the increasing scope, interest 
and results of its annually recurring conventions dis- 
play. The fifth of these annual gatherings was held 
in Milwaukee, Wis., June 26 to 28, and was no excep- 
tion to the rule suggested above ; and although in 
point of attendance from outside points it was disap- 
pointing, with the help of the Woman’s Auxiliary, it 
developed into the most successful, from the view- 
point of work performed, of any previous meeting. 
Milwaukee is a beautiful city, a progressive place, 
with its 300,000 inhabitants, and ample facilities and 
business aggressiveness to take advantage of the op- 
portunities which this convention ofifered in the way 
of practical suggestions for outdoor improvement. The 
headquarters of the Association, while in Milwaukee, 
were at the Hotel Pfister, where all the meetings, ex- 
cept that to which the general public was invited, were 
held. 
Wednesday^ June 26 — Morning Session. 
The proceedings opened at 10 :30 a. m., with Pres- 
ident L. E. Holden, of Cleveland, in the chair. The 
mayor of the city, Mr. D. S. Rose, who was appro- 
priately introduced by the president, delivered an in- 
teresting address of welcome, in which he comprehen- 
sively described the business interests of the city and 
its growth, touched upon the necessity of beautifying 
home surroundings, reviewed the park system, its re- 
quirements and possibilities, advocating the increase 
of small park areas for congested districts, and among 
many good things said ; “It should be the aim of 
every citizen to bring" within its borders as many of 
the features of country life as it is possible to secure. 
Trees, flowers and birds give more relation to man- 
kind than anything else, and there is more value in 
bringing them into the lives of city people than any- 
thing else that could be done.” 
After returning the thanks of the Association for 
the warm welcome so adequately expressed. President 
Holden read his annual address, which was an elab- 
orate and eloquent sermon on the cause for which the 
Association stands, and is worthy of wide distribu- 
tion. In relation to the origin of parks in this coun- 
try, Mr. Holden said that the pilgrim fathers and their 
immediate descendants, and their lot of hard neces- 
sity, precluded to any extent the cultivation of art 
ideas or the consideration of such matters as parks. He 
stated that up to some fifty or sixty years ago, Boston 
Common was about the only public park in New Eng- 
land, and was an outgrowth of the English idea of 
commons. An interesting account of the acquisition 
and development of Boston Common and the Boston 
parks follows. Beautiful thoughts are the .following : 
“Out-door art! Do we understand the fullness of these 
words? Can we give a definition that will be accepted, 
comprehended and felt? Often-times, and one may say al- 
ways, in speaking or in writing, it is necessary to lead up to 
aesthetics by description and by illustration, so as to bring 
from our own minds into the minds of others a correct 
comprehension of what we desire to express. Public opin- 
ion on any subject is a thing of growth; an idea is con- 
ceived by one who may be perhaps in advance of his fellow- 
man, the conception of his own mind grows as he thinks. 
The thought is communicated to another, perhaps to many 
others. It may be partially or fully understood, and in some 
instances the idea is expanded, magnified and beautified by 
perhaps a keener mind, a more loving soul than the one 
who first originated the idea. So the thought goes on until 
the people are educated, until a public opinion on the sub- 
ject has grown and become, as it were, a unit. Thus knowl- 
edge is made teachable, thus ideas and feelings upon art, 
things beautiful and . lovable, are disseminated. First we 
must have the thinking mind, the feeling soul and sincere 
disposition to impart and to receive the true, the beautiful 
and the good. In the divine mind, in the divirie heart, in 
the divine soul of the universe are all beauty in form, in 
color and in harmony. When the ear in devotion is laid 
low to the earth, unseen voices whisp_er, unheard of tones 
come sweetly forth from the unknown, and the soul ;3 
kindled up with divine reverence from the voice of the 
silence. When the eye is turned in loving devotion, in sin- 
cere desire to see the beautiful in Nature, it is as sure to 
come as the tree is to bring forth its leaf in the springtime, 
or the flower to bring out its petals and bloom — sunbeams 
distilled in infinitive variety of color and perfume. When 
the soul with all its sense of sight, smell, hearing and feel- 
ing, joins in that ever-defining and never-defined power 
which we call love, opens its sensitivities to the voices and 
impulses of the divine spirit, ever manifesting itself to those 
who think, see and truly feel, the prayer will surely be an- 
swered. So we touch the Infinite, so we commune with 
the Infinite, so we receive the inspiration of God, and then 
we begin to understand something of the art idea. So 
broad, so comprehensive, so grand, so loving and truly 
beautiful is this divine revelation that we bow our spirits in 
devotion and thanksgiving that we are so made and have 
so rich a heritage that by knowing, seeing and feeling the 
spirits of beauty and of love we may well say; Indeed we 
are made a little lower than the angels.” . . . 
“One thing is certain, there can be no monopoly of the 
art idea; there can be no trust that can control the highest 
and the best thinkers. The eye will still turn to the bputi- 
ful in nature, and the soul of men and women will still go 
on praying for larger freedom, for a fuller love of art and 
of common brotherhood. T. he man must yet triumph, the 
divine idea must prevail. All this world was filled with in- 
dividuality, from each leaf on every tree, from each petal 
in every flower, so stamped that the divine mark of crea- 
tion is on the forms and faces and the very best hearts and 
souls of men and women, and cannot be obliterated unless 
the creations of God are purposeless. . . . Our mission 
as an association is to help the people to be free by giving 
them a fuller knowledge of themselves, of the heritage which 
has come to them in human life, a fuller comprehension of 
their value, of how richly they are endowed in this, that 
they can see and feel and know the things of beauty which 
the Great Father has created. As interpreters of his 
thoughts we are to stand as seers and prophets helping to 
reveal the higher thought and feeling, the large love of art 
in nature and nature in art. ... 
“The art idea will be an elevator of men just in propor- 
tion as it is understood and becomes a part of each that it 
is not all of life to live, nor all of death to dip._ It is to teach 
that there is something worth more in this world than 
money, that a man may pay too dear for money; it is above 
all things the mission of this association to give forth cor- 
rect ideas of home in all that the house and grounds can 
express, and to do this we must be a school, we must be 
teachers, we must have access to the best thought there is 
in the owners of homes. We must teach them the correct 
idea of life and show them that there is a point where a 
great master becomes greater by stopping to accumulate 
and giving his ability to the world beautiful or to the mak- 
ing of the world more beautiful. In this way we dis.semi- 
