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. That was the place
selected by Arletta for our meeting ground. It was an out-of-the-way,
quiet and romantic spot where we spent many pleasant afternoons and
evenings enjoying each other's company. Whenever Arletta wanted to see
me she sent a note which never failed to bring me there. In fact, such a
feeling of enchantment did the place hold for me, that many times I
wandered out there and sat alone for hours, musing.
But notwithstanding that our many meetings had the effect of
strengthening our mutual admiration and love for each other, and that I
was beginning to fairly idolize this beautiful young woman, still
certain things came to pass that I could not understand, and which
caused me to feel that Arletta's actions were very mysterious, and that
there was something about her life she was trying to withhold from me.
In the first place she would never meet me anywhere else except in that
obscure nook in the park, and in departing would not permit me to escort
her beyond the Seventy-eighth street entrance, where she would abruptly
bid me a hasty adieu, with instructions that I must take another route.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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