Frederick Law Olmsted and His Work 
THE SHEEP IN THE COUNTRY PARK—AT ONCE A SOURCE 
OF ECONOMIC maintenance AND OF BEAUTY 
making of money is or should he the 
main object of life, whereas human 
welfare is the real object. I he 
former object pursued too relent¬ 
lessly may defeat its own purpose; 
the latter followed intelligently often 
results in the greater increase of 
wealth—although that is not neces- 
sary for its justification, d'he third 
point is adaptability. This is sound 
and too often neglected, hut with 
the increase of wealth and the growth 
of human knowledge and power it 
tends to become relatively less and 
less important, d'he fourth point, 
the selection of a site that is or might 
become unhealthy, is much like the 
point of economy. It is desirable, 
but might often conflict with what 
otherwise would he the wisest action. 
Although we agree that these four 
points are valid, they must be followed 
with discretion, and after all they 
leave unanswered the concrete question of the 
site to be chosen. A wise choice depends not upon 
abstract principles hut upon an accurateTstimate of 
the relative advantages of alternative sites. 1 hree 
sites were presented for serious consideration; (i) 
Parker Hill; (2) the property east of Chestnut Hill 
Avenue in Brighton; and (3) the old West Roxbury 
Park with some additional land adjoining it. It 
seems reasonably certain that neither of the first two 
properties was comparable for the purposes of a 
“country park” to the property that was finally 
selected in West Roxbury, and later named Franklin 
Park in honor of Benjamin Franklin. 
another view in “the wilderness” showing 
ITS NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS 
In the opinion of Frederick Law Olmsted, the 
landscape architect of Franklin Park, the site was 
selected discriminately. Fo him it seemed pecu¬ 
liarly well adapted to the purposes of rural recrea¬ 
tion, to be reasonable in cost and as accessible as any 
other^available site. Ibis conviction he expresses 
again and again. One illustration will suffice. “It 
is,” he says, “a singularly complete and perfect 
example of scenery which is perhaps the most sooth¬ 
ing in its influence on mankind of any presented by 
nature. A man weary of town conditions might 
travel hundreds of miles through the country without 
finding one more so.” It is, to describe it in a few 
words, a stony upland pasture, with some in¬ 
teresting ground surfaces, in parts well 
wooded, rocky and picturesque. It is so 
situated that the sights and sounds of the 
city can be almost excluded and at the same 
time it possesses elevations that command the 
beauty of the surrounding country including 
many fine views of the Blue Hills. It has 
much of the sylvan grace that is idealized 
by such landscape painters as Claude Lor¬ 
raine, Constable and Corot. On one point 
only can the wisdom of the site selected be 
doubted, and that doubt arises more from 
experience suhseciuent to the establishment 
of the park than from anything that could 
have been foreseen at the time of its selec¬ 
tion. Franklin Park is not as much used as 
its designer hoped and expected it to be. Un¬ 
fortunately no definite facts as to its use can be 
given because no records of attendance are 
kept. But it is generally known and accepted 
that the use of the park is not really great 
