Dirty water stagnating !

in ponds and squares is a public danger.

The Square des Arts-et-Métiers is rich in some beautiful trees and two rectangular ponds. Greenery and water, isn't that enough to delight the inhabitants of the district in the heat wave? But the mothers who, for lack of anything better, take their children on vacation to the Square des Arts-et-Métiers are not happy. In the pools, instead of fresh, clear water murmuring cheerfully, a dead wave the color of dishwater stagnates under the sun. You could skim it with a pitchfork, because the rot accumulates there.

In. truth, nothing is sadder for the eye and for the sense of smell than these water features adorned with squatting bronze women, carrying lyres or cornucopias and who appear to be dressed in bird droppings. These nymphs wait in vain for the beneficial jets to spring above their heads. At a time when all the basins of Paris should play the great waters, all the basins of Paris would be put, by order of the Administration, with the dry mode. If we cannot waste a little water to renew that of the basins of the squares, let them dry out completely and transform them into planters. Those familiar with the squares would like not to risk catching marsh fever when they taste the shade of the trees, and the smell of the meager clumps would be enough for them.