CHAPTER XXX
Central Park is a tract of land situate in the middle of residential New
York. It is oblong in shape, being two miles in length, half a mile in
width and covering an area of about eight hundred and sixty acres. The
ground has been artificially changed from a wild waste to one of the
most beautiful spots to be found anywhere. It is coursed by a net-work
of splendid drive-ways, equestrian roads and foot-paths running in all
directions among the many little rocky hills and miniature lakes. Trees,
flower-beds and shrubbery of various kinds have been cleverly arranged
by skilled artists to form a delightfully picturesque effect. Chirping
birds of many colors and tame squirrels in multitudinous numbers find
this park a heavenly abiding place where the danger of annihilation is
minimized. Playgrounds for the children are laid out in different parts
of the domain while a zoological garden where animals are kept
imprisoned in small cages for the term of their natural lives, is put
forth as one of its many features.
As one passes through the entrance gate at Seventy-eighth street and
Central Park West, and turns first to the right, then to the left, and
finally to the right again, following a foot-path similar in its
windings to a letter S, and crossing two small bridges, he will come to
an abrupt ending of a narrow path running into an immense projecting
rock. Here is located a canopied seat just large enough for two people.
Facing this shelter is a small lake, on the edge of which overhanging
trees afford delightful shade during the hot months.
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