The city of Washington should be made the center of this movement toward national beauty. There is now an organized effort on the part of those in charge of the erection of public buildings, to make Washington the most beautiful capital in the world, and a model for other cities. The federal government should set aside as national parks all of our greatest natural wonders, as Yellowstone Park is now held. The states should follow the same line and set apart in the same way those objects of lesser interest, either natural or historic, which are to be found in every state--those that are not of sufficient importance to merit national recognition, but that will add interest to the state as a place for tourists to visit. Few states are visited in this way more than is Massachusetts, and it is largely because not only the state, but the various communities have preserved historical places, buildings and objects so carefully, have erected monuments to commemorate them; and have thrown these various objects of interest open to the public free of charge. These communities in turn have gained the original expenditure many times over from the money spent by the steady stream of visitors. There has been a great movement toward the beautifying of cities and villages in the past few years. Besides the good work done by park boards in cities there has been a great improvement in the matter of cleaner streets, better sidewalks, the planting of more shade trees, and a far greater attention to the beautifying of private grounds. The adorning of front yards and porches with vines and flowers is increasing enormously every year. Many causes have been at work to produce this result: the broadening influence of travel, which brings people in touch with what is being done in other places to promote public beauty, the work of schools, newspaper and magazine articles, and more time and money to spend on luxuries,--even the post-card, which makes a souvenir view of every spot of local beauty or interest; but probably no other one agency has produced such good results in public beauty as has the woman's club which has taken up this line of work. The "cleaning-up" movement, with a public house-cleaning day twice a year when all refuse is carted away, and streets, alleys and back-yards cleaned, had its origin in this way. The care and beautifying of cemeteries is another branch of the work. In many places, flower and vegetable seeds are distributed free or at a nominal cost among the school children, prizes are offered for the best garden, the largest vegetables, the most attractive back-yard, the best arranged flower-bed, and other good results; the work is examined by a committee, and the prizes awarded at the end of the season either by the club or by merchants who have become interested in the contest.