We cannot afford merely to sit down and deplore the evils of city life as inevitable, when cities are constantly growing, both absolutely and relatively. We must set ourselves vigorously about the task of improving them; and this task is now well begun. The movement for better housing, for more parks and playgrounds, for purer water, for better schools, for the improvement of the conditions of labor, and for the general uplifting of the life of the city, is one of the most hopeful and encouraging features of our modern civilization.