The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-02-03
Protection For Public Grounds.
Editor Item:

Board, the preceding of which an
peared in your columns, it was resoly
ed to beautify the grounds, and in ac-
cordance with this resolution the
County Supervisor and Clerk of the
Court were instructed to have the
work done. The offer Of the writer
to supervise the work was also accept
ed. The work Of arranging the
grounds will begin this week and be
pressed forward as rapidly as is pos
sible with works of this kind.
1t is concerning this work that the
writer wishes to make a few sugges-
| tions in regard to the duty Of the peo-
pie in reference to 1t, which sugges-
tions. he trusts will meet the approval
Of all who take any pride in the city
| and who would like to see it's public
places made as beautiful as possible.
The county authorities propose to
beautify the grounds surrounding the
Court House. without asking any fin
ancial assistance from the city or
from any private citizen, but In doing
this they have right to expect that
the police and citizens generally will
give all possible assistance in the way
| OF protecting the plants and flow
ers. that will be planted. For un-
less this be done it is well nigh useless
to attempt the work Of improving
| the grounds. Ever since the grounds
have been turned over to the County
| it has been the custom for everyone,
who feel like it. to gather as many
| flowers as they wanted, and this in
| excusable custom has resulted in very
serious damage to some of the plants.
There are two large Japonica shrubs
on the grounds and these have been
badly mutilated by children breaking
of the branches. These plants grow
very slowly and when the blooms are
removed they should have very little
stem taken Off. or otherwise, they are
badly injured. On Sunday afternoon
the writer saw two little boys with a
quantity Of blooms. to which weer at
tached from IL to Is inches of the
| branch. x
1t Is perfectly obvious that IL we
are to look for any beauty on the
Court House grounds that this prac-
tice must stop. and it is clearly the
duty of parents to prohibit their
children from taking flowers from
any public place. To do this Is really
more reprehensihle than to take
them from pricate gardens, for the
reason that the owners can take bet
ter care Of them than 1t IL possible
to do with public grounds. To this
rule. that the flowers in public places
are not to be gathered. there should
be no exception. for the reason that
IL the privilege is accorded to one
person 1t must be given to all. In
1898 while the writer was at the Ex-
position In Chicago he spent a part of
one day In one Of the beautiful parks
that make this great city 90 attrac-
tive. There were great beds of beau
tiful and truly gorgeous flowers, and
while children were playing on the
grass. and all classes Of people stroll
ing about the flowers were untounch-
ed. every one. even the children.
seeming to understand that they must
not be disturbed. It is a very COM
mon practice in some places to even
take flowers from the cemeteries. but
the writer has never heard Of any
thing Of this kind in Sumter.
While writing on this subject the
writer begs to direct attention to an
other inexcusable annoyance to
which those who cultivate flowers are
exposed. and that is the practice. on
the part Of great many people of al
lowing their chickens to run at large
Nothing is more exaspcrating than to
have a fine seed or flower bed ruined
by chickens. and yet it is a very COM
mon occurrence; so common as to de-
ter great many people from plant
ing either vegetables or flowers
Horses, cattle and hogs are not al
lowed to run at large and the same
rule ought to apply to chickens. The
person who knowingly allows his
chickens to invade the garden of his
neighbor deserves just as much CEN
sure as If he were to pull the flowers
himself; in fact it would not be quite
so bad for him to make the raid as
he would leave something, whereas
the chickens make a clean sweep of
everything. If the city council would
pass an ordinance requiring people