LONDON SQUARE GARDENS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—An American lady, writing to you some years ago, said that of all the wonderful impressions of London that she had carried back with her to the United States, she thought the most beautiful was the London Squares and their gardens, which she likened to great palaces with magnificent green quadrangles.
At the time I wrote to you to say that if only the owners of the square gardens would pull down the often hideous railings and tear down the dirty hedges which generally enclose the gardens, the squares would realize the impression the American lady had formed. Barriers are only an invitation to boys and cats'to climb, and steal or damage what they find in their raid.
Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, U.S.A., one of the most beautiful zity roads in the world, has no barrier. Its lovely lawns and gardens run right down from the houses to the public foot walks. No one dare touch a flower or trespass on the lawns without running the risk of being lynched by the people in whose interests the view of the gardens is kept open.
Even if the children are not to be allowed to enjoy them- selves in the square gardens, at least they and their parents might be allowed the joy which comes from even the view of a garden and a tree.
It made one almost cry for joy to see the boys and their sisters at the Eton and Harrow cricket match ; these boys who at fourteen years of age are sent to our grand Public Schools " from ideal homes," are, to say nothing of their financial advantages, at least four years in advance in height and weight, in health and strength and happiness of the child who is sent from homes which are anything but ideal to the industrial schools often for " crimes " which are committed by all boys and gills who have any spirit in them, and remem- ber that the great Public Schools were founded for the poor. Why should not the children of the poor have their boarding schools in the country ? Great country houses, with their lands, can be bought for a song—ready-made schools ; let the Government buy up all these properties and turn them into boarding schools and ask Australia and Canada to help.
These great possessions of our Empire are crying out for children whom they offer to educate, free of charge, for life on the lands that have been given us to make use of. Foolish people who talk about " home life and parental responsi- bility " forget that they do not exist in the present day, in any case for a very large part of the people of any " class."
The Head of Eton said, when opening that heaven for children—the Caldecot Community School at Goffs Oak— that the ideal place for a child is its home with its mother and father, provided the home is what it should be, both spiritually and intellectually, but he asked in how many eases to-day homes are what they should be. It is often necessary for poor parents to live near their work, often in most unhealthy places, both morally and physically. Many of these parents love their children at least as much as do those who, like myself, have much more than we deserve. For Christ's sake, who loves little children, save them ; they are the greatest asset of the nation and can be turned in one generation from C 3 material into A 1 men and women at a very moderate cost (say, 25s. to 30s. per week per head, and of this over 15s. per head is already provided for free education. I do not suggest that board and keep should be free).
Recently I visited Chiswick. Cannot the saviours of Ken Wood now turn their attention to this part of London which so badly needs a park and playing fields ? In Chiswick you can see little children pushing smaller children in soap-box prams, singing as they go, searching for space for their little eyes to see the inmost spirit of the mystery of the beautiful life that is generally so far away from the ground in which their lot is placed. Chiswick House and grounds can be had (I believe its present occupiers wish for a place further in the country). In this case high walls may be necessary, but I would suggest to the Chancellor of the Exchequer that there is a source of income in a graduated tax for walls and fences over three feet high.
I have travelled far from the London Squares, but the glories of earth, sea and sky should be the heritage of every
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