The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-05-12

ral;able and comprehensive review OF the BATH
mora Markets for the past week, neatly printed
on letter sheet, may be obtained at our counting
room.
If the members of the Second Branch of the City |
Council desire TO win the applause of the commu-
nifty, and the lasting gratitude of posterity, the |
opportunity is now presented TO them. The First |
Branch has thought proper to authorize the APP
pointment of Commissioners to select and pur-
chase several sites for what magnoquently |
called Parks. 1t remains with the Second Branch |
to say whether that ordinance shall receive its |
sanction. We will not stop to enquire whether
the design of the ordinance is to benefit certain |
private interests or whether it was framed under |
a mistaken notion of what the public good re-
qures 1t is sufficient TO say that ii does not meet
the one great want which, year by year, will be
more and more sensibly felt, and that therefore,
lift were suffered to be carried out it would not
only be msapplication of the funds of the city,
but would preclude the possibility of attaining
that which is really desirable. Are those who are
restricted 10 city life, and who have looked for
ward to an appropriation for this purpose, to be
deceived in their expectations? Will they be con-
''mere grass ats of verdure'? Are they to be
denied an extensive area for recreation and exer-
else, intersected by walks and drives where the eye
may revel in broad reaches of verdure and the feel
ing of WEAKNESS and angor be cast off under the re-
freshing influence of pure air and fragrant odors?
To the wealthy who possess villa residences, or
who can resort at will to mountain watering
places, or to the sea Shore a suburban Park may
not be necessary But to the bulk of the people
to families of moderate means; TO tradesmen who
cannot quit their business for more than few
hours at time to the mechanic and the artisan,
n slice of the country cast into the lap of the
city, would afford them that means of relaxation
and enjoyment whchitis the province of thoughtful
legislation to provide. In a sanitary point of
view, few hundred acres laid off in pleasure
grounds, so centrally situated as to be easy of at-
cess from all parts of the city, would be of more
service than whole army of doctors To
the vaetudinarian, stiaed with the heat and
dust, and distracted by the noise of
great city, what could possibly be more sooth-
ing and invigorating than quiet ramble through
turiy glades, here golden with rich bursts of sun
shine-there soiiened by the cool green shadows
cast by the dense foliage of over-arching trees?
Where could young children find finer scope for
their innocent sports and pastimes? Two thirds
OF the fearful mortality among infants is attribu-
ted by physicians TO the debility produced by con-
finenent to the city during the intense heats of
our semi-tropical summers OF those born in the
rural districts, but very few die of the diseases
which prove so fatal to children of a similar age
who compelled to breathe the close
sniff Of
statistics recently published show that
where the average number of deaths, dur
ing the first year of infancy, was formerly
ninety-sx in every hundred-the annual loss was
reduced to thirty-six, when a given number of
this most helpless and dependent class-a class
which appeals to our best sympathi es, and around
winch the affections cluster more closely than any
other-were removed from the deleterious infu-
ences by which they were surrounded, and taken
into the country. Is there no lesson to be learned
from this? Are our bills of mortality always to
indicate the terrible per centage which death
claims of all who draw their first breath within
the city limits? 1t is not so much the children
oil the rich who suffer, but of the poor; and it is
lor those classes which constitute the great ma
jority of our population thata breathing zone in
the shape OF public Park is most wanted 1t
is In the interest of the people that we speak 1t
Is for their uses that extensive grounds should be
set apart. As they cannot go into the country,
we must bring piece of the country to them and
theirs We must set il down close TO their DOORS
ana bid them 20 out and enjoy it. We cheerfully
pay several millions of dollars for u good supply
OF fresh water. Can we not spare u portion of
that sum for grass and trees and shrubs, and
flowers, and fresh air But where is there q suffi-
Gent quantity of land 10 be found, adjacent to
the city, which is capable of being converted into
magnificent Park? That question admits, very
fortunately, of satisfactory reply Lying partly
in the valley of Jones Falls, west of the Belvidere
bridge, and partly on the uplands to the north of
it, being bounded on the one side by the York
road and on the other by the Charles street
avenue, is a tract which is in every respect, adj
mirably adapted TO the purpose in view. Its sur
face is undulating and is already clothed TO con-
siderable extent, with fine growth of
forest trees and eyergreens, while from the
stream of Jones Falls which runs through the
lowlands, lake might be formed at a compare
lively small cost which, under the skiful hands
of the landscape gardener, might not only be
made a picturesque addition to the Park, but
would change rugged piece of ground into a
scene of great natural beauty What gives to
this fine site the preference over all others that
might be suggested is, that it is central, and can
be approached from every quarter of the city by
numerous avenues which are already in exist
ence. independently of this, a portion of the
property belongs to the city, and if an extension
Of the limits northward were found to be desira-
BILE, 1T could without doubt be readily effected
We submit these suggestions to the Second
Branch of the City Council. A few years hence
and the whole region we have described will have
been built over, and thus the opportunity for Sc
curing a Public Park, centrally situated, easy of
access, and presenting Typographical advantages
winch cannot be had elsewhere, will be lost
forever