Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1895-11-02

that the necessity of having park de-
serving of the name was discussed in
social, political, scientific and art
circles.
In May, 1856, the common council ap-
pointed the mayor and street commits
sioner commissioners of the Contra!
park, with ample powers. The officers
invited Washington Irving, George Ban
croft, James e. Cooley, Charles T.
Briggs, James Phalan, Charles A. Dana
and Stewart Brown to attend their
meetings as a consulting board. They
accepted the invitation. Washington
Irving was chosen president of the
board, and after long and critical ex.
animation of fifteen plans submitted
to them for the improvement of the
park they unanimously adopted the
plan presented by Gen. Egbert L. Viele,
which, with slight notifications, has
been carried out under successive adj
ministrations. Central park is now
one of the most beautiful in the world,
and has fulfilled the prophecy of Mayor
Kingsland that it would prove last
ing monument to the wisdom, sagacity
and forethought of it's founders
The work was fairly begun less than
forty years ago, and now it is strik-
ing monument of engineering skill,
landscape gardening and wise expen-
diture of public money. There are
eighteen entrances, and a number of
elegant arches of various styles of
architecture and ornamentation. It
has extensive and beautiful drives and
walks, places of amusement for the
young, lakes and fountains, magni1-
cent Mall leading down to a lake which
affords water for boating and ice for
skating, a number of statues of emil
nent men, two large restaurants, a men
agerie and an ancient obelisk from
Egypt.
Within and around Central park are
clustered the buildings of important
institutions-th arsenal, the Metro
politan Museum of Art, the Museum of
Natural History and the Lenox library.
The surface of the park is pleasingly
diversified and the drives and walks
present agreeable surprises at every
turn. Within it's borders are two
reservoirs of Croton water. In the
of them are beautiful structures, the
most notable of which are the terrace
and the marble arch, at the southern
approach to the Mall. Perhaps the most
notable object in Central park is the
obelisk, which was presented to the
city of New York, in 1877, by IsmaiI
Pasha, then khedive of Egypt. 1t is
covered with hieroglyphic inscrip-
tions that refer to events that happened
$500 years ago. To protect it from New
York winters, which last year killed the
rhinoceros in the menagerie, it has been
covered with a chemical preparation.
I wish I could write in unqualified
praise of the statues and monuments,
but some of them are so inartistic as to
border on the grotesque. The bronze
figures of Walter Scott, Burns, Fitz-
Green Halleck and others are more or
less embarrassed, so to speak, with
what appear to be large table cloths.
Poor Bobby Burns has been treat
ed with particular harshness. He is
in position suggestive of severe at
tack of collie, and the pose of his arms
indicates that of trying to drink ont of
an imaginary demijohn. The expression
of his face not only shows that he is
intoxicated, but that he is aware of his
unfortunate condition.
On the other hand there is a noble
figure OF Shakespeare that conveys an
adequate idea of that wonderful genius.
An ideal figure of an Indian hunter il
likewise a magnificent work of art.
Among the great men whose figures in