Byrd's Swans

Admiral Byrd, the first man to fly over the North Pole, used to journey to Boston each year for a single purpose--to ride on the swanboats in the Boston Public Garden.

The fleet of swanboats, outfitted in a new coat of white paint, set sail last week for their 101st season plying the waters of a small pond in the middle of the Public Garden. Several hundred people turned up for opening day, all of them, like Byrd, happy to be free from the arctic grip of winter and ready for a leisurely lunch-hour cruise.

They don't come expecting exotic sights. Once you've made one loop around the small island where the ducks live, there's nothing too exciting to see. Instead, the "swanboat experience" is passive. Sit on the park benches bolted to these flat-bottomed tubs, let the sun heat you shoulder-blades, and listen to the subdued whir of the propellers.

Propellers? The swanboats, heaven forbid, aren't powered by engine. But there are propellers, turned by young men strapped into bicycle-like setups in the rear of the boats. And in case the boat sounds like some Rube Goldberg get-up, rest assured that all the machinery is hidden inside a giant wooden swan that sits really at the stern.

The Public Garden, off the Arlington stop of the MBTA Green Line, is the Ritz-Carlton of Boston Parks. Carefully cut sidewalks, ornate bridges, ornamental trees, treehouses, flowers, and graffiti-less statues dot the park. (At least all this was true before "A Small Circle of Friends", of plastic snow fame, moved in to film last week.)

Cross the street, however, and you're into another world. If the Public Garden is the pinstripe, the Boston Common, originally set aside for cattle-grazing, is the shirtsleeves. Skateboards fly down the hill near the State House, children wade in the Frog Pond, pigeons wander where they please, and the Moonie troops hawk their religion on the sidewalk.

The attitude toward grass, common lawn variety, points up the difference between the two parks. Sit down on the sod at the Public Garden, and it will be only minutes before a mounted policeman asks you to leave. Stray off the path at the Common, and no one, not even the pigeons, will notice.

The Public Garden is full of beautiful statues, including a classic George Washington on horseback pose near the Arlington Street end. The statuary pickings are leaner at the Common except for one Civil War scene directly across from the state House.

Make sure, no matter where your plan to spend the afternoon, that you walk a little ways down Commonwealth Ave., just off the far end of the Public Garden, where the magnolia trees will be in bloom this weekend.