o those
who bathe according to the rules which many years of experience have
prescribed. Many physicians refuse to verify the waters' virtues; some
openly scoff. But the fact stands that every year hundreds who come
helpless cripples walk jauntily to the station on their departure, and
many thousands of sufferers from rheumatic ills and the wear and tear of
strenuous living return to their homes restored. I myself can testify to
the surprising recuperative effect of only half a dozen daily baths, and
I know business men who habitually go there whenever the stress of
overwork demands measures of quick relief.

[Illustration: ON HOT SPRINGS MOUNTAIN, HOT SPRINGS OF ARKANSAS]

[Illustration: BATH HOUSE ROW, HOT SPRINGS OF ARKANSAS]

It is not surprising that more than a hundred thousand persons visit
Hot Springs every year. The recognized season begins after the winter
holidays; then it is that gayety and pleasuring, riding, driving,
motoring, golfing, and the social life of the fashionable hotels reach
their height. But, for sheer enjoyment of the quieter kind, the spring,
early summer, and the autumn are unsurpassed; south though it lies, Hot
Springs is delightful even in midsummer.

Two railroads land the visitor almost at the entrance of the
reservation. A fine road brings the motorist sixty miles from the lively
city of Little Rock. The elaborate bath-houses line the reservation side
of the principal street, opposite the brick city. But back of them rises
abruptly the beautiful forested mountain from whose side gush the
healing waters, and back of this roll the beautiful pine-grown Ozarks.
The division is sharply drawn. He who chooses may forget the city except
at the hour of his daily bath.

The plans for realizing in stone and landscape gardening the ideal of
the great American spa, which this spot is in fact, contemplate the work
of years.

II

In southern Oklahoma not far from the Texas boundary, a group of thirty
healing springs, these of cold sparkling water, were set apart by
Congress in 1904 under the title of the Platt National Park. Most of
them are sulphur springs; others are impregnated with bromides and other
mineral salts. Many thousands visit yearly the prosperous bordering city
of Sulphur to drink these waters; many camp in or near the reservation;
the bottled waters bring relief to thousands at home.

Through the national park, from its source in the east to its entry into
Rock Creek, wind