225 
PARK AND 
two hundred and sixty feet. The view of Essex 
county, of Elizabeth, of Greater New York and of 
the highlands of the Navesink is magnificent. 
Indeed, it can be said of Eagle Rock itself that 
from it one can look out over a greater population 
than from any other natural elevation in the world. 
The houses and workshops of nearly 5,000,000 peo- 
ple stretch out in broad panorama at the gazer’s 
feet, while behind him lies the cool and shady still- 
ness of the forest. The other reservation is farther 
to the south, and the nature of its scenery is some- 
what different. It contains, approximately, one 
thousand five hundred acres between the crests of 
First and Second Mountains. In the valley is the 
reservoir of the city of Orange, and winding in and 
out among the trees is the brook which forms the 
headwaters of the Rahway River. No human habi- 
tation mars the sylvan character of the scene. All 
is stream and lake, woodland and mountain. It is 
CEME-TERYc 
the purpose always to leave it so. The trees have 
been trimmed and helped to grow, wood roads have 
been cut through the forest, and bridges thrown 
across the brook, but this is all that will be done. 
The solitude of nature will never be broken in 
upon, and here within but a short distance of the 
greatest population of this continent, one can find 
the country as it always was; can watch the sun- 
light on the water, hear the birds sing, and listen 
to the music of the wind among the trees. 
This is but a sketch of the great park system which 
has been created almost at the doorstep of the metrop- 
olis. Let him who would know more go out into these 
pleasure grounds and look about him. But the work 
of this commission clearly shows, as that of all sucn 
wisely planned municipal improvements do, that the 
benefits of parks are manifold. They give back in in- 
creased valuations the money expended upon them 
many times compounded. 
A Woodland Retreat in Fairmotint ParK. 
The untold benefits to a community which large 
parks afford is perhaps no more evidenced any- 
where than in Philadelphia, 
where the grand Fairmount 
Park is close to the homes of 
the people for miles and miles 
of its length. In many cases one 
has but to cross a street to 
leave behind the busy hum of 
life and find himself in the 
silence of the deep woods of 
the park. The little picture 
accompanying this illustrates 
a case of this kind. It is in 
what is called the East Park, 
a portion of Fairmount, di- 
vided by the Schuylkill River 
from the other portion. It )S 
so close to the Ridge Road, 
one of the principal roads 
leading from the city proper 
to the suburbs, that but little 
more than a stone’s throw di- 
vides it. Little rustic bridges, such as this one 
can often be used properly, and they help to im- 
press one with the idea of being in a woodland re- 
treat. The little stream which it crosses is but 
what comes from a grand spring, but little above it. 
There is no more Avater than could be stepped over 
by having a few large stones there, but how much 
prettier is the whole scene from the use of a bridge ! 
The little clump of bushes on the right of the 
bridge, along the side of the stream, is the odorifer- 
ous spice bush, as are some of those at the opposite 
end. The leaves, twigs and seeds of this bush are 
highly fragrant when bruised or crushed, besides 
that the scarlet berries are most ornamental. On 
the left of the bridge, on the rising ground, the tree 
with wide spreading branches is our native beech, 
Fagus Americana, a lovely tree wherever seen. On 
the opposite side are more beech, together with 
white black and red oak, and in the springtime the 
locality is famous for the wealth of wild flowers 
it displays. 
Joseph Meehan 
A GLIMPSE OF NATURE, FAIRMOUNT PARK, PHILADELPHIA. 
