PARK AND CEMETERY 
<Hrected against the billboard nuisance as illustrated 
in Milwaukee, Mr. August Rebhan, park commis- 
sioner, read a paper on “Milwaukee Parks,” in which 
he gave a brief history of the park system, a detailed 
description of the parks, and dilated upon the ultimate 
purposes and designs of the park board. 
The feature of the evening was the report of the 
committee on local improvements, read by the chair- 
man, Mrs. Frances Copley Seavey, of Chicago, and 
which will be found in another column. At the con- 
clusion of the reading of the report, Mrs. Seavey made 
a running comment on a number of stereopticon views, 
which illustrated improvements of various kinds, a 
SCENE IN EAKE PARK, MIEWAUKEE. 
number of which served also as illustrations of Mrs. 
Basil Holmes’ paper which opened the convention. 
At the close of the public entertainment, Mr. Chris- 
tian Wahl invited the members of the Woman’s Aux- 
iliary and the association to a collation at the Pabst 
Plotel, to which some forty guests responded, and 
where a feast of reason and flow of soul closed a very 
successful day. 
Friday, June 28. — IMorning Session. 
“The ladies have it” would be the dictum concerning 
Friday morning’s session, which was given up entirely 
to the Woman’s Auxiliary, with Mrs. Herman J. Hall, 
president, in the chair. The proceedings opened with 
the reading of the annual report of the secretary. Miss 
Edith A. Canning, of Warren, Mass. The report 
showed remarkable progress. The membership com- 
prises one honorary member, three life members, and 
108 members, 82 of which were added since Dec. 20 
last — 67 through the personal efforts of the president. 
The report at this early stage of the activities of the 
Woman’s Auxiliary was chiefly confined to what has 
been accomplished in Chicago and Milwaukee, and 
Sb 
this makes a remarkable showing, as exemplifying the 
fact that energy and enthusiasm together will not only 
accomplish much work, but will surmount many posi- 
tive difficulties. The Milwaukee branch of the Aux- 
iliary comprises twenty-one members, with Mrs. Laura 
Wood Catlin chairman, and Miss Grace A. Young sec- 
retary. 
Miss Young also read her report of the work of the 
Milwaukee branch of the Auxiliary, which made an 
interesting record. Prizes were offered for decorated 
homes in populous districts, to which two wards re- 
s])onded, and children’s gardens have also been estab- 
lished. The general work loomed up so strongly that 
it was decided to establish the Milwaukee Outdoor Art 
and Improvement Association, and while only a month 
in existence, indications point to an intense interest in 
the several branches of improvement work it is de- 
signed to take up. 
Airs. Sarah Webb Maury, of Louisville, Ky., next 
engaged the attention of the association in a descrip- 
tion of the work accomplished and under way in 
Louisville. Her address, “Outdoor Improvement in 
and Around Louisville,” was delivered extem- 
poraneously, with an eloquent and forcible diction, and 
covered a broad held of improvement endeavor. Eight 
years ago an arboretum was organized in connection 
with the Louisville parks, the trees were labeled and 
described, but unhappily politics has stepped in, result- 
ing in the removal of the labels. A Landscape For- 
estry Association has been formed this year and a Vil- 
lage Improvement Society. Aluch is being done in the 
schools in connection with the practical study of trees 
and shrubs, and great enthusiasm is displayed by the 
children in the work. Plant societies are formed which 
do their work on vacant lots, and the children are de- 
veloping a spirit of investigation. The w’omen of 
Louisville are becoming much interested in landscape 
forestry and are studying the subject closely. They 
are also becoming actively engaged in the improve- 
ment of school grounds and are making progress in 
the practical work. The playground question is also a 
woman’s work, and it is being prosecuted by means of 
a guarantee fund provided by citizens. The leading 
w'ork of the Louisville women’s clubs is perhaps that 
of forestry, and Mrs. Maury remarked that it is the 
greatest triumph for foresty the South has ever 
known. “We expect to form a state forestry associa- 
tion in the fall.” 
An able paper was also read by Mrs. James Sidney 
Peck on “The Growth of Beauty in Alilwaukee,” 
wdiich contained much of suggestion for general pur- 
poses, a fuller report of which must be deferred. 
This was followed by a paper by Mrs. George H. 
Ide on “The Possibilities of the Future in Milwaukee 
Along the Lines of Outdoor Improvement.” This w'as 
also a paper of immense importance, full of pungent 
