The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-06-13
WELCOME In FLOWERS.
What WasIlingtOn's Parks Will Ez-
press to EndeaVorers.
A FEATURE OF THE CONVENTION.
Two Hundred Thousand Plants VIII Be
Used In Design.
(Washing ton Star.)

|
(Washing ton Starr
| 10 the visitor as well as to the resi-
lent, one of Washington's most attrao.
tive charms is the number of parks and
reservations scattered about the city.
Especially in the spring and summer,
when the refreshing spots are clothed in
natures beauty, with their broad expan-
SEES Of green, their wealth of shade and
the fountains. do the parks attract with
in their restful borders large numbers OF
| the residents.
| These attractive reservations in an al.
ready beautiful city are owned by the
general government and cared for by
public officials Col. John M. Wilson
OF the army. is, under his present detail,
the officer in charge of public buildings
and grounds, and has supervision over
the parks and reservations of the city.
Mr.. George HI. Brown, the public gar
dener, has immediate oversight of the
| work Of beautitying these reservations
with foliage. plants and flowers, and the
setting out of beds and arrangement of
designs is done under his direction.
Preparations have been under way for
some time for the annual spring work
much of it has even been already started,
and it is expected that By the middle of
the month the parks will be dressed for
the summer. This year, however, the
designs for the flower beds will DO entire
ly different from any heretofore used in
this city, and will attract even more than
the usual attention. 1t is the purpose of
those in authority to decorate the parks
with Christian Endeavor devices and 9TH
er appropriate designs, SO that in flowers,
as we'll as III bunting and colors, and by
the cordial hospitality Of citizens, dele
gates to the fifteenth international Chris
tian Endeavor convention, which meets
here next month, may be assured of
Washington's welcome. The sentiment
is very pretty one, and although it has
been carried out elsewhere at the annual
conventions-notably at Boston last sum-
mer-this city will noS be outdone in the
beauty or profuseness of its floral greet
ings.
The committee of '96 feels very much
gratifed that those in Official station
have given evidence of their sympathy
in the work of preparing for the expected
thousands. Both Col. Wilson and Pub
lie Gardener Brown have by word and
action made it plain that their co-opera-
ton can be depended on, and that in ey-
cry way in their power, consistent with
their public duty, they will lend their
aid to the committee.
Mr.. Brown is just now giving his at
tention to a suitable scheme for decorat-
ing the parks and squares, and beside
the designs he has worked out himself,
has received and adopted a number of
suggestions submitted to him by the
Endeayorers' decorations committee.
These include the working out in plants
monogram, com binations of the letters
''Y. p. s. @. E. the convention flag
in oolors and other devices with scroll
work. Some such greeting as 'sWelcome,
Christian Endeavorers, will likely be
displayed, and the dates "1sS1- 1885, the
former being the natal year of the or
ganization, WILL be depicted in bright
leaves.
In the principal parks, where visitors
congregate in largest numbers, the hor-
ticulturalists' skill will be shown. The
large bed at the entrance to the National
Museum will be filled with towering
plants worked out in appropriate le-
gends; around the fountain in Judiciary
Square, by the pension Office, the oharao-
teristio design will stand conspiouously
forth from carpet of green. 1t is pro-
posed to cut out in red and yellow letters,
six or eight feet large, on the northern
slope of the mound at the base OF the
Washington monument, the words "Wel-
come, Christian Endeavorers. The
inscription will describe an arc. and
above, in proper proportions, the red
and blue convention flag wit its &c. E."
monogram in the center of white star.
will be attraotively worked out. We're
it not for the lima of trees along B street,
it would be quito possible for the En-
deavorers to read this greeting from the
0ooAo VI ohOAt SEsAFob 14o0UlAS Ule1Ot6 III
the White Lot.
Anything lavish in the way of park
decorations in honor of the convention is
this year impossible, for two reasons
lack of funds and scarcity of designs.
There has beeo no special appropriation
made for doing special design work for
the Christian Endeavor convention, and
the only funds availab BILE are those ordi-
narily provided for The care of the parks.
And this sum il well nigh exhausted, for
it Is now very near tie close of the fiscal
year. Then, again, the Christian En-
deavor Society has only one official
badge, the G. e.. monogram, and no
matter how productive and skilIful an
artist may be, he is necessarily confined
considerably to one line of effort.
Probably the most profusa decorations
ever made in Washington's public parks
were Ssen at the time CT the Grand Ar
my enoampment in September, 1892, On
this occasion there wns more money to
be spent on the work, special provision
for such feature having been made,