COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY COMMERCIAL CLUB OF CHICAGO ] The encircling system of forest parks and park connections as thus outlined, when taken in conjunction either with the existing interior boulevards and the Sheridan Road, or the proposed driveway along the Lake lagoons makes a circuit of about one hundred miles, every portion of which would serve directly an adjoining portion of the city. Such a comprehensive system of outlying parks is for the Chicago of to-day quite as practical and quite as much needed as were the boulevards of a generation ago, which have now become interior thoroughfares of priceless value. The forest preserves, with their bordering driveways, would in time come to be lined with residences and large estates, and rise in the value of the adjoining lands would permit the city to recoup in taxation many times the cost of lands now of small value. [Illustration: LXIV. CHICAGO. PLAN OF SHERMAN PLAYGROUND AND PARK. The assembly hall, gymnasia, and open-air swimming pool, forming a group as the center of the composition.] The grouping of manufacturing towns at the southern end of Lake Michigan, and the serious attempts that have been made (especially in Pullman and Gary) to provide excellent living conditions for people employed in large operations, create a demand for extensive parks in that region; because no city conditions, however ideal in themselves, supply the craving for real out-of-door life, for forests and wild flowers and streams. Human nature demands such simple and wholesome pleasures as come from roaming the woods, for rowing and canoeing, and for sports and games that require large areas. The increasing number of holidays, the growing use of Sunday as a day of rest and refreshment for body and mind tired by the exacting tasks of the week, together with the constant improvement in the scale of living, all make imperative such means of enjoyment as the large park provides. Therefore, adequate provision for the growing populations that of necessity must live in restricted town areas requires that in the region south and southwest of Chicago all those marsh lands and wooded ridges which nature has thus far preserved from being taken for manufacturing purposes now should be secured for the parks that in the next generation will be required, but which will be beyond reach unless taken in the immediate future. [Illustration: LXV. CHICAGO. MARK WHITE SQUARE. View of the children’s wading pool and the field house.] [Illustration: LXVI. CHICAGO. HAMILTON PARK. View of the boys’ gymnasium.] [Illustration: LXVII. CHICAGO. SHERMAN PARK. Field-house seen from the west side.]