The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-08-26

ed inside the Park and occupied by families
the life and attractiveness of the resor
would be greatly increased, while the ex
pense of police duty, on public and Other
occasions, would be materially diminished
of course none but the wealthy coult
afford to possess themselves of these lots
Tor residences, but while they enjoyed theil
separate acres, adorned with statuary
fountains, floral decorations, and whateye,
else their individual wealth and taste might
bring them, they would, in fact, share them
in part with the humblest and poorest per.
sons who should be attracted to the Park
grounds. A public park thus constituted
would beautifully illustrate the character
of our American institutions, by comforting
upon the rich and poor alike some of the
chief beauties and attractions of high
civilization and refinement. a-
A Park Of this description would be to
Richmond what the groves of Acade-
mus were to the Greeks, and far more
than what the Coliseum and the attrac-
tons of the Appian way were to the Ro-
mans. 1t is idle to say that such Park
cannot be constructed in an hour, and that
such attractions as we have named cannot
be realized without an immence expendi.
ture of money. We understand all that.
But to have such Park you must begin as
the discreet old DANES cookbook directs
in the case of a rabbit-curry, and first get
your " rabbit" or park grounds. These
can now be had at mere nominal sum, and
Insufficient extent to ultimately realize such
Park as we have named. Ten years
from this time the same lands will COM
mand price that would stagger almost
any municipality to think of buying them
for park purposes. Suppose a million of
dollars is expended in the next ten years to
layout, enclose, and suitably adorn the
grounds, the sixty acre-lots (one-tenth of
the grounds) we have named, at fifteen
thousand dollars each, IA low price for such
as they would then be,) would give a re-
turn of nine-tenths of the outlay, and the
entire cost of the rest Of the Park to the
public would be only one hundred
thousand dollars, or one-tenth of the
cost of the whole, while the entire
individual expenditure would enure to
the benefit of the Park and be
shared in by the public as part of the gene
raj attraction. A beginning must be made
sometime, and but very little brains is re-
quired to see that nov-this identical OPP
po,tunay of PURCHASES the time to begin.
The value Of the particular grounds
named consists in their being abundantly
and beautifully wooded, and ju DIVERSE
fed enough in surface to give to the wavy
perspective all the lines of beauty that a
true landscape artist may desire to reach.
Nature has done her own grading, wrought
her own curves of beauty, nestled into life
her own wooded groves, and given every
thing over to the hand of the landscape ar
fist for the final touches Of the classic pic
ture. The groves of the ancients were of
this description of beauty--level enough to
get the fine perspective and diversified
enough to give the wavy curvature of the
master artist, but atsoays beautifully
Dooded. A bridge across the James river
at Hollywood or Camp Grant would con-
meet with the Park by a ten minutes drive.
The future of Richmond is, in our judg-
ment, so absolutely and fully assured as to
render it necessary that she should move in
the direction of public park while the
lands around her are at their present de-
pressed prices. She will soon rank in
manufacturing and commercial importance
with the first eight or ten cities of the Union,
and her metropolitan character will demand
such an improvement at her hands. Public
parks have become part of our modern
civilization. They are as necessary to great
cities as the lungs to the human system. In
fact, they are the poor mans lungs in all
our great cities. and Richmond, when she
reaches population of two hundred thou
sand inhabitants as she most certainly will
in the next twenty years, will stand as
much in need of a park as Boston and
Philadelphia do to-day and more so, for
her climate makes this sort of improvement
1 much greater necessity here than in
more northern localities. Letnot Manches-
Ter have the credit of moving alone in this
matter. Property, we are told, has
doubled in value on the other side of the
liver in the last year. Let them not
louble on us in enterprise and genuine pub
ic spirit in the next year.
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THE Boston Globe truthfully remarks,
n recent editorial, that the Greeley