Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-11
The Parkway, Henry Ford and Billy the
Bean Man

Bean Man
T WALKED down the Parkway yesterday
morning visualzing that splendid empt-
ness of sunshine as II will appear five ten
years hence, lined with art galleries. mu-
trees, leading from the majestic pinnacle of
the City Hall to the finest public estate In
America II is a long way from those open
fields of splintered brick and gravel pits.
where workmen are now warming their
hands over bonfires, to the Peace Conference
in Paris But the hope occurred to me that
the League of Nations will not tie itself down
too closely to the spot where its archives
are kept. 1t will be a fine thing II the
annual meetings of the League can be held
in different cities all over the world, visit
ing the nations in turn This process would
do much to educate public sentiment to the
reality and importance of our new interna-
tional commission. And in the course of
time it is to be supposed that the league
might meet In Philadelphia, where, in
sense, II was founded. The world Is rich in
lovely cities-Rio, Athens, Edinburgh, Rome
Toxic and the rest But the Philadelphia of
the future as some citizens have dreamed
IL, VIII De HDle 10 Hoiu UP ts HSou WIN thc
greatest. l like to think of Philadelphia
in which the lower Schuylkill would be
something more than a canal Of oily ooze;
in which the wonderful Dutch meadows of
the Neck would ..be reclaimed into one of
the worlds loveliest riverside parks. and in
which the Parkway will stretch its airy vista
from the heart of the city, between stately
buildings of public profit. out to the spark-
ling waters of Farmount
TIME city shows a curiously assorted sill
i houette as one walks down the Parkway
from Twenty -ffth street There is the plain
dark dome of the Cathedral. with its golden
cross flashing in the sun and the tall cocoa
colored pillars No one would guess from
the drab exterior the splendor of color and
fragrance within. There is. of course. the
outline of william Penn on his windy van
tage the long, dingy line Of Broad Street
Stations trainshed and the tall but unpre-
tentious building of the Bell Telephone Com
pany where the flag ripples against the sky
on its slender STAFF. As one walks on past
the Medico- -Chirurgical Hospital, with it's
memorable inscription Think not the beaufi-
f.l doinos of thy soul shall perish unrev,em.
bered; they abide ,oith thee forever. the
thin white spire of the Arch Street Methodist
Episcopal Church and the monstrous oddity
of .he Masonic Temple tower spring into
view. In an optimistic mood, under riot
of sunlight and a radiant sky, one is tempted
to claim a certain beauty for this incoA-
aruous panorama. Yet II there Is beauty
no one can claim a premeditated scheme for
II. Granite marble, brick and chocolate
stone iostle one another. Let us hope that
the excellent ruthessness with which the
palhs OF the Parkway have been made
straight will be equaled by diligent harmony
in the new structures to come.
TIME great churches of the Roman COM
i munion are always an inspiration to visit.
At almost all hours of the day or night you
will find worshpers slipping quietly In and
out. generally OF the humblest classes /
slipped into the Cathedral for few minutes
and sat there watching the simmer OF color
and blended shadows as the vivid sunlight
streamed through the semicircular windows
above the nave. The body Of the church is
steeped in that soft dusk described once for
all as "a dim religious light" but the great
cream -colored pillars with their heavy gold
ornaments lift ths eyes upward te the arched
ceiling with ~ small tablets OF blue and
shining knots n |ojd, ln The dome hung =