New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-20
PARK IMPROTEMENTS.

During the perfect days of the past week Wis
itors in unusual numbers have been drawn to
the Park where they felt sure to find all the ar
full of light and song and fragrance. Are
groves and fields, green pastures ana stu
waters invested with an exceptional power TO
charm the senses in the idMay of this partc-
ular wear of graceP Assuredly yes, if univer-
SALLY consentng testimony Is to be accepted
One can hardly chance upon group OF strollers
in the Park among the tow ring trees and
bonnie spreading bushes" just clothed With
foliage so soft that it hardly murmuis in the
wind without hearing it said that newborn
leaves never before showed such variety, rich
ness and delicacy of color. Perhaps So But
doubtless the same people were moved to make
the same statement last spring, and they will
repeat it with equal fervor let us hope, for many
Mavs to come, for here is one delight which
does not fail but Strengthens as the years roll
on. Fortunately the sehsibility to the lnllu-
ences of natural scenery is not fashion but
passion. 1t is an orr ginal and universal In
stinct The most refined landscape composition
il none too good for the most lOwly, although
the arguments for recOnstructlng the Park
which are advanced now and then by snobbish-
ness and vulgarity would seem to assume that
this is a doubtful proposition. 1t is well That
tho universlty-bred and "soccty" do not
monepolize the faculty to appreciate the subtle
beauty of a billowy meadow land and its Dor
dering wood, Tor wealth and culture can com
mand other means of recreation. For tins
reason the Park was not designed exclusively
for the people who roll through it behind richly
caparisoned horses during the brief season
when the East Drive is the fashionable resort
for an hour in the afternoon.
Just now the road is throngcd every day at
high promenade, but the other carrlaSeways are
comparatively deserted II did not occur to the
Aldermen who resolved to have the wheelway
widened that an easier solution OF the difficulty
would I've to turn the horses heads. This is
hardly surprising inasmuch as the suggestion
las never been made by the Park Board, to
whom the city has right to look for some di
receive force in those matters. To state the
case paradoxlca,ly, the wheel-space of the park
would I've practically increased by the shutting
up the East Drive altogether and forcing the
carriages to take the longer route. There is an
easier method however. Tie Circuit Drive was
plainly an elementary idea in the design of the
Park, and if carriages were directed to pass up
by one line and down blythe other the pressure
would be at once relieved. If it IS objected
that people who drive wish to 20 where their
friends can be found, the answeris obvious. l.
a roadway is only wide enough for two lines OF
carriages moving IN opposite directions, all ac-
quaintances will be sure to meet. With four
lines of carriages it is not out of reasonable
probability that they should each other.
With six OF eight lines the probability lessons in
q marked degree, e. that it is advantageous TO
increase the length of the drive aud destructive
even of this special purpose to increase its
width. There is no weight in the argument that
| the East Drive is well shaded, for the same can
! he said OF the West Drive, and the diagonal road
! which skirts the Green on one side and the Lake
| ON the other offers the finest opportunity in the
south Park to gain thiu sense of spaciousness
| and relief from urban confinement which the
work was designed to furnish. That the driving
! has been left to drift in "a follow my leader
fashion to the least attractive route through the
Park is another evidence of the concrete and
| inherent stupidity of the Park Board. If shat
body had ever in the last ten years of its history
developed any faculty for supervision or made
the slightest Indication to the public as to what
its course should be, and had given intelligent
reasons for its direction, the circuit drive Ould
now he an established custom.
| And if the crowded passage can be relieved
| now, the argument for widening il will grow
| weaker every year as Riverside with Its unique
attractions becomes more generally known.
| Every year the folly of endeavoring to peryert
| the Park to purpose for which 1t never was in
tended and which it never can adequately
serve will be more apparent when it. comes to