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diff --git a/28607.txt b/28607.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ebcaea --- /dev/null +++ b/28607.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3495 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Road and the Roadside, by Burton Willis Potter + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Road and the Roadside + +Author: Burton Willis Potter + +Release Date: April 25, 2009 [EBook #28607] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROAD AND THE ROADSIDE *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +THE ROAD + +AND + +THE ROADSIDE. + + + +By + +BURTON WILLIS POTTER. + + + +BOSTON: +LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. +1886. + +_Copyright, 1886_, +BY BURTON WILLIS POTTER. + +UNIVERSITY PRESS: +JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE. + + + + +TO + +THE HONORABLE JOHN E. RUSSELL, + +SECRETARY OF +THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, + +These Pages are Respectfully Inscribed, + +AS A TOKEN OF MY LOVE AND ESTEEM FOR HIM AS A TRUE FRIEND, +A CLASSICAL SCHOLAR, AND AN ELOQUENT ORATOR, +WHOSE SPEECHES AND WRITINGS HAVE AIDED POWERFULLY +IN BRINGING ABOUT A REVIVAL OF AGRICULTURE, +AND IN CREATING AMONG THE PEOPLE +A LOVE OF AGRICULTURE AND +RURAL LIFE. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The asterisks in footnotes 89 and 92 have do not +have corresponding references in the text. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The chapters of this book relating to the laws of public and private +ways were written and read as a lecture at the Country Meeting of the +Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, in December, 1885, at Framingham, +and have since been published in the "Report on the Agriculture of +Massachusetts for the Year 1885." + +The laws as herein stated are, as I believe, the present laws of +Massachusetts relative to public and private ways, and therefore they +may not all be applicable to the ways in other States; but inasmuch as +the common law is the basis of the road law in all the States, it will +be found that the general principles herein laid down are as applicable +in one State as in another. + +Believing that good roads and the love of rural life are essential to +the true happiness and lasting prosperity of any people, these pages +have been written with the sincere desire to do something to improve +our roads and to encourage country life; and they are now given to the +public with the hope that they will exert some little influence in +promoting these objects. + +B. W. P. + +WORCESTER, MASS., +_May, 1886_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +HISTORY, IMPORTANCE, AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ROADS. + + PAGE + +Roads the symbols of progress and civilization. Macaulay and Bushnell +on the value of public highways. The first sponsors of art, science, +and government were the builders of roads. The ancient highway between +Babylon and Memphis. The Carthaginians as road-makers. Roman roads: +their construction, extent, and durability; their instrumentality in +giving Rome her pre-eminence in the ancient world; their mode of +construction described. Ponderous roads in China. Magnificent highways +in the ancient empires of Mexico and Peru. Prescott's description of +the great roads in Peru. Bad condition of the English roads in the +sixteenth century. With the revival of modern civilization the +improvement of the public highways has engaged the thought of public +and scientific men. Advantages of good roads generally and especially +as the means of a proper distribution of population. 1-11 + + +CHAPTER II. + +LOCATION. + +Best possible location desirable. Permanent nature of roads. Many of +the ancient roads are still travelled by the people of to-day. The law +of the survival of the fittest applicable to the location of roads. The +makers of a good road often build better than they know. Roads may be +located in three different ways. The old Romans and the modern Latin +nations locate in straight lines. The English-speaking people usually +locate their roads in curved lines. Curved roads have many advantages +over straight ones, as good grades are more desirable than straight +roads. 12-16 + + +CHAPTER III. + +CONSTRUCTION. + +Importance of drainage. Good roads impossible without proper drainage. +Proper width of roads for travel. They should be wide enough to admit +of foot-paths at their sides. Every road should be crowned sufficiently +to run off the surface water, but not enough to make the road-bed too +unlevel. The golden mean is to be sought. A macadamized road the +cheapest and best for our climate and soil. Proper foundation and depth +of stone covering for such a road. The Telford road sometimes the best +for clayey soil. Its construction. They will be the future roads of our +country. Earth-roads now generally prevail. How to make them, and how +to keep them up. 17-21 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +REPAIRS. + +Economy and public convenience require roads to be kept up the year +round. Advantages of a road always in good condition. Evils of the +present system of annual or semi-annual repairs. The present system +described. Advantages of the continual-repair system illustrated by the +great turnpike from Virginia City to Sacramento, by Baden, Germany, +France, Switzerland, Great Britain, and towns in the vicinity of our +great cities. This system alone will prevail when the principles of +road-making become better known. 22-27 + + +CHAPTER V. + +LAWS RELATING TO THE LAYING OUT OF WAYS. + +For what purposes ways may be laid out, and how they may be +established. May be laid out by town or county authorities. +Distinction between town ways and public highways. When the public +officials refuse to lay out ways, parties interested may appeal. How +damages are avoided and costs paid. 28-31 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +LAW AS TO REPAIRS. + +How and by whom ways are to be kept in repair. The duties and rights +of the public authorities in making repairs. The boundaries of +highways. The rights of travellers as to the removal of obstructions +in the road. Unauthorized persons have no right to repair ways. +Highways to be protected by proper railings. How wide roads should +be. 32-35 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +GUIDE-POSTS, DRINKING-TROUGHS, AND FOUNTAINS. + +Guide-posts to be erected and maintained at suitable places. Penalties +attached to neglect or refusal to erect and maintain them. Town +officers may establish and maintain drinking-troughs, wells, and +fountains. Their duty in this respect. 36-38 + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SHADE TREES, PARKS, AND COMMONS. + +Towns and cities have authority to beautify the roadsides and public +squares. May plant trees and encourage their planting by adjoining +owners and improvement societies. The rights of improvement societies +and the penalties for interfering with their work. Shade trees and +other ornamental fixtures not to be injured or destroyed. 39-41 + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PUBLIC USE OF HIGHWAYS. + +How roads are to be used by the public and adjoining owners. Due care +to be used by travellers. Masters responsible for their servants' +acts. No responsibility for inevitable accidents. What is a proper +rate of speed. 42-44 + + + +CHAPTER X. + +"THE LAW OF THE ROAD." + +Rules for the meeting, passing, and conduct of teams on the road. +These rules not inflexible. When they may be deviated from. Each +traveller has a right to a fair share of the road. The rights of light +and heavily loaded vehicles. When a traveller with team may use track +of street railway. 45-49 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +EQUESTRIANS AND PEDESTRIANS. + +Equestrians must give way for vehicles. "The law of the road" does +not apply to them by the terms of the statutes, but they should +observe it as far as practicable. Pedestrians have a right to walk +on carriage-way. In cities they should walk on the sidewalks. They +must use due care. Their rights on cross-walks. They are not subject +to "the law of the road." They may walk out on Sunday for their +health. 50-53 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +OMNIBUSES, STAGES, AND HORSE-CARS. + +Carriers of passengers for hire are bound to use due diligence in +providing suitable coaches, harnesses, horses, and coachmen. They must +not leave their horses unhitched. If they receive passengers when +their coaches are already full, they must use increased care. +Passengers must pay fare in advance, if demanded. 54-56 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +PURPOSES FOR WHICH HIGHWAYS MAY BE USED. + +Public ways are mainly for the use of travellers, but they may be used +for other public purposes, gas, water-pipes, sewers, street railways, +telephone and telegraph lines, etc. Every one may use the highway to +his own advantage, but with regard to the like rights of others. What +animals and vehicles are allowed upon the road. Towns and cities may +regulate by by-laws the use and management of the public ways. 57-61 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +USE OF HIGHWAYS BY ADJOINING OWNERS. + +They own the fee in the land, and are entitled to all the profits of +the freehold, the grass, the trees, fruit, etc. If the land in the way +is subjected to any new servitude, like an elevated railroad or +telegraph or telephone lines, they are entitled to damages. They can +load and unload vehicles in connection with their business on their +premises, but it must be done in such a manner as not to incommode the +travelling public. They must not fill up the roadside with logs, wood, +or rubbish of any kind. 62-69 + + +CHAPTER XV. + +PRIVATE WAYS. + +Private ways may be established and discontinued in the same manner as +public ways. The owner of such way must keep it in repair. The owner +of the soil may use it for agricultural purposes, and keep up bars and +gates. "The law of the road" applies to private ways. 70-72 + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +DON'T. + +Don't drink intoxicating liquors when travelling. Don't forget to +look out for the engine while the bell rings. Don't take animals +affected by contagious diseases on the public way. Don't go upon the +road if you are afflicted with a contagious or infectious disease. +Don't go out sleigh-riding without bells attached to your harness. +Don't try to drive a horse on the road unless you know how to manage +him. Don't ride with a careless driver. Don't use a vicious horse, +or let him to be used on the road. Don't let your horses get beyond +your control. Don't encroach upon or abuse the highway. Don't ride +on the outside platform of a passenger coach. Don't jump off a coach +when it is in motion. Don't wilfully break down, injure, remove, or +destroy a milestone, mile-board, or guide-post. Don't go out of the +road-way upon adjoining land. Don't suppose that everything that +frightens your horse or causes an accident is a defect in the +highway. Don't fail to give notice in writing if you meet with an +accident on the road. Don't convey land encumbered with a right of +way. Don't keep a barking dog. 73-83 + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FOOT-PATHS. + +Necessity of air, sunlight, and exercise. The progenitors of every +vigorous race have found in forest and wilderness the sources of +their strength. The Israelites, Greeks, Romans, Dutch, Anglo-Saxons. +The teachings of Nature essential to the development of the human +mind. Job, David, Plato, Aristotle, Christ, Wordsworth. Foot-paths +tend to bring people into the open air and into communion with +Nature. The by-ways of old England. Towns and cities should lay out +foot-paths. 84-88 + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE ROADSIDE. + +Every dweller under obligation to maintain neatness and order within +and without his roadside. Unselfish exertion in this behalf pays. He +who beautifies the roadside benefits mankind and himself alike. A +dirty and shabby dwelling gives a traveller a mean idea of its +inmates. A cosey and clean house always speaks well for its inmates. +Every homestead should be adorned with trees. The beauty and utility +of trees. They are inseparable from well-tilled land and beautiful +scenery. Wayside shrubbery: its use and abuse; it should be allowed +where green grass will not grow. 89-94 + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +ENJOYMENT OF THE ROAD. + +A traveller should have a hopeful and sunshiny disposition. He should +be in harmony with Nature; he should have an observing eye to enjoy +the _latent_ enjoyments of the way. How the observing faculties may be +cultivated. The pleasures incident to knowing how to appreciate the +beautiful in Nature. The different degrees of enjoyment in the same +situation. The love of Nature the sign of goodness of heart. Ruskin, +Wordsworth, Christ. What an observing traveller can see to admire and +enjoy on the road, grass, flowers, trees, as reminders of human +beings, domestic and pastoral scenery, mountains, animal and vegetable +life, sun and sunlight, latent enjoyments in himself. 95-104 + + + + +THE ROAD + +AND + +THE ROADSIDE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HISTORY, IMPORTANCE, AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ROADS. + + +The development of the means of communication between different +communities, peoples, and races has ever been coexistent with the +progress of civilization. Lord Macaulay declares that of all +inventions, the alphabet and printing-press alone excepted, those +inventions which abridge distance have done most for the civilization +of our species. Every improvement of the means of locomotion benefits +mankind morally and intellectually as well as materially. + +"The road," Bushnell says, "is that physical sign or symbol by which +you will best understand any age or people. If they have no roads, +they are savages; for the road is the creation of man and a type of +civilized society. If you wish to know whether society is stagnant, +learning scholastic, religion a dead formality, you may learn something +by going into universities and libraries, something also by the work +that is doing on cathedrals and churches or in them, but quite as much +by looking at the roads; for if there is any motion in society, the +road, which is the symbol of motion, will indicate the fact." + +As roads are the symbols of progress, so, according to the philosophy +of Carlyle, they should only be used by working and progressive people, +as he asserts that the public highways ought not to be occupied by +people demonstrating that motion is impossible. Hence, when we trace +back the history of the race to the dawn of civilization, we find that +the first sponsors of art and science, commerce and manufacture, +education and government, were the builders and supporters of public +highways. + +The two most ancient civilizations situated in the valleys of the Nile +and the Euphrates were connected by a commercial and military highway +leading from Babylon to Memphis, along which passed the war chariots +and the armies of the great chieftains and military kings of ancient +days, and over which were carried the gems, the gold, the spices, the +ivories, the textile fabrics, and all the curious and unrivalled +productions of the luxurious Orient. On the line of this roadway arose +Nineveh, Palmyra, Damascus, Tyre, Antioch, and other great commercial +cities. + +On the southern shores of the Mediterranean the Carthaginians built up +and consolidated an empire so prominent in military and naval +achievements and in the arts and industries of civilized life, that for +four hundred years it was able to hold its own against the +preponderance of Greece and Rome; and as might have been expected, they +were systematic and scientific road-makers from whom the Romans learned +the art of road-building. + +The Romans were apt scholars, and possessed a wonderful capacity not +only to utilize prior inventions but also to develop them. They were +beyond question the most successful and masterful road-builders in the +ancient world; and the perfection of their highways was one of the most +potent causes of their superiority in progress and civilization. When +they conquered a province they not only annexed it politically, by +imposing on its people their laws and system of government, but they +annexed it socially and commercially, by the construction of good roads +from its chief places to one or more of the great roadways which +brought them in easy and direct communication with the metropolis of +the Roman world. And when their territory reached from the remote east +to the farthest west, and a hundred millions of people acknowledged +their military and political supremacy, their capital city was in the +centre of such a network of highways that it was then a common saying, +"All roads lead to Rome." From the forum of Rome a broad and +magnificent highway ran out towards every province of the empire. It +was terraced up with sand, gravel, and cement, and covered with stones +and granite, and followed in a direct line without regard to the +configuration of the country, passing over or under mountains and +across streams and lakes, on arches of solid masonry. The military +roads were under the pretors, and were called pretorian roads; and the +public roads for travel and commercial traffic were under the consuls, +and were called consular roads. These roads were kept entirely +distinct; the pretorian roads were used for the marching of armies and +the transportation of military supplies, and the consular roads were +used for traffic and general travel. They were frequently laid out +alongside of each other from place to place, very much as railroads and +highways are now found side by side. The consular roads were generally +twelve feet wide in the travelled pathway, with a raised footway on the +side; but sometimes the footway was in the middle of the road, with a +carriage-way on each side of it. The military roads were generally +sixty feet wide, with an elevated centre, twenty feet wide, and slopes +upon either side, also twenty feet wide. Stirrups were not then +invented, and mounting stones or blocks were necessary accommodations; +and hence the lines of the roads were studded with mounting-blocks and +also with milestones. Some of these roads could be travelled to the +north and eastward two thousand miles; and they were kept in such good +repair that a traveller thereon, by using relays of horses, which were +kept on the road, could easily make a hundred miles a day. Far as the +eye could see stretched those symbols of her all-conquering and +all-attaining influence, which made the most distant provinces a part +of her dominions, and connected them with her imperial capital by +imperial highways. + +The Romans not only had great public highways, but they possessed a +complete and systematic network of cross-roads, which connected +villages, and brought into communication therewith cultivated farms and +prosperous homesteads. In Italy alone it is estimated that they had +about fourteen thousand miles of good roads. Their laws relating to the +construction and maintenance of highways were founded in reason and a +just conception of the uses and objects of public ways; and they are +the basis of modern highway legislation. By their law the roads were +for the public use and convenience, and their emperors, consuls, and +other public officials were their conservators. They were built at the +public expense, under the supervision of professional engineers and +surveyors, and kept in repair by the districts and provinces through +which they passed. + +But during the dark ages, when arts were lost, when popular learning +disappeared or found shelter only in cloisters and convents, when +commercial intercourse between nations vanished, and when civilization +itself lay fallen and inert, these magnificent Roman roads were unused +and left to the destructive agencies of time and the elements of +Nature. Rains and floods washed away and inundated their embankments; +forests and rank vegetation overgrew and concealed them; winds covered +them with dust and heaps of sand; and little by little in the process +of ages their hard surfaces and massive foundations were somewhat +broken and caused to partially decay. That their remains still exist in +every part of the world which ever bore up the Roman legions is +conclusive evidence that they were built by master workmen who realized +that they were responsible to posterity and to the eternal powers. + + "In the elder days of Art + Builders wrought with greatest care + Each minute and unseen part; + For the gods see everywhere." + +In China, at one time, labor was so abundant that it was kept employed +in constructing great walls and ponderous roads. The road-bed was +raised several feet above the level of the ground by an accumulation of +great stones, and then covered with huge granite blocks. It was found +that in time the wheels of vehicles wore deep ruts in the stones, while +the travelled part of the road became so smooth that it was almost +impossible for animals to stand thereon. + +In the ancient empires of Mexico and Peru, where there were no beasts +fit for draught or for riding, magnificent roads were constructed for +the treble purpose of facilitating the march of armies, accommodating +the public traffic, and ministering to the convenience and luxury of +the lordly rulers. In Peru two of these roads were from fifteen hundred +to two thousand miles long, extending from Quito to Chili,--one by the +borders of the ocean, and the other over the grand plateau by the +mountains. Prescott says: "The road over the plateau was conducted over +pathless sierras buried in snow; galleries were cut for leagues through +the living rock; rivers were crossed by means of bridges that swung +suspended in the air; precipices were scaled by stairways hewn out of +the native bed; ravines of hideous depth were filled up with solid +masonry; in short, all the difficulties that beset a wild and +mountainous region, and which might appall the most courageous engineer +of modern times, were encountered and successfully overcome. Stone +pillars in the manner of European milestones were erected at stated +intervals of somewhat more than a league all along the route. Its +breadth scarcely exceeded twenty feet. It was built of heavy flags of +freestone, and in some parts, at least, covered with a bituminous +cement, which time has made harder than the stone itself. In some +places where the ravines had been filled up with masonry, the mountain +torrents, wearing on it for ages, have gradually eaten a way through +the base, and left the superincumbent mass--such is the cohesion of the +materials--still spanning the valley like an arch. + +"Another great road of the Incas lay through the level country between +the Andes and the ocean. It was constructed in a different manner, as +demanded by the nature of the ground, which was for the most part low, +and much of it sandy. The causeway was raised on a high embankment of +earth, and defended on either side by a parapet or wall of clay; and +trees and odoriferous shrubs were planted along the margin, regaling +the sense of the traveller with their perfume, and refreshing him by +their shades, so grateful under the burning sky of the tropics. + +"The care of the great roads was committed to the districts through +which they passed, and a large number of hands was constantly employed +to keep them in repair. This was the more easily done in a country +where the mode of travelling was altogether on foot; though the roads +are said to have been so nicely constructed that a carriage might have +rolled over them as securely as on any of the great roads of Europe. +Still, in a region where the elements of fire and water are both +actively at work in the business of destruction, they must without +constant supervision have gradually gone to decay. Such has been their +fate under the Spanish conquerors, who took no care to enforce the +admirable system for their preservation adopted by the Incas. Yet the +broken portions that still survive here and there, like the fragments +of the great Roman roads scattered over Europe, bear evidence of their +primitive grandeur, and have drawn forth eulogium from the +discriminating traveller; for Humboldt, usually not profuse in his +panegyrics, says, 'The roads of the Incas were among the most useful +and stupendous works ever executed by man.'" + +With the revival of human thought and civilization after the Middle +Ages, the improvement of the roads engaged the attention of public and +scientific men, and became once more an object of government; but for a +long time the rulers who concerned themselves about roads thought more +about repressing the crimes of violence and extortion thereon than they +did about improving their condition for travel. The first act of the +English Parliament relative to the improvement of roads in the kingdom +was in 1523; yet in 1685 most of the roads in England were in a +deplorable condition. + +Macaulay says that on the best highways at that time the ruts were +deep, the descents precipitous, and the way often such that it was +hardly possible to distinguish it in the dark from the unenclosed heath +and fen which lay on both sides. It was only in fine weather that the +whole breadth of the road was available for wheeled vehicles; often the +mud lay deep on the right and on the left, and only a narrow track of +firm ground rose above the quagmire. It happened almost every day that +coaches stuck fast until a team of cattle could be procured from some +neighboring farm to tug them out of the slough. But to the honor of +England, this condition of her roads was not allowed to continue very +long. Although her progress in trade and prosperity has been +marvellously rapid, yet such progress can be measured by the +improvement of her roads, which are now unsurpassed anywhere in the +world. + +Beyond question, internal communications are of vital importance to +every nation, and good roads are a prime necessity to every town or +city. A good road is always a source of comfort and pleasure to every +traveller. It is also a source of great saving each year in the wear +and tear of horse-flesh, vehicles, and harnesses. Good roads to market +and neighbors increase the price of farm produce, and bring people into +business relations and good fellowship, and thereby enhance in value +every homestead situated in their neighborhood. They cause a proper +distribution of population between town and country. For many years in +this country there has been a movement of population from the rural +districts into the cities and manufacturing villages. Many ancestral +homesteads have been deserted for promising "fresh woods and pastures +new" in the commercial world. This centralization of population is +evidently a violation of economic laws, and when carried too far +results in business depression, in the multiplication of tramps, and in +the origination and development of industrial and social troubles. The +remedy for this state of affairs is found in the readjustment and +proper distribution of population between town and country. When men, +sick of waiting on waning business prospects, turn to the soil as their +only refuge from non-employment and surplus productions of factories, +and reoccupy and rehabilitate deserted or run-down farms, then business +revives, and the wheels of industry and enterprise revolve steadily and +with increased velocity at each revolution. Bad roads have a tendency +to make the country disagreeable as a dwelling-place, and a town which +is noted for its bad roads is shunned by people in search of rural +homes. On the other hand, good roads have a tendency to make the +country a desirable dwelling-place, and a town which is noted for +its good roads becomes the abode of people of taste, wealth, and +intelligence. Hence it behooves every town to make itself a desirable +place of residence; for many people are always puzzling themselves over +the problem of where and how to live, and those towns which have their +floors swept and garnished and their lamps trimmed and burning ready to +receive the bride and bridegroom, will be most likely to attract within +their borders the seekers of farm life and rural homes. We now live in +the city and go to the country; but we should live in the country and +go to the city. This is "a consummation devoutly to be wished;" but it +can never be brought about until good roads connect the cities and +villages with the green fields and beautiful scenery of the country. +All money and labor expended upon them result immediately in a +convenience and benefit to the whole community. Every one should deem +it an honor to be able to do anything to improve and beautify the +highways of his town. The Lacedemonian kings were _ex officio_ highway +surveyors, and among the Thebans the most illustrious citizens were +proud to hold that office; and a few years ago Horatio Seymour, of New +York, said that his only remaining ambition for public life was to be +regarded as the best path-master in Oneida County. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LOCATION. + + +When a new road is laid out it is important that it should be located +in the best attainable place, considering the natural formation of the +surrounding country; for when a highway is once established it is +impossible to say how long the tide of humanity and commercial traffic +will seek passage over it. While the ordinary processes of +Nature--rain, thaw, and frost--are ever at work lowering the hills and +mountains and filling up the valleys and lowlands, the public highways +of a country remain in the same relative positions from age to age. + +The great commercial and military highway which in the early dawn of +Roman history led from the banks of the placid Euphrates to the banks +of the many-mouthed Nile--over which Abraham once wended his weary +steps on his way to Canaan, over which the hosts of Xerxes and the +brave phalanxes of Alexander the Great once passed in all the pride and +glory of war, over which the wise men of the East probably journeyed in +search of him who was born King of the Jews, over which Mary fled with +Christ in her flight into Egypt, and along which the early Christians +travelled as they went forth to preach the fatherhood of God and the +brotherhood of men--is to-day the highway over which is carried on the +overland intercourse between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. + +Many of the present roads in Italy and the neighboring countries are +identical with the roads over which Caesar, Cicero, and other Romans +travelled in the olden days; and the modern British roads are the same, +in many cases, as those used by the ancient Britons before the +Anglo-Saxon conquest. + +The law of the survival of the fittest is applicable to the location of +roads, and any well-located road is liable to be used as a public way +during the occupancy of the earth by the human race; and if it is not +made famous by the passage of illustrious persons or sanctified by the +footsteps of saints, yet it is liable to be travelled through coming +ages by "mute inglorious Miltons" and by "care-encumbered men." It +sometimes happens that men and women, in doing faithfully and well the +nearest duty, perform work which turns out better than they expect. + + "The hand that rounded Peter's dome, + And groined the aisles of Christian Rome, + Wrought in a sad sincerity; + + * * * * + + He builded better than he knew." + +The originators of many great reforms in law and religion, in working +to establish principles applicable and needful to local issues, have +thereby, unconsciously to themselves, established principles which have +proved beneficial and applicable to the whole human race. In the stress +of trying times we have discovered in the constitution of our country +latent powers which its framers never dreamed were there. Thus it is +with the humble occupation of road-building. A road constructed for the +convenience of some primitive community or to gratify the caprice of +some rich man or lordly ruler becomes often in after years an Appian +Way for public travel and commercial intercourse. + +A road may be located in one of three ways. It may be laid out in a +straight line by crossing lowlands in the mud and going over hills at +steep grades. The ancient Britons, like the early settlers in this +country, established their homesteads and villages on commanding +situations, and ran their roads and bridle-paths in direct courses by +their habitations. The Romans, possessors of great wealth and abundant +slave-labor, built their military and public roads in direct lines from +place to place, regardless of expense. In this way they shortened +distances somewhat, but their roads must have been constructed at +enormous expense in money and labor. Their roads were marvels of +engineering skill and workmanship, which even now, after the lapse of +eighteen centuries, impress every thoughtful observer with the idea +that he is in the presence of the work of the immortals. They threw +arched bridges of solid masonry over rivers and across ravines; they +cut tunnels through mountains, and sometimes carried their roads +underground for the sole purpose of shelter from the sun; they levelled +heights and made deep cuts through hills; and when they came to a marsh +they built a causeway high enough and strong enough to make it safe and +dry at all seasons of the year. This mode of location is still followed +in the Latin countries of Italy, France, and Spain, where many of the +roads are identical with the old Roman roads. + +The other mode of locating a highway is to seek the best attainable +grade the country will permit of by winding through valleys and around +and across hills. There is obviously one advantage to a perfectly +straight road between two places: _it is the nearest route_. But this +is about the only advantage a straight road has over a curved one. In a +hilly country a straight road is frequently no shorter than a curved +one, because the distance around a hill is generally no greater than +over it, as the length of a pail-handle is the same whether it is +vertical or in a horizontal position. In an uneven country a straight +road with anything like the same grade as the curved road can only be +constructed at enormous and unnecessary expense and labor. Even in a +level country a road curved sufficiently to give variety of view and to +conform to Hogarth's "line of beauty" is preferable to a perfectly +straight road, which is always tedious to the traveller. + + "The road the human being travels, + That on which blessing comes and goes, doth follow + The river's course, the valley's playful windings, + Curves round the corn-field and the hill of vines." + +Moreover, we are told by competent engineers that the difference in +length between a straight and a slightly curved road is very small. +Thus, if a road between two places ten miles apart was made to curve +so that the eye could nowhere see farther than a quarter of a mile +of it at once, its length would exceed that of a perfectly straight +road between the same points by only about one hundred and fifty +yards. + +But, in any event, in road-making mere straightness should always +yield to a level grade, even if thereby the distance is greatly +increased; for on a good grade a horse can draw rapidly and easily a +load which it would be impossible for him to draw on a steep grade. +It is an accepted maxim by road-engineers that the horizontal length +of a road may be advantageously increased, to avoid an ascent, by at +least twenty times the perpendicular height which is to be thus +saved; that is, to escape a hill a hundred feet high, it would be +proper for the road to make such a circuit as would increase its +length to two thousand feet. + +Hence it is apparent that the ordinary road in a hilly and uneven +country should follow the streams as far as possible, as Nature has +located them in the places best adapted for highways; and when hills +are found on the line of a road they should be surmounted by passing +around and across them at the easiest grades possible rather than +over them at steep grades. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +CONSTRUCTION. + + +Suitable drainage is the first requisite of a good road, as with our +climate and soil it is impossible to have a road in a satisfactory +condition at all seasons of the year unless the same is well +drained. In building a new road provisions should be made to get rid +of all surface water, and in wet land of the water in the soil, by +ditches and drains sufficient to dispose of it in a thorough manner; +and in repairing an old road it frequently happens that its +condition can be greatly improved and sometimes perfected by simply +providing proper drainage for it. It is not sufficient to have +ditches on each side of the road; for if the water stands in them it +is liable to make the road muddy and to weaken its substratum. The +ditches themselves should be thoroughly drained, and all the water +which accumulates in them should be carried into the natural +watercourses of the country, or at any rate beyond the limits of the +highway. + +Every carriage-road ought to be wide enough at nearly all points to +allow two vehicles to pass each other in safety. Whether it should +be wider than that depends upon its location and its importance as a +public thoroughfare. Any unnecessary width should be avoided, except +on pleasure and showy boulevards, because thereby land is wasted, +and labor and cost in construction and repair are increased. All +important highways should be wide enough to admit of footpaths five +or six feet wide on each side, and of a macadamized or travelled way +commensurate to the public traffic thereon. + +If a road is to be made wider than two vehicles require, it should +be made wide enough to accommodate one or more vehicles; for any +intermediate width causes unequal and excessive wear, and therefore +is false economy. + +The road-bed should generally be raised above the level of the +surrounding land, in order that it may be as free as possible from +water; and it should "crown" sufficiently to allow all the surface +water, to find its way quickly into the side ditches. If it is not +crowned enough, it soon becomes hollow, and therefore either muddy +or dusty, and in times of heavy rains or thaws the water stands or +flows in the middle of the road. If it is crowned too much, the +drivers of vehicles will seek the middle of the road in order to +keep their vehicles in level positions, and consequently the +excessive travel in one part of the road soon wears it into ruts in +which water accumulates, and carriages in meeting are forced to +travel on a side hill, which causes unnecessary wear to the road by +sliding down towards the ditches. This sliding tendency greatly +augments the labor of the horses and the wear and tear of the +carriages. Evidently, then, the wise course to pursue in the matter +of crowning the road is to hit the golden mean. Much of success in +life depends upon striking the golden mean, for human experience +teaches that those who follow in this pathway are apt to find +themselves among the happy and the successful. The advice which the +wise old Horace made a sage seaman give two thousand years ago is +good for road-makers of to-day,-- + + "Licinius, trust a seaman's lore: + Steer not too boldly to the deep; + Nor dreading storms by treacherous shore + Too closely creep." + +It ought therefore to be an accepted maxim in road-making that the +road-bed should be so constructed as to induce vehicles to travel it +equally in every part. + +For our climate and soil, no doubt, a macadamized road is the +cheapest and best for general travel. This is made by covering the +bottom of the road-bed with stones broken into angular pieces to a +depth of from four to twelve inches. The bottom of the road-bed +should be solid earth, and crowned sufficiently to carry off all +water that may reach it. The depth of the stone coating may properly +vary from four to twelve inches, as required by the nature of the +soil, the climate, and the travel on it; and the size of the broken +stones may also be varied to meet the requirements of the road. If +there is to be heavy travel on the road, the stone coating should be +thicker than on a road over which only lightly loaded teams are +expected to pass; and in the former case the broken stones should be +larger than in the latter case. In any event, the top of the stone +coating should be composed of stones broken into small fragments. A +coating, from four to six inches in depth, of broken stones from one +to two inches in diameter is ordinarily sufficient to make a hard, +dry, and beautiful country-road, if kept up at all seasons of the +year. Flat or round stones should never be used, because they will +not unite and consolidate into a mass, as small angular stones will +do. When travel is first admitted upon the stone coating, the ruts +should be filled up as soon as formed; or what is better, a heavy +roller should be used until the stones have become well +consolidated. + +Sometimes in wet or clayey soil it is well to put at the bottom of +the stone coating a layer of large stones, set on their broadest +edges and lengthwise across the road in the form of a pavement. This +is called a Telford road, and has advantages over the McAdam road in +a soil retentive of moisture, as the layer of large stones operates +as an under drain to the stone coating above it. + +It is undoubtedly true that the McAdam or Telford road is the best +road for all practical purposes in this country, and will be the +country road of the future; yet it is also true that the most of our +highways are mere earth-roads, and will probably remain such for +many years, and it is therefore desirable that they should be +constructed as well as they can be made. It is an admitted canon of +the road-making art, that a road ought to be so hard and smooth that +wheels will roll easily over it and not sink into it, so dry and +compact that rain will not affect it beyond making it dirty, and its +component parts so firmly moulded together that the sun cannot +convert them into deep dust. Therefore the travelled part of an +earth-road should not be composed of loam fertile enough for a +corn-field, nor of sand deep enough for a beach. If the road runs +through sandy land, it can be greatly and cheaply improved by +covering it with a few inches of clayish soil; and if it runs +through clayey land, a similar application of sand will be +beneficial. A gravelly soil is usually the best material for an +earth-road, and when practicable every such road should be covered +with a coating of it. The larger gravel, however, should never be +placed at the bottom and the smaller at the top, as the frost and +the vehicles will cause the large gravel to rise and the small to +descend, like the materials in a shaken sieve, and the road will +never become smooth and hard. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +REPAIRS. + + +After a road is located and constructed, economy as well as public +convenience demands that it be kept in good condition the year +round. If a road is allowed to go for several months at a time +without repairs, ruts and holes are likely to form on its surface, +and frequently the middle becomes lower than the sides. Then, in +order to put it in good condition again, a great deal of work and +expense are necessary, whereas if every break is repaired +immediately, much less labor and expense are required to keep up the +road for the same length of time, besides the increased advantage +and convenience of a good road from day to day. + +No doubt our roads could be kept in better condition than at present +without any additional expense, by the application of good sense and +business principles in their management. The present system in +nearly all our country towns consists in dividing up the roads into +districts, and appointing a highway surveyor for each district, with +a stated allowance of money to expend on repairs; and sometimes the +tax-payer residing in the district has a right to work out his road +tax. This surveyor is usually a farmer, who is very busy during +planting-time in the spring, and during the haying and harvesting +seasons; and consequently he works upon the roads between the +planting and the haying seasons, or in the autumn after he has +finished the fall work upon his farm. It sometimes happens that he +works out all the money allowed him in early summer, and then +nothing more is done for a year. + +If a road is only to be repaired once a year, the work ought to be +done in the spring, when the soil is moist and will pack together +hard, and not in the summer, when it is dry and turns easily to +dust, nor in the late autumn, when the fall rains make it muddy. The +surveyor generally makes the repairs by ploughing up the road-bed +and smoothing it off a little, or else by ploughing up the dust, +turf, and stones alongside the road-bed, and scraping the same upon +it. After this is done he goes about his farm work. + +The stones in the road soon begin to work up to the surface, and +remain there like so many footballs for every horse to kick as he +passes over them. A horse-path naturally forms in the centre of the +road, and wheel-ruts upon either side, which make excellent channels +for the water to run in during every rain-storm. At first the water +finds its way over the water-bars in small quantities; but the +channels increase in depth with every shower, and soon during every +hard rain there are from one to three streams of water running over +the road-bed from the top to the bottom of nearly every hill, and as +a consequence the road is washed all to pieces. The road then +generally remains in this condition until the next fall, and +sometimes until the next spring. When a road is repaired in this +way, it follows as a matter of course that it is in a bad condition +all the year round. Just after repairs the road is wretched, for it +is then in better condition to be planted than to be travelled over; +when trodden down a little, the wash of the rains and the loose +stones make it bad again; it then grows worse and worse until +another general repair makes it wretched again, and so on _ad +infinitum_. The only way to remedy this state of affairs is to +change the system. + +There should be only one highway surveyor for the whole town, with +authority to supply such men and teams as may be necessary to keep +the roads in a good state of repair. Let them not only work in the +early summer and fall, but at all times when there is anything which +needs to be done to the roads. A few shovels of dirt and a little +labor in the nick of time will do more towards keeping a road in +good condition than whole days of ploughing and scraping once or +twice a year only. Every good housewife knows that there is a world +of truth in the old maxim, "A stitch in time saves nine." The +managers of all our well-conducted railroads understand this. They +have a gang of men pass often over each section of the roads. + +What would be said of a mill-owner who should let his milldam wash +away once or twice each year, and then rebuild it instead of keeping +it in constant repair? The proprietors of the great turnpike road +from Sacramento to Virginia City in California, which runs mainly +over mountains a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and has an +annual traffic of seven or eight thousand heavy teams, have found by +careful experiment that the cheapest way to keep that great road in +good condition is to have every portion of it looked after every +day, and during dry weather every rod of it is sprinkled with water. +This continual-repair system was adopted in Baden, Germany, 1845. It +was soon found that it was less expensive and more satisfactory than +the old system of annual repairs. Other European countries soon +found it to their advantage to follow Baden's example in this +respect; and now the new system is in universal use in all the +civilized nations of Europe. As a consequence the roads in those +countries as a general thing are in splendid condition throughout +the year. They are on an even grade, and as smooth as a racing-track +in this country. The poorest roads in France, Germany, Switzerland, +or Great Britain are as good as the best of our own. They are nearly +all macadamized, and are kept in continuous repair by laborers and +competent engineers and surveyors, who give their sole labor and +attention to the roads as a business throughout the year. + +But it is not necessary to go to Europe to prove the superiority of +the new system over the old. Many towns in this country, especially +those situated in the vicinity of the large cities, have adopted the +new system, and find by experiment that it is better than the old. +An intelligent citizen and town official of Chelmsford, Mass., Mr. +Henry S. Perham, thus describes the operation of the old and the new +system in that town: "Until 1877 the old highway district system, +common in the New England country towns, was in vogue here. Eleven +highway surveyors were chosen annually in town-meeting, who had +charge of the roads in their respective districts; and although the +town appropriated money liberally for highway repairs, the roads +seemed to be continually growing worse, owing to the superficial +manner in which the repairs were made. In 1877 the town adopted an +entirely different plan for doing the work. The plan was to choose +one surveyor for the whole town, who was to have charge of all the +roads, and the town to purchase suitable teams and implements to be +kept at the town farm. This is now the ninth year in which this +system has been in practice, and the result of the change has been +most satisfactory. The advantages are that the surveyor is chosen +for his especial fitness for the work. The men under him are mostly +employed by the month and boarded at the town farm, where the teams +are also kept. A force now costing the town ten dollars per day will +accomplish more and better work in one week than would be ordinarily +accomplished by a surveyor under the old system in a season. And the +reason is obvious. The men and teams are accustomed to the work; the +best implements and machinery are employed, road-scrapers doing the +work where the nature of the soil will permit; and what is still +more important, the work is directed by the surveyor to the best +advantage. In the winter season the teams break out the roads after +heavy snows, and in fair weather cart gravel on to the roads as in +summer. And although we have an extraordinary length of road to +support,--namely, two hundred and seventy-five miles, being more by +twenty-five miles than any other town in the State,--there has been +a marked and continual improvement in their condition. + +"When this plan was first presented to the attention of the town, it +met with sharp opposition, and passed by only a small majority; but +the favor with which it is now regarded may be judged by the fact +that since its adoption it has met with almost universal approval, +and we should now as soon think of going back to the school-district +system or to support the churches by taxation as of returning to the +old method of repairing our roads." + +This method is undoubtedly better than the old district system; but +the system of the future will not include a road-scraper except for +the building of new roads. Any system is radically defective which +scrapes the dust and worn-out soil of the gutters or the turf and +loam of the roadside upon the road-bed. Perhaps this kind of +repairing is better than none in many localities; but as +civilization advances and the true principles of road-making become +better known, after the foundation of a road-bed has been properly +established, nothing but good road material will ever be put upon +it, and this will be put there from time to time as needed to keep +up a continual good condition of the road. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LAWS RELATING TO THE LAYING OUT OF WAYS. + + +New roads are not often required now to reach and develop new tracts +of land, except in large towns and cities; but they are frequently +needed to shorten distances and to improve grades. Consequently the +laws relative to the laying out, maintenance, and use of highways +are of personal interest to every citizen, and many are also +interested in the laws relating to private ways. + +The public have a right to lay out ways for purposes of business, +amusement, or recreation, as to markets, to public parks or commons, +to places of historic interest or beautiful natural scenery.[1] And +such ways may be established by prescription, by dedication, or by +the acts of the proper public authorities. Twenty years' +uninterrupted use by the public will make a prescriptive highway. +Many of the old roads in our towns and cities have become public +thoroughfares by prescriptive use, which began in colonial days, and +perhaps then followed Indian trails, or were first used as +bridle-paths. + + [1] 11 Allen, 530. + +When the owner in fee of land gives to the public a right of passage +and repassage over it, and his gift is accepted by the public, the +land thus travelled over becomes a way by dedication. The dedication +may be made by the writing, the declaration, or by the acts of the +owner. It must, however, clearly appear that he intended and has +made the dedication; and when it has been accepted by the public it +is irrevocable. Formerly it could be accepted by the public by use, +or by some act or circumstance showing the town's assent and +acquiescence in such dedication; but now no city or town is +chargeable for such dedicated way until it has been laid out and +established in the manner provided by the statutes.[2] It was +formerly thought that this act applied to prescriptive ways as well +as to dedicated ways; but it is now settled that it applies only to +ways by dedication, and ways by prescription are not affected by +it.[3] + + [2] Pub. St. c. 49, Sec. 94. + + [3] 128 Mass. 63. + +The proper town or city authorities have jurisdiction to lay out or +alter ways within the limits of their respective cities or towns, +and to order specific repairs thereon. The county commissioners have +also jurisdiction to lay out public ways, the termini of which are +exclusively within the same town; and they are also clothed with +authority to lay them out from town to town. Hence roads may be +either town ways or public highways. When the proceedings for their +location originate with the town or city officials, they are town +ways; and when the proceedings originate with the county +commissioners, they are public highways.[4] Suppose a new road is +wanted, or an alteration in an old one is desired, within the limits +of a town, a petition therefor may be presented either to the town +authorities or to the county commissioners. If the proposed road is +not situated entirely within the limits of one town or city, then +the commissioners alone have jurisdiction in the premises. When the +selectmen or road commissioners of a town decide to lay out a new +road, or to alter an old one, their doings must be reported and +allowed at some public meeting of the inhabitants regularly warned +and notified therefor; but while the inhabitants are vested with the +right of approval, they have no right to vote that the selectmen or +road commissioners shall lay out a particular way, as it is the +intention of the statute that these officials shall exercise their +own discretion upon the subject.[5] If the town authorities +unreasonably refuse or neglect to lay out a way, or if the town +unreasonably refuses or delays to approve and allow such way as laid +out or altered by its officials, then the parties aggrieved thereby +may, at any time within one year, apply to the county commissioners, +who have authority to cause such way to be laid out or altered. But +when a petition for a public way is presented in the first instance +to the county commissioners, or when the matter is brought before +them by way of appeal, their decision on the question of the public +necessity and convenience of such way is final, and from it there is +no appeal. If damage is sustained by any person in his property by +the laying out, alteration, or discontinuance of a public way, he is +entitled to receive just and adequate damages therefor, to be +assessed, in the first place, by the town or city authorities or by +the county commissioners, and, finally, by a jury, in case one is +demanded by him. He is entitled to a reasonable time to take off any +timber, wood or trees, which may be upon the land to be taken; but +if he does not remove the same within the time allowed, he is deemed +to have relinquished his right thereto. In estimating the damage to +the land-owner caused by the laying out or the alteration of a +public way over his land, neither the city nor town authorities nor +a jury are confined to the value of the land taken. He is also +entitled to the amount of the damage done to his remaining land by +such laying out or alteration.[6] But in such estimation of damages +any direct or peculiar benefit or increase of value accruing to his +adjoining land is to be allowed as a betterment, by way of set-off; +but not any general benefit or increase of value received by him in +common with other land in the neighborhood.[7] + + [4] 7 Cush. 394. + + [5] 5 Pick. 492. + + [6] 14 Gray, 214. + + [7] 4 Cush. 291. + +The cost of making and altering ways, including damages caused +thereby, is to be paid by the city or town wherein the same are +located, provided the proceedings originate with the town or city +authorities; but when the proceedings originate with the county +commissioners, they divide the cost between the towns and the county +in such manner as they think to be just and reasonable.[8] + + [8] 6 Met. 329. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +LAW AS TO REPAIRS. + + +After highways, town-ways, streets, causeways, and bridges have been +established, they are to be kept in such repair as to be reasonably +safe and convenient for travellers at all seasons of the year at the +expense of the town or city in which they are situated. + +It is the duty of each town to grant and vote such sums of money as +are necessary for repairing the public ways within its borders; and +if it fails to do so, the highway surveyors, in their respective +districts, may employ persons, as directed in the statutes, to +repair the roads, and the persons so employed may collect pay for +their labor of the town. In order to make such repairs, city and +town authorities may select and lay out land within their respective +limits as gravel and clay pits from which may be taken earth and +gravel necessary for the construction and repairs of streets and +ways.[9] And they may turn the surface drainage of the roads upon +the land of the adjoining owners without liability.[10] But no +highway surveyor has a right, without the written approbation of the +selectmen, to cause a watercourse, occasioned by the wash of the +road, to be so conveyed by the roadside as to incommode a house, a +store, shop, or other building, or to obstruct a person in the +prosecution of his business.[11] Properly authorized city or town +officers may trim or lop off trees and bushes standing in the public +ways, or cut down and remove such trees; and may cause to be dug up +and removed whatever obstructs such ways, or endangers, hinders, or +incommodes persons travelling therein.[12] Even the boundaries of +public ways are so well guarded that when they are ascertainable no +length of time less than forty years justifies the continuance of a +fence or building within their limits; but the same may, upon the +presentment of a grand jury, be removed as a nuisance.[13] + + [9] Pub. St. c. 49, Sec. 99. + + [10] 13 Gray, 601. + + [11] Pub. St. c. 52, Sec. 12. + + [12] St. 1885, c. 123. + + [13] Pub. St. c. 54. + +It is so important that the public ways be kept free for travel, +that any person may take down and remove gates, rails, bars, or +fences upon or across highways, unless the same have been there +placed for the purpose of preventing the spreading of a disease +dangerous to the public health, or have been erected or continued by +the license of the selectmen or county commissioners.[14] A highway +surveyor acting within the scope of his authority may dig up and +remove the soil within the limits of the public ways for the purpose +of repairing the same, and may carry it from one part of the town to +another;[15] and he has a right to deposit the soil thus removed on +his own land, if that is the best way of clearing the road of +useless material.[16] + + [14] Pub. St. c. 54. + + [15] 125 Mass. 216. + + [16] 128 Mass. 546. + +Though the law is imperative that the roads must be kept in good +condition, and to this end gives municipal corporations great +powers, yet let no one who is not a highway surveyor or in his +employ imagine that he can repair a road not on his own land with +impunity; for it has been decided that if an unauthorized person +digs up the soil on the roadside by another person's land for the +purpose of repairing the road, he is a trespasser and liable for +damages, although he does only what a highway surveyor might +properly do.[17] It is also the duty of cities and towns to guard +with sufficient and suitable railings every road which passes over a +bank, bridge, or along a precipice, excavation, or deep water; and +it makes no difference whether these dangerous places are within or +without the limits of the road, if they are so imminent to the line +of public travel as to expose travellers to unusual hazard.[18] But +towns are not obliged to put up railings merely to prevent +travellers from straying out of the highway, where there is no +unsafe place immediately contiguous to the way.[19] + + [17] 8 Allen, 473. + + [18] 13 Allen, 429. + + [19] 122 Mass. 389. + +The roads are for the use of travellers, and a city or town is not +bound to keep up railings strong enough for idlers to lounge against +or children to play upon.[20] + + [20] 3 Allen, 374; 8 Allen, 237. + +The travelled parts of all roads ought to be wide enough to allow of +the ordinary shyings and frights of horses with safety, for shying +is one of the natural habits of the animal;[21] although it seems +that switching his tail over the reins is not a natural habit of the +animal, as it has been decided that if a horse throws his tail over +the reins and thereby a defect in the road is run against, no +damages can be recovered.[22] + + [21] 100 Mass. 49. + + [22] 98 Mass. 578. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +GUIDE-POSTS, DRINKING-TROUGHS, AND FOUNTAINS. + + +The statutes undertake to provide for the erection and maintenance +of guide-posts at suitable places on the public ways; but a person +has to travel but little in many of the towns of the State to come +to the conclusion that the law is either deficient in construction +or a dead letter in execution. The law makes it incumbent upon the +selectmen or road commissioners of each town to submit to the +inhabitants, at every annual meeting, a report of all the places in +which guide-posts are erected and maintained within the town, and of +all places at which, in their opinion, they ought to be erected and +maintained. For each neglect or refusal to make such report they +shall severally forfeit ten dollars. After the report is made the +town shall determine the several places at which guide-posts shall +be erected and maintained, which shall be recorded in the town +records. A town which neglects or refuses to determine such places, +and to cause a record thereof to be made, shall forfeit five dollars +for every month during which it neglects or refuses to do so. + +At each of the places determined by the town there shall be erected, +unless the town at the annual meeting agrees upon some suitable +substitute therefor, a substantial post of not less than eight feet +in height, near the upper end of which shall be placed a board or +boards, with plain inscription thereon, directing travellers to the +next town or towns and informing them of the distance thereto. + +Every town which neglects or refuses to erect and maintain such +guide-posts, or some suitable substitutes therefor, shall forfeit +annually five dollars for every guide-post which it neglects or +refuses to maintain.[23] These forfeitures can be recovered either by +indictment or by an action of tort for the benefit of the county +wherein the acts of negligence or refusal occur; and any interested +or public-spirited person can make complaint of such negligence or +refusal to the superior court, or to any trial justice, police, +district or municipal court, having jurisdiction of the matter.[24] + + [23] Pub. St. c. 53, Secs. 1-5. + + [24] Pub. St. c. 217; 108 Mass. 140. + +The selectmen may establish and maintain such drinking-troughs, +wells, and fountains within the public highways, squares, and +commons of their respective towns, as in their judgment the public +necessity and convenience may require, and the towns may vote money +to defray the expenses thereof.[25] But the vote of a town +instructing the selectmen to establish a watering-trough at a +particular place would be irregular and void, because towns in their +corporate capacity have not been given the right by statute to +construct drinking-troughs in the public highways. And towns would +not be liable for the acts of the selectmen performed in pursuance +of this statute, because the law makes the selectmen a board of +public officers, representing the general public, and not the agents +of their respective towns. However, if the inhabitants of a town +should construct a drinking trough or fountain of such hideous +shape, and paint it with such brilliant color, that it would +frighten an ordinarily gentle and well-broken horse, by reason of +which a traveller should be brought in contact with a defect in the +way or on the side of the way, and thus injured, the town might be +held liable to pay damages.[26] + + [25] Pub. St. c. 27, Sec. 50. + + [26] 125 Mass. 526. + +It is my purpose to state what the law is, and not what it ought to +be; but I will venture the suggestion that it would not be an +unreasonable hardship on towns to require them to establish and +maintain suitable watering-troughs at suitable places, and it would +be a merciful kindness to many horses which now frequently have to +travel long distances over dusty roads in summer heat without a +chance to get a swallow of water from a public drinking-trough. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SHADE TREES, PARKS, AND COMMONS. + + +The law of the Commonwealth not only requires the public ways to be +kept safe and convenient, but of late years statutes have been +passed allowing owners of land, improvement societies, cities and +towns, to do something to beautify the roadsides and public squares +of any city or town. A city or town may grant or vote a sum not +exceeding fifty cents for each of its ratable polls in the preceding +year, to be expended in planting, or encouraging the planting by the +owners of adjoining real estate, of shade trees upon the public +squares or highways.[27] Such trees may be planted wherever it will +not interfere with the public travel or with private rights, and +they shall be deemed and taken to be the private property of the +person so planting them or upon whose premises they stand.[28] + + [27] St. 1885, c. 123. + + [28] Pub. St. c. 54, Sec. 6. + +Improvement societies, properly organized for the purpose of +improving and ornamenting the streets and public squares of any city +or town by planting and cultivating ornamental trees therein, may be +authorized by any town to use, take care of, and control the public +grounds or open spaces in any of its public ways, not needed for +public travel. They may grade, drain, curb, set out shade or +ornamental trees, lay out flower plots, and otherwise improve the +same; and may protect their work by suitable fences or railings, +subject to such directions as may be given by the selectmen or road +commissioners. And any person who wantonly, maliciously, or +mischievously drives cattle, horses, or other animals, or drives +teams, carriages, or other vehicles, on or across such grounds or +open spaces, or removes or destroys any fence or railing on the +same, or plays ball or other games thereon, or otherwise interferes +with or damages the work of such corporation, is subject to a fine +not exceeding twenty dollars for each offence, for the benefit of +the society.[29] + + [29] St. 1885, c. 157. + +It is also a legal offence for any one wantonly to injure or deface +a shade tree, shrub, rose, or other plant or fixture of ornament or +utility in a street, road, square, court, park, or public garden, or +carelessly to suffer a horse or other beast driven by or for him, or +a beast belonging to him and lawfully on the highway, to break down +or injure a tree, not his own, standing for use or ornament on said +highway.[30] And no one, even if he be the owner of the land, has the +right to cut down or remove an ornamental or shade tree standing in +a public way, without first giving notice of his intention to the +municipal authorities, who are entitled to ten days to decide +whether the tree can be removed or not. And whoever cuts down or +removes or injures such tree in violation of the law shall forfeit +not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars for the benefit +of the city or town wherein the same stands.[31] + + [30] Pub. St. c. 54, Secs. 7, 8. + + [31] Pub. St. c. 54, Secs. 10, 11. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PUBLIC USE OF HIGHWAYS. + + +After the roads are ready for use and beautified by shade trees and +green parks at convenient places, we are confronted with the +question, How are they to be used by the public and the owners of +adjoining estates? We, as a people, are not only continental and +terrestrial travellers, but we are continually passing hither and +thither over the public ways of this State, and consequently it is +important for us to know how to travel the common roads in a legal +and proper manner. + +In the first place, every one who travels upon a public thoroughfare +is bound to drive with due care and discretion, and to have an +ordinarily gentle and well trained horse, with harness and vehicle +in good roadworthy condition, as he is liable for whatever damages +may be occasioned by any insufficiency in this respect.[32] + + [32] 4 Gray, 178. + +Another duty which every traveller is bound to observe is to drive +at a moderate rate of speed. To drive a carriage or other vehicle on +a public way at such a rate or in such a manner as to endanger the +safety of other travellers, or the inhabitants along the road, is an +indictable offence at common law, and amounts to a breach of the +peace; and in case any one is injured or damaged thereby, he may +look to the fast driver for his recompense. But it does not follow +that a man may not drive a well-bred and high-spirited horse at a +rapid gait, if he does not thereby violate any ordinance or by-law +of a town or city; for it has been held that it cannot be said, as +matter of law, that a man is negligent who drives a high-spirited +and lively-stepping horse at the rate of ten miles an hour in a dark +night.[33] + + [33] 8 Allen, 522. + +It then behooves every one to drive with care and caution, whether +he is going fast or slow; and it also behooves him to see that his +servants drive with equal care and caution, for he is responsible to +third persons for the negligence of his servants, in the scope of +their employment, to the same extent as if the act were his own, +although the servants disobey his express orders. If you send your +servant upon the road with a team, with instructions to drive +carefully and to avoid coming in contact with any carriage, but +instead of driving carefully he drives carelessly against a +carriage, you are liable for all damages resulting from the +collision; and if the servant acts wantonly or mischievously, +causing thereby additional bodily or mental injury, such wantonness +or mischief will enhance the damage against you.[34] + + [34] 3 Cush. 300; 114 Mass. 518. + +You may think this a hard law; but it is not so hard as it would be +if it allowed you to hire ignorant, wilful, and incompetent servants +to go upon the road and injure the lives and property of innocent +people without redress save against the servants, who perchance +might be financially irresponsible. It should however be stated in +this connection that if your team should get away from you or your +servant, without any fault on your or his part, and should run away +and do great damage, by colliding with other teams, or by running +over people on foot, you would not be held responsible, as in law it +would be regarded as an inevitable accident. Thus, if your horse +should get scared by some sudden noise or frightful object by the +wayside, or through his natural viciousness of which you were +ignorant, or by some means should get unhitched after you had left +him securely tied, and in consequence thereof should plunge the +shaft of your wagon into some other man's horse, or should knock +down and injure a dozen people, you would not be liable, because the +injury resulted from circumstances over which you had no control.[35] + + [35] 1 Addison on Torts, 466. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +"THE LAW OF THE ROAD." + + +There are certain rules applicable to travellers upon public ways, +which are so important that everybody ought to know and observe +them. The law relative thereto is known as "the law of the road." +These rules relate to the meeting, passing, and conduct of teams on +the road; and it is more important that there should be some well +established and understood rules on the subject than what the rules +are. In England the rules are somewhat different, and some of them +are the reverse of what they are in this country. But the rules and +the law relating thereto in this country are about the same in every +State of the Union. Our statutes provide that when persons meet each +other on a bridge or road, travelling with carriages or other +vehicles, each person shall seasonably drive his carriage or other +vehicle to the right of the middle of the travelled part of such +bridge or road, so that their respective carriages or other vehicles +may pass each other without interference; that one party passing +another going in the same direction must do so on the left-hand side +of the middle of the road, and if there is room enough, the foremost +driver must not wilfully obstruct the road.[36] + + [36] Pub. St. c. 93. + +Although these are statutory rules, yet they are not inflexible in +every instance, as on proper occasions they may be waived or +reversed. They are intended for the use of an intelligent and +civilized people; and in the crowded streets of villages and cities, +situations or circumstances may frequently arise when a deviation +will not only be justifiable but absolutely necessary. One may +always pass on the left side of a road, or across it, for the +purpose of stopping on that side, if he can do so without +interrupting or obstructing a person lawfully passing on the other +side.[37] And if the driver of a carriage on the proper side of the +road sees a horse coming furiously on the wrong side of the road, it +is his duty to give way and go upon the wrong side of the road, if +by so doing he can avoid an accident.[38] But in deviating from the +"law of the road," one must be able to show that it was the proper +and reasonable thing to do under the circumstances, or else he will +be answerable for all damages; for the law presumes that a party who +is violating an established rule of travelling is a wrongdoer.[39] Of +course a person on the right side of the road has no right to run +purposely or recklessly into a trespasser, simply because he has +wrongfully given him the opportunity to receive an injury, and then +turn round and sue for damages arising from his own foolhardiness +and devil-may-care conduct.[40] + + [37] Angell on Highways, Sec. 336. + + [38] Shear. & Red. on Negligence, Sec. 309. + + [39] 121 Mass. 216. + + [40] 12 Met. 415. + +Every one seeking redress at law on account of an accident must be able +to show that he himself was at the time in the exercise of ordinary +care and precaution, and it is not enough for him to show that somebody +else was violating a rule of law. When the road is unoccupied a +traveller is at liberty to take whichever side of the road best suits +his convenience, as he is only required "seasonably to drive to the +right" when he meets another traveller; but if parties meet _on the +sudden_, and an injury results, the party on the wrong side of the +road is responsible, unless it clearly appears that the party on the +proper side has ample means and opportunity to prevent it.[41] + + [41] 10 Cush. 495; 3 Carr. & Payne, 554; Angell on Carriers, + Sec. 555. + +Where there is occasion for one driver to pass another going in the +same direction, the foremost driver may keep the even tenor of his +way in the middle or on either side of the road, provided there is +sufficient room for the rear driver to pass by; but if there is not +sufficient room, it is the duty of the foremost driver to afford it, +by yielding an equal share of the road, if that be practicable; but +if not, then the object must be deferred till the parties arrive at +ground more favorable to its accomplishment. If the leading +traveller then wilfully refuses to comply, he makes himself liable, +criminally, to the penalty imposed by the statute, and answerable at +law in case the rear traveller suffers damage in consequence of the +delay. There being no statute regulations as to the manner in which +persons should drive when they meet at the junction of two streets, +the rule of the common law applies, and each person is bound to use +due and reasonable care, adapted to the circumstances and place.[42] + + [42] 12 Allen, 84. + +By the "travelled part" of the road is intended that part which is +usually wrought for travelling, and not any track which may happen +to be made in the road by the passing of vehicles; but when the +wrought part of the road is hidden by the snow, and a path is beaten +and travelled on the side of the wrought part, persons meeting on +such beaten and travelled path are required to drive their vehicles +to the right of the middle of such path.[43] Many drivers of heavily +loaded vehicles seem to think that all lightly loaded ones should +turn out and give them all the travelled part of the road. No doubt +a lightly loaded vehicle can often turn out with less inconvenience +than a heavily loaded one, and generally every thoughtful and +considerate driver of a light vehicle is willing to, and does, give +the heavy vehicle more than half the road on every proper occasion; +but the driver of the heavy vehicle ought to understand that it is +done out of courtesy to himself and consideration for his horses, +and not because it is required by any rule of law. The statute law +of the road in this State makes no distinction between the lightly +and the heavily loaded vehicle. Both alike are required to pass to +the right of the travelled part of the road. In case of accident the +court would undoubtedly take into consideration the size and load of +each vehicle, as bearing upon the question of the conduct of the +drivers under the circumstances, and their responsibility would be +settled in accordance with "the law of the road," modified and +possibly reversed by the situation of the parties and the +circumstances surrounding them at the time.[44] + + [43] 4 Pick. 125; 8 Met. 213. + + [44] 111 Mass. 360. + +A traveller in a common carriage may use the track of a street +railway when the same is not in use by the company; but the company +is entitled to the unrestricted use of their rails upon all proper +occasions, and then such traveller must keep off their track, or +else he renders himself liable to indictment under the statutes of +the State.[45] + + [45] Pub. St. c. 113, Sec. 37; 7 Allen, 573. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +EQUESTRIANS AND PEDESTRIANS. + + +In England "the law of the road" applies as well to equestrians as +to travellers by carriage, and I can see no good reason why it +should not do so here. The statutes are silent on the subject, and I +cannot find that our Supreme Court has ever had occasion to pass +upon the question; but it has been decided in some of the States +that when a traveller on horseback meets another equestrian or a +carriage, he may exercise his own notions of prudence, and turn +either to the right or to the left at his option.[46] By common +consent and immemorial usage an equestrian is expected to yield the +road, or a good share of it, to a wagon or other vehicle. It has +been decided in Pennsylvania that if he has a chance to turn out and +refuses to do so, and his steed or himself is injured by a +collision, he is remediless.[47] + + [46] 24 Wend. 465. + + [47] 23 Penn. St. 196. + +It is clear that the statute law of the road in this State is not +applicable to people on horseback, as it is expressly limited to +carriages or other vehicles, and therefore equestrians are amenable +only to the common law of the land. By this law they are required to +ride on the public ways with due care and precaution, and to +exercise reasonably good judgment on every occasion, under all the +attendant circumstances. When they meet wagons, whether heavily +loaded or not, they ought to yield as much of the road as they can +conveniently,--certainly more than half, as they do not need that +much of the road to pass conveniently,--but when they meet a vehicle +in the form of a bicycle there seems to be no good reason why they +should yield more than half the road. For the convenience of +themselves and the public at large, on meeting vehicles or each +other, they ought to pass to the right, as by adopting the statute +law of the road in this respect order is promoted and confusion +avoided. + +A public thoroughfare is a way for foot-passengers as well as +carriages, and a person has a right to walk on the carriage-way if +he pleases; but, as Chief Justice Denman once remarked, "he had +better not, especially at night, when carriages are passing +along."[48] However, all persons have an undoubted right to walk on +the beaten track of a road, if it has no sidewalk, even if infirm +with age or disease, and are entitled to the exercise of reasonable +care on the part of persons driving vehicles along it. If there is a +sidewalk which is in bad condition, or obstructed by merchandise or +otherwise, then the foot-passenger has a right to walk on the road +if he pleases. But it should be borne in mind that what is proper on +a country road might not be in the crowded streets of a city. In law +every one is bound to regulate his conduct to meet the situations in +which he is placed, and the circumstances around him at the time. A +person infirm with age or disease or afflicted with poor eyesight +should always take extraordinary precaution in walking upon the +road.[49] Thus, a man who traverses a crowded thoroughfare with edged +tools or bars of iron must take especial care that he does not cut +or bruise others with the things he carries. Such a person would be +bound to keep a better lookout than the man who merely carried an +umbrella; and the man who carried an umbrella would be bound to take +more care when walking with it than a person who had nothing.[50] + + [48] 5 Carr. & Payne, 407. + + [49] 1 Allen, 180. + + [50] 1 Addison on Torts, Sec. 480. + +Footmen have a right to cross a highway on every proper occasion, +but when convenient they should pass upon cross-walks, and in so +doing should look out for teams; for it is as much their duty, on +crossing a road, to look out for teams, as it is the duty of the +drivers of teams to be vigilant in not running over them. "The law +of the road" as to the meeting of vehicles does not apply to them. +They may walk upon whichever side they please, and turn, upon +meeting teams, either to the right or to the left, at their option, +but it is their duty to yield the road to such an extent as is +necessary and reasonable; and if they walk in the beaten track or +cross it when teams are passing along, they must use extraordinary +care and caution or they will be remediless in case of injury to +themselves. They may travel on the Lord's day for all purposes of +necessity or charity; and they may also take short walks in the +public highway on Sundays, simply for exercise and to take the air, +and even to call to see friends on such walks, without liability to +punishment therefor under the statutes for the observance of the +Lord's day, and they can recover damages for injuries wrongfully +sustained while so walking.[51] + + [51] 14 Allen, 475; Barker v. Worcester, 139 Mass. 74. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +OMNIBUSES, STAGES, AND HORSE-CARS. + + +Nearly every one has occasion, more or less often, to travel over +the public ways in the coaches of passenger carriers. Whoever +undertakes to carry passengers and their baggage for hire from place +to place is bound to use the utmost care and diligence in providing +safe and suitable coaches, harnesses, horses, and coachmen, in order +to prevent such injuries as human care and foresight can guard +against. + +If an accident happens from a defect in the coach or harness which +might have been discovered and remedied upon careful and thorough +examination, such accident must be ascribed to negligence, for which +the owner is liable in case of injury to a passenger happening by +reason of such accident. + +On the other hand, where the accident arises from a hidden and +internal defect, which careful and thorough examination would not +disclose, and which could not be guarded against by the exercise of +sound judgment and the most vigilant oversight, then the proprietor +is not liable for the injury, but the misfortune must be borne by +the sufferer as one of that class of injuries for which the law can +afford no redress in the form of a pecuniary recompense. + +If a passenger, in peril arising from an accident for which the +proprietors are responsible, is in so dangerous a situation as to +render his leaping from the coach an act of reasonable precaution, +and he leaps therefrom and breaks a limb, the proprietors are +answerable to him in damages, though he might safely have retained +his seat.[52] + + [52] 9 Met. 1. + +When the proprietors of stages or street-car coaches, which are +already full and overloaded, stop their coaches, whether at the +signal or not of would-be passengers, and open the doors for their +entrance, they must be considered as inviting them to ride, and +thereby assuring them that their passage will be a safe one, at +least so far as dependent upon the exercise of reasonable and +ordinary care, diligence, and skill, on their part, in driving and +managing their horses and coaches; and, in fact, they are rather to +be held responsible for such increased watchfulness and solicitous +care, skill, and attention, as the crowded condition of the vehicle +requires. If, under such circumstances, a passenger is thrown out of +or off the coach by its violent jerk at starting or stopping, or in +any other way through the negligence of the proprietors or their +agents, he may hold them liable for his injuries.[53] A passenger +must pay his fare in advance, if demanded, otherwise he may have to +pay a fine for evading fare; and if he is riding free, the +proprietors are not responsible, except for gross negligence; and he +must also properly and securely pack his baggage, if he expects to +recover damages in case of loss. A mail-coach is protected by act of +Congress from obstructions, but is subject in all other respects to +"the law of the road."[54] + + [53] 103 Mass. 391. + + [54] 1 Watts, Pa. 360. + +If the proprietors of coaches used for the common carriage of +persons are guilty of gross carelessness or neglect in the conduct +and management of the same while in such use, they are liable to a +fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or to imprisonment not +exceeding three years.[55] And if a driver of a stage-coach or other +vehicle for the conveyance of passengers for hire, when a passenger +is within or upon such coach or vehicle, leaves the horses thereof +without some suitable person to take the charge and guidance of +them, or without fastening them in a safe and prudent manner, he may +be imprisoned two months or fined fifty dollars.[56] + + [55] Pub. St. c. 202, Sec. 34. + + [56] Pub. St. c. 202, Sec. 35. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +PURPOSES FOR WHICH HIGHWAYS MAY BE USED. + + +As before intimated, the public ways are mainly for the use of +travellers; but in the progress of civilization it has become +convenient and necessary to use them for other purposes of a public +nature. It is the great merit of the common law, that while its +fundamental principles remain fixed from generation to generation, +yet they are generally so comprehensive and so well adapted to new +institutions and conditions of society, new modes of commerce, new +usages and practices, that they are capable of application to every +phase of society and business life. Time and necessity, as well as +locality, are important elements in determining the character of any +particular use of a public way. Many public ways are now used for +gas, water-pipes, and sewers, because the public health and +convenience are subserved by such use.[57] They are also used for the +transmission of intelligence by electricity, and the post-boy and +the mail-coach are disappearing. + + [57] 35 N.H. 257. + +The horse-railroad was deemed a new invention; but it was held that +a portion of the road might well be set aside for it, although the +rights of other travellers to some extent were limited by the +privileges necessary for its use.[58] + + [58] 136 Mass. 75. + +And now motor cars and elevated railroads are making their +appearance in the centres of civilized life, and the bicycle and +tricycle are familiar objects on all the great thoroughfares. Should +human ingenuity discover any new modes of conveying persons and +property over the public ways, or of transmitting intelligence along +the same, which should prove convenient to the everyday life of +humanity, no doubt the highway law will be found applicable to all +the needs of advancing civilization. The underlying principle of the +law is that every person may use the highway to his own best +advantage, but with a just regard to the like rights of others. The +law does not specify what kind of animals or vehicles are to be +allowed upon the road, but leaves every case to be decided as it +shall arise, in view of the customs and necessities of the people +from time to time. All persons may lawfully travel upon the public +ways with any animal or vehicle which is suitable for a way prepared +and intended to afford the usual and reasonable accommodations +needful to the requirements of a people in their present state of +civilization; but if any person undertakes to use or travel upon the +highway in an unusual or extraordinary manner, or with animals, +vehicles, or freight not suitable or adapted to a way opened and +prepared for the public use, in the common intercourse of society, +and in the transaction of usual and ordinary business, he then takes +every possible risk of loss and damage upon himself.[59] + + [59] 14 Gray, 242. + +If a party leads a bull or other animal through a public way without +properly guarding and restraining the same, and for want of such +care and restraint people rightfully on the way and using due care +are injured, the owner of the animal is responsible, because under +such circumstances he is bound to use the utmost care and diligence, +especially in villages and cities, to avoid injuries to people on +the road.[60] So, if a man goes upon the highway with a vehicle of +such peculiar and unusual construction, or which is operated in such +a manner, as to frighten horses and to create noise and confusion on +the road, he is guilty of an indictable offence and answerable in +damages besides. An ycleped velocipede in the road has been held in +Canada to be a nuisance, and its owner was indicted and found guilty +of a criminal offence.[61] In England a man who had taken a traction +steam-engine upon the road was held liable to a party who had +suffered damages by reason of his horses being frightened by it.[62] +It has been held to be a nuisance at common law to carry an +unreasonable weight on a highway with an unusual number of +horses.[63] And so it is a nuisance for a large number of persons to +assemble on or near a highway for the purpose of shouting and making +a noise and disturbance; and likewise it is a nuisance for one to +make a large collection of tubs in the road, or to blockade the way +by a large number of logs, cattle, or wagons; for, as Lord +Ellenborough once said, the king's highway is not to be used as a +stable or lumber yard. + + [60] 106 Mass. 281; 126 Mass. 506. + + [61] 30 Q.B. Ont. 41. + + [62] 2 F. & F. 229. + + [63] 3 Salk. 183. + +Towns and cities have authority to make such by-laws regulating the +use and management of the public ways within their respective +limits, not repugnant to law, as they shall judge to be most +conducive to their welfare.[64] They may make such by-laws to secure, +among other things, the removal of snow and ice from sidewalks by +the owners of adjoining estates; to prevent the pasturing of cattle +or other animals in the highways; to regulate the driving of sheep, +swine, and neat cattle over the public ways; to regulate the +transportation of the offal of slaughtered cattle, sheep, hogs, and +other animals along the roads; to prohibit fast driving or riding on +the highways; to regulate travel over bridges; to regulate the +passage of carriages or other vehicles, and sleds used for coasting, +over the public ways; to regulate and control itinerant musicians +who frequent the streets and public places; and to regulate the +moving of buildings in the highways. Many people are inclined to +make the highway the receptacle for the surplus stones and rubbish +around their premises, and to use the wayside for a lumber and wood +yard; and some farmers are in the habit of supplying their hog-pens +and barn cellars with loam and soil dug out of the highway. + + [64] Pub. St. c. 27, Sec. 15, and c. 53; 97 Mass. 221. + +Again, some highway surveyors have very little taste for rural +beauty, and show very poor judgment, and perhaps now and then a +little spite, in ploughing up the green grass by the roadside and +sometimes in front of houses. These evils can be remedied by every +town which will pass suitable by-laws upon the subject and see that +they are enforced. Such by-laws might provide that no one should be +allowed to deposit within the limits of the highway any stones, +brush, wood, rubbish, or other substance inconvenient to public +travel; that no one should be permitted to dig up and carry away any +loam or soil within the limits of the highway; and that no highway +surveyor should be allowed to dig or plough up the greensward in +front of any dwelling-house, or other building used in connection +therewith, without the written direction or consent of the +selectmen. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +USE OF HIGHWAYS BY ADJOINING OWNERS. + + +The owner of land adjoining a highway ordinarily owns to the middle of +the road; and while he has the same rights as the public therein, he +also has, in addition thereto, certain other rights incident to the +ownership of the land over which the road passes. When land is taken +for a highway, it is taken for all the present and prospective purposes +for which a public thoroughfare may properly be used, and the damages +to the owner of the land are estimated with reference to such use; but +the land can be used for no other purpose, and when the servitude +ceases the land reverts to him free from encumbrance. During the +continuance of the servitude he is entitled to use the land, subject to +the easement, for any and all purposes not incompatible with the public +enjoyment. If the legislature authorizes the addition of any new +servitude, essentially distinct from the ordinary use of a highway, +like an elevated railroad, then the land-owner is entitled to +additional compensation; for it cannot be deemed, in law, to have been +within the contemplation of the parties, at the time of the laying out +of the road, that it might be used for such new and additional +purposes. It has been held in New York, Illinois, and some of the +United States circuit courts, that the use of a highway for a telegraph +line will entitle such owner to additional compensation; but in the +recent case of Pierce _v._ Drew[65] the majority of our Supreme Court +decided that the erection of a telegraph line is not a new servitude +for which the land-owner is entitled to additional compensation. + + [65] 136 Mass. 75. + +A minority of the court, in an able argument, maintained that the +erection of telegraph and telephone posts and wires along the roads, +fitted with cross-beams adapted for layer after layer of almost +countless wires, which necessitate to some extent the destruction of +trees along the highways or streets, the occupation of the ground, +the filling of the air, the interference with access to or escape +from buildings, the increased difficulty of putting out fires, the +obstruction of the view, the presentation of unsightly objects to +the eye, and the creation of unpleasant noises in the wind, is an +actual injury to abutting land along the line, and constitutes a new +and increased servitude, for which the land-owner is entitled to a +distinct compensation. After the rendering of the majority decision, +the legislature very promptly passed a law allowing an owner of land +abutting upon a highway along which telegraph or telephone, electric +light or electric power, lines shall be constructed, to recover +damages to the full extent of the injuries to his property, provided +he applies, within three months after such construction, to the +mayor and aldermen or selectmen to assess and appraise his +damage.[66] + + [66] St. 1884, c. 306. + +The public has a right to occupy the highway for travel and other +legitimate purposes, and to use the soil, the growing timber, and +other materials found within the space of the road, in a reasonable +manner, for the purpose of making and repairing the road and the +bridges thereon.[67] But the public cannot go upon the land of an +adjoining owner without his consent, to remove stones or earth, to +repair a bridge or the highway; and if in consequence of such +removal the land is injured, by floods or otherwise, he can recover +damages therefor.[68] He is not obliged to build or maintain a road +fence, except to keep his own animals at home, but if he does build +a fence he must set it entirely on his own land; and likewise, if a +town constructs an embankment to support a road or bridge, it must +keep entirely within the limits of the highway, for if any part of +the embankment is built on his land he can collect damages of the +town.[69] He may carry water-pipes underground through the highway, +or turn a watercourse across the same below the surface, provided he +does not deprive the public of their rights in the way.[70] From the +time of Edward IV. it has been the settled law that the owner of the +soil in the highway is entitled to all the profits of the freehold, +the grass and trees upon it and the mines under it. He can lawfully +claim all the products of the soil and all the fruit and nuts upon +the trees. He may maintain trespass for any injury to the soil or to +the growing trees thereon, which is not incidental to the ordinary +and legitimate uses of the road by the public. His land in the +highway may be recovered in ejectment just the same as any of his +other land. No one has any more right to graze his highway land than +his tillage land.[71] He may cut the hay on the roadside, gather the +fruit and crops thereon, and graze his own animals there; and the +by-laws of the cities and towns preventing the pasturing of cattle +and other animals in the highway are not to affect his right to the +use of land within the limits of the road adjoining his own +premises.[72] + + [67] 15 Johns, 447. + + [68] 107 Mass. 414. + + [69] 4 Gray, 215; 136 Mass. 10. + + [70] 6 Mass. 454. + + [71] 16 Mass. 33; 8 Allen, 473. + + [72] Pub. St. c. 53, Sec. 10. + +It is not one of the legitimate uses of the highway for a traveller +or a loafer to stop in front of your house to abuse you with +blackguardism, or to play a tune or sing a song which is +objectionable to you; and if you request him to pass on and he +refuses to go, you may treat him as a trespasser and make him pay +damages and costs, if he is financially responsible.[73] And +likewise, if any person does anything on the highway in front of +your premises to disturb the peace, to draw a crowd together, or to +obstruct the way, he is answerable in damages to you and liable to +an indictment by the grand jury.[74] + + [73] 38 Me. 195. + + [74] 24 Pick. 187. + +Although the owner of the fee in a highway has many rights in the +way not common to the public, yet he must exercise those rights with +due regard to the public safety and convenience. Perhaps, in the +absence of objections on the part of the highway surveyor, or of +prohibitory by-laws on the part of the town, he has a right to take +soil or other material from the roadside for his own private use, +but he certainly has no right to injure the road by his excavations, +or to endanger the lives of travellers by leaving unsafe pits in the +wayside. He can load and unload his vehicles in the highway, in +connection with his business on the adjoining land, but it must be +done in such a manner as not unreasonably to interfere with or +incommode the travelling public. When a man finds it necessary to +crowd his teams and wagons into the street, and thereby blockade the +highway for hours at a time, he ought either to enlarge his premises +or remove his business to some more convenient spot. He has a right +to occupy the roadside with his vehicles, loaded or unloaded, to a +reasonable extent; but when he fills up the road with logs and wood, +tubs and barrels, wagons and sleighs, pig-pens and agricultural +machinery, or deposits therein stones and rubbish, he is not using +the highway properly, but is abusing it shamefully, and is +responsible in damages to any one who is injured in person or +property through his negligence, and, moreover, is liable to +indictment for illegally obstructing the roadway.[75] As before said, +he has a perfect right to pasture the roadside with his animals; but +if he turns them loose in the road, and they there injure the person +or property of any one legally travelling therein, he is answerable +in damages to the full extent of the injuries, whether he knows they +have any vicious habits or not.[76] If his cow, bull, or horse, thus +loose in the highway, gore or kick the horse of some traveller, he +is liable for all damages;[77] and in one instance a peaceable and +well-behaved hog in the road cost her owner a large sum of money, +because the horse of a traveller, being frightened at her looks, ran +away, smashed his carriage, and threw him out.[78] + + [75] 1 Cush. 443; 13 Met. 115; 107 Mass. 264; 14 Gray, 75; + Pub. St. c. 112, Sec. 17. + + [76] 4 Allen, 444. + + [77] 10 Cox, 102. + + [78] 25 Me. 538. + +As an offset to his advantages as adjoining owner there are a few +disadvantages. Highways are set apart, among other things, that +cattle and sheep may be driven thereon; and as, from the nature of +such animals, it is impossible even with care to keep them upon the +highways unless the adjoining land is properly fenced, it follows +that when they are driven along the road with due care, and then +escape upon adjoining land and do damage their owner is not liable +therefor, if he makes reasonable efforts to remove them as speedily +as possible.[79] Likewise, if a traveller bent upon some errand of +mercy or business finds the highway impassable by reason of some +wash-out, snowdrift, or other defect, he may go round upon adjoining +land, without liability, so far as necessary to bring him to the +road again, beyond the defect.[80] If a watercourse on adjoining land +is allowed by the land-owner to become so obstructed by ice and +snow, or other cause, that the water is set back, and overflows or +obstructs the road, the highway surveyor may, without liability, +enter upon adjoining land and remove the nuisance, if he acts with +due regard to the safety and protection of the land from needless +injury.[81] + + [79] 114 Mass. 466. + + [80] 7 Cush. 408. + + [81] 134 Mass. 522. + +A town or city has a right, in repairing a highway, to so raise the +grade or so construct the water-bars within its limits, as to cause +surface water to flow in large quantities upon adjoining land, to +the injury of the owner thereof; but, on the other hand, the +land-owner has a right to cause, if he can, the surface water on his +land to flow off upon the highway, and he may lawfully do anything +he can, on his own land, to prevent surface water from coming +thereon from the highway, and may even stop up the mouth of a +culvert built by a town across the way for the purpose of conducting +such surface water upon his land, providing he can do it without +exceeding the limits of his own land.[82] + + [82] 13 Allen, 211, 291; 136 Mass. 119. + +When the owner of land is constructing or repairing a building +adjoining the highway, it is his duty to provide sufficient +safeguards to warn and protect passing travellers against any danger +arising therefrom; and if he neglects to do so, and a traveller is +injured by a falling brick, stick of timber, or otherwise, he is +responsible.[83] + + [83] 123 Mass. 26. + +If the adjoining owner of a building suffers snow and ice to +accumulate on the roof, and allows it to remain there for an unusual +and unreasonable time, he is liable, if it slides off and injures a +passing traveller.[84] And, generally, the adjoining owner is bound +to use ordinary care in maintaining his own premises in such a +condition that persons lawfully using the highway may do so with +safety. + + [84] 101 Mass. 251; 106 Mass. 194. + +The general doctrine as to the use of property is here, as elsewhere, +_Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas_,--"So use your own property as not +to injure the rights of another." If you make an excavation on your +land so near to a highway that travellers are liable accidentally to +fall therein, you had better surround it with a fence or other +safeguard sufficient to protect reasonably the safety of travellers. If +you have any passage-ways, vaults, coal-holes, flap-doors, or traps of +any kind on your premises, which are dangerous for children or unwary +adults, you had better abolish them, or at any rate take reasonable +precaution to cover or guard them in such manner as ordinary prudence +dictates, and especially if they are near the highway; for if you do +not you may, some time when not convenient for you, be called upon to +pay a large claim for damages or to defend yourself against an +indictment. But if you have so covered and guarded them, and by the act +of a trespasser, or in some other way without fault on your part, the +cover, fence, or guard is removed, you are not liable until you have +had actual or constructive notice of the fact, and have had reasonable +opportunity to put it right.[85] + + [85] 4 Carr. & Payne, 262, 337; 51 N.Y. 229; 19 Conn. 507. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +PRIVATE WAYS. + + +A private way is the right of passage over another man's land. It +may be established and discontinued in the same manner as a public +way, and it may also arise from necessity. A way of necessity is +where a person sells land to another which is wholly surrounded by +his own land, or which cannot be reached from the public highways or +from the land of the purchaser. In such case the purchaser is unable +to reach his land at all unless he can go over some of the +surrounding estates; and inasmuch as he cannot go over the premises +of those who are strangers to him, in law, and inasmuch as public +policy and simple justice call for a passage-way to his land, for +his use in the care and cultivation of it, the law gives him a way +of necessity over his grantor's land, which runs with his land, as +appurtenant thereto, so long as the necessity exists, even if +nothing is said in the deed about a right of way, because it is +presumed that when the grantor sells the land he intends to convey +with it a right of way, without which it could not be used and +enjoyed; but when the necessity ceases, the right ceases also.[86] In +the absence of contract, it belongs to the owner of a private way to +keep it in repair,[87] and for this purpose he may enter upon the way +and do whatever is necessary to make it safe and convenient; but if +in so doing he removes soil and stones which are not needed on the +way, such surplus material belongs to the owner of the land over +which the way passes.[88] If a defined and designated way becomes +impassable for want of repair or by natural causes, the owner of the +way has not the right of a traveller on a public road to go outside +the limits of the way in order to pass from one point to another.[89] +But if the owner of the land obstructs the way, a person entitled to +use it may, without liability, enter upon and go over adjoining land +of the same owner, provided he does no unnecessary damage.[90] The +reason for this distinction in the law between a public and a +private way is that in the case of a private way the owner of the +way, who alone has the right to its use, is bound to keep it in +repair, whereas in the case of a public way the traveller is under +no obligation to keep it in passable condition. A private way once +established cannot be re-located except with the consent of both the +owner of the land and of the way; but if both are agreed, the old +way may be discontinued and re-located in another place.[91] The +owner of the soil of a private way may, the same as the owner of the +fee in a highway, make any and all uses thereof to which the land +can be applied.[92] In the absence of agreement to the contrary, he +may lawfully and without liability cover such way with a building or +other structure, if he leaves a space so wide, high, and light that +the way is substantially as convenient as before for the purpose for +which it was established.[93] And so, in the absence of agreement, he +may maintain such fences across the way as are necessary to enable +him to use his land for agricultural purposes, but he must provide +suitable bars or gates for the use and convenience of the owner of +the way. He is not required to leave it as an open way, nor to +provide swing gates, if a reasonably convenient mode of passage is +furnished; and if the owner of the way or his agents leave the bars +or gates open, and in consequence thereof damage is done by animals, +he is liable to respond in damages.[94] "The law of the road" applies +as well to private as to public ways, as the object of the law is to +prescribe a rule of conduct for the convenience and safety of those +who may have occasion to travel, and actually do travel, with +carriages on a place adapted to and fitted and actually used for +that purpose.[95] The description of a way as a "bridle-road" does +not confine the right of way to a particular class of animals or +special mode of use, but it may be used for any of the ordinary +purposes of a private road.[96] + + [86] 14 Mass. 49; 2 Met. 457; 14 Gray, 126. + + [87] 12 Mass. 65. + + [88] 10 Gray, 65. + + [89] Wash, on Ease. *196. + + [90] 2 Allen, 543. + + [91] 5 Gray, 409; 14 Gray, 473. + + [92] Wash, on Ease. *196. + + [93] 2 Met. 457. + + [94] 31 N. Y 366; 44 N.H. 539; 4 M. & W. 245. + + [95] 23 Pick. 201. + + [96] 16 Gray, 175. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +DON'T. + + +In school, church, and society many things are taught by the +prohibitory don't; and thus many rules of law relating to public and +private ways may be taught and illustrated in the same way. For +instance:-- + +Don't ever drink intoxicating liquor as a beverage, at least in +large quantities. If you ever have occasion to use it at all, use it +very sparingly, especially if you are travelling or are about to +travel with a team; for if you should collide with another team, or +meet with an accident on account of a defect in the way, in a state +of intoxication, your boozy condition would be some evidence that +you were negligent. The law, however, is merciful and just, and if +you could satisfy the court or jury that notwithstanding your +unmanly condition you were using due care, and that the calamity +happened through no fault of yours, you would still be entitled to a +decision in your favor; but when you consider how apt a sober human +mind is to think that an intoxicated mind is incapable of clear +thought and intelligent action, I think you will agree with the +decisions of the courts, which mean, when expressed in plain +language, "You had better not be drunk when you get into trouble on +the highway."[97] + + [97] 3 Allen, 402; 115 Mass. 239. + +Don't ever approach a railway crossing without looking out for the +engine while the bell rings, and listening to see if the train is +coming; for there is good sense as well as good law in the suggestion +of Chief Baron Pollock, that a railway track _per se_ is a warning of +danger to those about to go upon it, and cautions them to see if a +train is coming. And our court has decided that when one approaches a +railway crossing he is bound to keep his eyes open, and to look up and +down the rails before going upon them, without waiting for the engineer +to ring the bell or to blow the whistle.[98] It is a duty dictated by +common sense and prudence, for one approaching a railway crossing to do +so carefully and cautiously both for his own sake and the sake of those +travelling by rail. If one blindly and wilfully goes upon a railway +track when danger is imminent and obvious, and sustains damage, he must +bear the consequences of his own rashness and folly. + + [98] 12 Met. 415. + +Don't drive horses or other animals affected by contagious diseases +on the public way, or allow them to drink at public watering-places, +or keep them at home, for that matter. The common law allows a man +to keep on his own premises horses afflicted with glanders, or sheep +afflicted with foot-rot, or other domestic animals afflicted with +any kind of diseases, provided he guards them with diligence and +does not permit them to escape on to his neighbor's land or the +public way. But under the statute law of this State, a man having +knowledge of the existence of a contagious disease among any species +of domestic animals is liable to a fine of five hundred dollars, or +imprisonment for one year, if he does not forthwith inform the +public authorities of such disease.[99] Aside from the penalty of the +statute law, it is clearly an indictable offence for any one to take +domestic animals affected with contagious diseases, knowing or +having reason to know them to be so affected, upon the public ways, +where they are likely to give such diseases to sound animals; and he +would be answerable in damages, besides.[100] + + [99] St. 1885, c. 148. + + [100] 2 Rob. N.Y. 326; 16 Conn. 200. + +If you are afflicted with a contagious or infectious disease, don't +expose yourself on a highway or in a public place; and don't expose +another person afflicted with such disease, as thereby you may +jeopardize the health of other people, and your property also, in +case you should be sued by some one suffering on account of your +negligence.[101] + + [101] 4 M. & S. 73; Wood on Nuisances, 70. + +When there is snow on the ground, and the movement of your sleigh is +comparatively noiseless, don't drive on a public way without having +at least three bells attached to some part of your harness, as that +is the statute as well as the common law. By the statute law you +would be liable to pay a fine of fifty dollars for each offence. And +by the statute and common law, in case of a collision with another +team, you would probably be held guilty of culpable negligence and +made to pay heavy damages. Of course you would be allowed to show +that the absence of bells on your team did not cause the accident or +justify the negligence of the driver of the other team, but it would +be a circumstance which would tell against you at every stage of the +case.[102] + + [102] 12 Met. 415; 11 Gray, 392; 8 Allen, 436. + +If you have no acquaintance with the nature and habits of horses, +and no experience in driving or riding them, don't try to ride or +drive any of them on a public way at first, but confine your +exercise in horsemanship to your own land until you have acquired +ordinary skill in their management; for the law requires every +driver or rider on a highway to be reasonably proficient in the care +and management of any animal he assumes to conduct through a public +thoroughfare.[103] + + [103] 2 Lev. 173. + +Don't ride with a careless driver, if you can help it, because every +traveller in a conveyance is so far identified with the one who +drives or directs it, that if any injury is sustained by him by +collision with another vehicle or railway train through the +negligence or contributory negligence of the driver, he cannot +recover damages for his injuries. The passenger, in law, is +considered as being in the same position as the driver of the +conveyance, and is a partaker with him in his negligence, if not in +his sins.[104] + + [104] Addison on Torts, Sec. 479. + +If you have a vicious and runaway horse, and you know it, you had +better sell him, or keep him at work on the farm. Don't, at any +rate, use him on the road yourself, or let him to other people to +use thereon; for if in your hands he should commit injuries to +person or property, you would have to foot the bills; and if he +should injure the person to whom you had let him, unless you had +previously informed him of the character and habits of the horse, +you would be liable to pay all the damages caused by the viciousness +of the horse. If you should meet with an accident by reason of a +defect in the highway, you could not recover anything, however +severely you might be injured or damaged, provided the vicious +habits of the horse contributed to the accident.[105] + + [105] 4 Gray, 478; 117 Mass. 204. + +In riding or driving keep hold of the reins, and don't let your +horses get beyond your control; for if you do your chances of +victory in a lawsuit will be pretty slim. If you tie up your reins +for the purpose of walking in order to get warm or to lighten the +load, and let your horses go uncontrolled, and they run over a child +in the road and kill it or seriously injure it, you will probably +have to pay more than the value of the horses, unless they are very +good ones. Or if, going thus uncontrolled, they fail to use due care +and good judgment in meeting other teams, and in consequence thereof +damages occur, you would be expected to make everything +satisfactory, because your team is required to observe "the law of +the road" whether you are with it or not, especially if you turn it +loose in the highway. Even if you have hold of the reins, and your +horses get beyond your control by reason of fright or other cause, +and afterwards you meet with an accident by reason of a defect in +the highway, you cannot recover anything.[106] + + [106] 101 Mass. 93; 106 Mass. 278; 40 Barb. 193. + +Don't encroach upon or abuse the highway, either by crowding fences +or buildings upon its limits or by using it as a storage yard. If +you set a building on the line of the road, and then put the +doorsteps, the eaves, and the bow-windows of the building over the +line, you are liable to an indictment for maintaining a public +nuisance; and possibly you may be ordered by the court to remove +them forthwith at your own expense.[107] If you build an expensive +bank-wall for a road fence, and place any part of it over the line, +you must remove it upon the request of the public authorities, or +else take your chances on an indictment for maintaining an illegal +obstruction in the highway. If you deposit on the roadside logs, +lumber, shingles, stones, or anything else which constitutes an +obstruction to travel or a defect in the way, or which is calculated +to frighten horses of ordinary gentleness, and allow the same to +remain for an unreasonable length of time, you are liable to respond +in damages for all injuries resulting therefrom. Even if the town +should have to settle for the damages in the first instance, you +might still be called upon to reimburse the town.[108] + + [107] 107 Mass. 234. + + [108] Wood on Nuisances, Secs. 326, 327; 102 Mass. 341; 18 Me. + 286; 41 Vt. 435. + +Don't ride on the outside platform of a passenger coach; for if you +cling upon a crowded stage-coach or street car, and voluntarily take +a position in which your hold is necessarily precarious and +uncertain, you have no right to complain of any accident that is the +direct result of the danger to which you have seen fit to expose +yourself. However, if the coach is stopped for you to get on and +fare is taken for your ride, the fact that you are on the platform +is not conclusive evidence against you; but the court will allow the +jury to determine, upon all the evidence and under all the +circumstances, whether you were in the exercise of due care, +instructing them that the burden of proof is upon you to show that +the injury resulted solely by the negligence of the proprietors of +the coach.[109] + + [109] 103 Mass. 391; 8 Allen, 234; 115 Mass. 239. + +Don't jump off a passenger coach when it is in motion; for if you +get off without doing or saying anything, or if you ring the bell +and then get off before the coach is stopped, without any notice to +those in charge of it, and without their knowing, or being negligent +in not knowing, what you are doing, the coach proprietors are not +liable for any injury you may receive through a fall occasioned by +the sudden starting of the coach during your attempt to get off.[110] + + [110] 106 Mass. 463. + +Don't wilfully break down, injure, remove, or destroy a milestone, +mile-board, or guide-post erected upon a public way, or wilfully +deface or alter the inscription on any such stone or board, or +extinguish a lamp, or break, destroy, or remove a lamp, lamp-post, +railing, or posts erected on a street or other public place; for if +you do you are liable to six months' imprisonment or a fine of fifty +dollars.[111] + + [111] Pub. St. c. 203, Sec. 76. + +If in travelling you find the road impassable, or closed for +repairs, and you find it convenient to turn aside and enter upon +adjoining land in order to go on your way, don't be careless or +imprudent; for if you take down more fences and do more damage than +necessary, you may have to answer in damages to the owner of the +land; and if you meet with an accident while thus out of the road, +you cannot look to the town for any remuneration therefor, because +when you go out of the limits of the way voluntarily, you go at your +peril and on your own responsibility.[112] + + [112] 8 Met. 391; 7 Cush. 408; 7 Barb. 309. + +Don't make the mistake of supposing that everything that frightens +your horse or causes an accident in the highway is a defect for +which the town is liable. If a town negligently suffers snowdrifts +to remain in the road for a long time, and thereby you are prevented +from passing over the road to attend to your business, or, in making +an attempt to pass, your horses get into the snow and you are put to +great trouble, expense, and loss of time in extricating them, you +are remediless unless you receive some physical injury in your +person or property; as the remedy provided by the statutes, in case +of defects in the highway, does not extend to expenses or loss of +time unless they are incident to such physical injury. In other +words, the statute gives no one a claim for damages sustained in +consequence of inability to use a road.[113] And so a town or city is +not obliged to light the highways, and an omission to do so is not a +defect in the way for which it is liable.[114] + + [113] 13 Met. 297; 6 Cush. 141. + + [114] 136 Mass. 419. + +Nor is the mere narrowness and crookedness of a road a defect within +the meaning of the statutes. Towns and cities are only required to +keep highways in suitable repair as they are located by the public +authorities, and they have no right to go outside the limits defined +by the location in order to make the road more safe and convenient +for travel. If a highway is so narrow or crooked as to be unsafe, +the proper remedy is by an application to the county commissioners +to widen or straighten it.[115] Nor is smooth and slippery ice, in +country road or city street, a defect for which a town or city is +liable, if the road whereon the ice accumulates is reasonably level +and well constructed. In our climate the formation of thin but +slippery ice over the whole surface of the ground is frequently only +the work of a few hours; and to require towns and cities to remove +this immediately or at all is supposing that the legislature +intended to cast upon them a duty impossible to perform, and a +burden beyond their ability to carry.[116] + + [115] 105 Mass. 473. + + [116] 12 Allen, 566; 102 Mass. 329; 104 Mass. 78. + +If you meet with an accident on the highway by reason of a defect +therein, don't fail to give notice in writing within thirty days, to +the county, town, place, or persons by law obliged to keep said +highway in repair, stating the time, place, and cause of the injury +or damage.[117] This notice is a condition precedent to the right to +maintain an action for such injury or damage, and cannot be waived +by the city or town.[118] Nothing will excuse such notice except the +physical or mental incapacity of the person injured, in which case +he may give the notice within ten days after such incapacity is +removed, and in case of his death it may be given by his executors +or administrators.[119] Formerly it was essential that the time, +place, and cause of the injury should be set forth in the notice +with considerable particularity, but now the notice is not invalid +by reason of any inaccuracy in stating the time, place, and cause, +if the error is not intentional and the party entitled to notice is +not misled.[120] + + [117] Pub. St. c. 52, Secs. 19-21. + + [118] 128 Mass. 387. + + [119] Pub. St. c. 52, Sec. 21. + + [120] St. 1882, c. 36. + +Don't convey by warranty deed a piece of land over which there is a +public or a private way, without conveying subject to such way; for +if you do you may be called upon to make up the difference in value +in the land with the incumbrance upon it and with it off, which is +regarded as a just compensation for the injury resulting from such +an incumbrance.[121] + + [121] 2 Mass. 97; 15 Pick. 66; 2 Allen, 428. + +Finally, don't keep a dog that is in the habit of running into the +road and barking at passing teams. You had better get rid of him or +break him of the habit. Under our statutes the owner or keeper of a +dog is responsible to any person injured by him, either in person or +property, double the amount of damage sustained; and after he has +received notice of the bad disposition of his dog, he is liable to +have the damage increased threefold. + +Every dog that has the habit of barking at people on the highway is +liable any day to subject his owner or keeper to large liabilities; +for if he frightens a horse by leaping or barking at him in mere +play, and the horse runs away, or tips over the vehicle to which he +is hitched, his owner or keeper is responsible for double the +damages thus caused by his dog. Hence I repeat the injunction, Get +rid of such a dog or break him of the habit; and if this cannot be +done, then break his neck. + +Perhaps it might be well to say, in this connection, that any +traveller on the road, either riding or walking peaceably, who is +suddenly assaulted by a dog, whether licensed or not, may legally +kill him, and thus relieve his owner or keeper of a disagreeable +duty.[122] + + [122] 11 Gray, 29; 1 Allen, 191; 3 Allen, 191. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FOOT-PATHS. + + +Air, sunlight, and exercise are absolutely essential for the proper +physical and intellectual development of human beings. Thoreau +thought it necessary for people who wished to preserve their health +and spirits to spend four hours a day in the open air, sauntering +through the woods and over the hills and fields, free from all +worldly engagements. No doubt he spoke from his own personal +standpoint, and many persons do not require so much exercise in the +open air as he did in order to preserve their health and spirits; +but the proper observance of the laws of health certainly requires +every one to spend a portion of every pleasant day in the open air, +and on foot if possible. Since the morning stars first sang +together, the whole creation has been groaning and travailing in +preparing the earth for the habitation of man; and the influence and +teachings of Nature have ever aided powerfully in perfecting man and +upbuilding the ruling nations of the world. + +The progenitors of every vigorous race have always found in forest +and wilderness the tonics and sources of their strength. It took +forty years of wandering in the wilderness to prepare the Israelites +for the occupation of the promised land. In the open and out-door +life of the Athenians was developed a civilization noble in high +aspirations for the ideal in beauty and life, rich in literary and +oratorical achievements, and glorious in the great and profound +thoughts of immortal teachers and philosophers. The august and +all-conquering civilization of the Romans had its origin on Palatine +Hill when herdsmen and wolves roamed over it. In Holland, where the +people are ever in conflict with the elements of Nature, the land +has been reclaimed by human effort from "the multitudinous waves of +the sea." The streams that once spread over the land or hid +themselves in quicksands and thickets are made to flow in channels +and form a network of watery highways for commerce and the +fertilization of the soil; and where formerly lagoons and morasses +found a home, there are now pleasant homesteads, great cities, and +beautiful villages. The Anglo-Saxon race, which is now and has been +for centuries the most vigorous and progressive in the world, has +always had an insatiable hunger for the earth, and a love for a life +in the fields by stream or by roadside. Everywhere we find the +highest type of civilization where man has gained the mastery of +Nature by the work of his hands. The home of such a civilization is +usually found where forests have been removed, and the wild +vegetation of primitive times has been expelled to make room for the +thousand and one productions of modern cultivation; where hillsides +and mountain-cliffs have been festooned with vines and made to +blossom like the rose; where watercourses have been made highways +for trade and utilized for purposes of manufacture; and where gloomy +morasses and damp lowlands have been dried up and made fertile and +habitable by drainage and cultivation. + +As close contact with Nature is necessary for the making of nations, +so her teachings are essential for the largest expansion of the +human mind. All the great teachers of the race have found in Nature +the germs of the thoughts which have widened the bounds of human +knowledge "with the process of the suns." "Speak to the earth, and +it will teach thee," was the basis of Job's philosophy. When David +wanted light and assistance, he lifted up his eyes unto the hills, +from whence came his help. Plato taught in the consecrated groves of +the Academy, and Aristotle in the pleasant fields of Nymphaeeum or in +the shady walks of the Lyceum. Christ taught his disciples to heed +the teachings of Nature, and he sought strength and inspiration in +the wilderness and the mountains. Wordsworth's library was in his +house, but his study was out of doors. But why enumerate, when the +entire intellectual history of our race demonstrates that every +invention or thought which has extended man's mental vision and +knowledge has been evolved from the discovery of some hitherto +hidden law of the material world, or from the teachings of Nature, +which always foreshadow the fundamental principles regnant in the +seen and the unseen world? Hence anything which tends to bring +people into the open air and into a closer communion with Nature is +worthy of encouragement. + +Good foot-paths would furnish an easy and convenient way of getting +at Nature; and being free from the dust and heat of the highway, and +somewhat retired and secluded, they would be, during a considerable +portion of the year, musical with the song of birds and beautiful +with green foliage and lovely flowers. These paths would invite and +encourage people to take long walks, and this habit would +undoubtedly conduce to their longevity and robust health. And the +promotion of health is now regarded, in every enlightened community, +as one of the objects of government. The enjoyment of life depends +in great measure upon the state of our health. When the air feels +bracing, and food and drink taste sweet to us, much else in life +tastes sweet which would otherwise taste sour and disagreeable. Good +drainage and vaccination are not the only means available for the +promotion of the public health. People should be encouraged and +educated into the habit of taking plenty of exercise in the open +air, as in this way the public health will be improved. + +One of the charms of old England is to be found in her numerous +foot-paths and green lanes, which are recognized by law, for many of +them are older than the highways. When a walker tires of the public +road or is in a hurry, if he knows the country, he can turn into +some foot-path and reach the place of his destination by short cuts +through green lanes, across pleasant meadows, and along shady +hedgerows. As one passes along these cosey byways, he sees, from +every eminence or turn, a new prospect over the landscape +interspersed with trees, now and then the bright gleam of water +through the foliage, and occasionally some beautiful vista view +across parks and homesteads. In this way one can go from town to +town, and get about the country quite independently of the highways. +Most of the country churches are approachable by lanes and +foot-paths which seem to run by all the houses in the vicinage, and +by their sweet attractiveness to invite all the people to go to +church, at least in pleasant summer weather. + +In Massachusetts and some of the other States, towns and cities have +authority to lay out foot-paths in the same manner as public ways. +It is to be hoped ere-long that the intelligent and public-spirited +citizens of our towns and cities will cause now and then a good +foot-walk to be constructed, where it would shorten the distance +from one place to another, and possibly pass through pleasant fields +and woods, and over hills commanding beautiful and extensive views. +It is not pleasant to walk in the dust and publicity of highways, +nor on gravel walks in artificial parks, where sign-boards and +policemen warn you frequently to "keep off the grass." + +Before our towns and cities spend any more money building boulevards +and opening new parks, would it not be well for them to consider the +advisability of laying out some foot-paths for the comfort and +convenience of pedestrians? At any rate, foot-paths could be made +alongside of the road-bed of some of the public ways, so that every +pedestrian would not of necessity have to trudge along in the dust +or mud incident to the middle of the road. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE ROADSIDE. + + +Besides the legal duty every dweller by a highway is under, to use +it with due regard to the rights of the public, he is under a moral +and Christian obligation to maintain order and neatness within and +without his roadside. The occupations and amenities of life are so +interwoven and intermixed that no one can live for himself alone +with justice to himself or to society. There is something in the +very nature of things which makes for the reward of unselfish +exertion and for the condemnation of selfish acts. "Whosoever shall +seek to save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his +life, shall preserve it." Public spirit, like virtue, is its own +exceeding great reward. When one benefits the community in which he +lives, he thereby also benefits himself; and when he is possessed of +the right kind of a public spirit, he will beautify and improve his +homestead and his roadside, and will even throw the cobble-stones +out of the roadway in front of his house without compensation or +even hope of financial reward. + +When he plants a tree for the sole purpose of doing something for +posterity, and then watches its growth and expansion from day to day +until he becomes familiar with its varied aspects in sunny and in +stormy weather, and finally, walking beneath its cooling shade and +seeing its limbs swaying gracefully over surrounding objects, his +heart goes out towards it with a feeling of tenderness and love, and +he feels that he has been paid a thousand times for setting it out. +When after years of endeavor in trying to keep his roadside neat and +clean and covered with greensward, he finds that his example is +having some influence on his neighbors, and that even the +road-menders begin to respect his efforts to improve the wayside, he +feels that he has been amply compensated for all his trouble and +care in his own increased enjoyment and in the increased enjoyment +he has been the means of giving to the public. + +First impressions always have great influence upon our minds. +Nothing will give a traveller a poorer and meaner opinion of a town +and its inhabitants than dilapidated buildings surrounded by rubbish +and broken-down fences. When a traveller passes a house of this +character, he instinctively says to himself, "Some shiftless and +poverty-stricken family lives here;" but when he passes a well-kept +house with pleasant surroundings, he says, "This must be the abode +of intelligent and well-to-do people." He feels like stopping and +forming their acquaintance, for he is sure that their acquaintance +would be worth having. Our opinion of a person's character is always +more or less influenced by the clothes he wears and by the house in +which he lives. The surroundings of every home of intelligence and +tidiness should indicate that it is not the abode of the vulgar and +ignorant. Therefore every owner of a homestead should strive to make +it a cosey and pleasant home for himself and family. He should take +a just pride in keeping his buildings in good repair, well painted +and suitably arranged for the purposes of his business and a happy +and healthy home life. The surroundings should be made neat and +attractive, by the absence of rubbish, and the presence of green +grass and shade trees. + +If he owns much land, he ought to be landscape gardener enough to +set out his fruit and shade trees and to lay out his fields in the +best way for convenience and scenic effect. He should also have +sufficient rural taste not to locate his barn and other +out-buildings in such a way as to shut off the best views from his +house. He ought also to have a general knowledge of the nature and +uses of trees and forests, and the necessity of their cultivation +for the good of himself and mankind at large. + +Forest and shade trees greatly enhance the beauties of a country, +and no country can be beautiful in the highest degree without them. +If the green hills and mountains of New England were stripped of +their woods, the lovers of natural scenery and rural life would seek +elsewhere the gratification of their tastes. Even the stately homes +of England would appear commonplace in the absence of the majestic +trees and forests which now encircle them. A plain, modest house, +situated in the midst of an open grass-plat and sheltered by a few +handsome shade trees, is more beautiful and appeals more strongly to +the feelings than the stateliest mansion unprotected from the sun. +Who would care to live by the side of the purest stream or body of +water, if it were not fringed with trees? Were it not for trees, +would there be any beauty in mountain, hill, or valley,--for who can +conceive of a beautiful landscape scene devoid of trees? + +The love of trees seems to be implanted in all noble natures. The +ancients believed that "the groves were the first temples of the +gods." Christopher North says that the man who loves not trees would +make no bones of murdering. + +Some people give as an excuse for not planting trees that it takes +so long for them to grow that they will not live to enjoy them. The +selfishness of this excuse is enough to condemn it; but it is not +tenable from any point of view. It has been said that he who makes +two blades of grass grow where only one grew before is a benefactor +of his race; and of all the pursuits connected with the interests of +mankind what can be the source of more true and disinterested +happiness than the knowledge that one has been instrumental in +changing a waste and unproductive piece of land into a scene of +umbrageous and waving beauty? Cicero speaks of tree-planting as the +most delightful occupation of advanced life; and Sir Robert Walpole +once said that among the various actions of his busy life none had +given him so much satisfaction in the performance and so much +unsullied pleasure in the retrospect as the planting with his own +hands many of those magnificent trees that now form the pride of +Houghton. + +Of course it is not claimed that every one should have expensive +buildings upon his homestead, or wide-spreading lawns around his +house. Many are so situated that they cannot afford to live in +costly houses or to spend much money on their surroundings; but +every one can make his home, however humble, pleasant and homelike, +and can keep his dooryard and wayside free from old rubbish. I can +understand how love can be happy in a cottage, but I do not believe +it possible for a family to grow in knowledge and virtue and enjoy +life while dwelling in mean and dirty apartments. + +Cleanliness is next to godliness, and it is just as true of the +outside of the house as of the inside. A pleasant and beautiful +exterior usually signifies pleasantness and peace within. While +well-fenced and well-tilled farms are always pleasing to the +eyesight, and neatly dressed roadsides are generally desirable, it +does not follow that no shrubbery or sylvan tangles of trees should +be allowed to grow on farms or by the wayside. A bare and rocky hill +or knoll suggests images of bleak and barren desolation, cold +blasts, and parching sun; while a hill clothed and capped with woods +gives the impression of a rich and charming country. Therefore the +land unsuitable for pasturage or cultivation on a farm had better be +covered with clusters of trees or with forests; and frequently an +old stone-wall or heaps of stones can be advantageously hidden by +vines and shrubbery, as they add beauty to the landscape, furnish +shelter to birds, and often protect the crops from cold winds. Many +a wayside in country by-roads is so rough and uneven, so rocky and +full of earth-pits, that it had better be covered with the wild +shrubbery of Nature than to be cleared up in such a way as to expose +to view all its unsightly objects. Whenever the roadside cannot be +covered by greensward, the native shrubs and wild vines ought to be +allowed to hide its nakedness with green foliage and beautiful +flowers. They give beauty to wayside scenery, and increase the +interest and pleasure of those travelling along the road. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +ENJOYMENT OF THE ROAD. + + +In travelling, whether one is riding or walking, it is not +sufficient for the proper enjoyment of the way to know how to get +along in a legal manner, but he should know how to put himself in +harmony with the elements of Nature, and to feel the "gay, fresh +sentiment of the road." The first requisite for this enjoyment is to +have a hopeful and sunshiny disposition. When people are buoyed up +by hope they will find enjoyment under very adverse circumstances. +Adam and Eve, according to Milton, saw without terror for the first +time the sun descend beneath the horizon, and the darkness close in +upon the earth, and "the firmament glow with living sapphires," +although they did not then know of a sunrise to come. Yet even in +such a time as that, according to this poet, these hopeful natures +walked hand in hand "in the grateful evening mild," and held such +sweet converse with each other that they forgot all time, all +seasons and their change, for all pleased alike. Thus it was in the +beginning, and thus it will be at the end; for even in the darkest +as in the brightest hours hopeful humanity looks forward to +something better, as-- + + "Of better and brighter days to come + Man is talking and dreaming ever." + +And who would have it otherwise? As sunshine is the most important +thing in the natural world, so it is the best thing in human life. +People with sunshiny dispositions are always happy and welcome +everywhere, whether on the road, in the sick-room, or in the halls +of gayety. They drive away the blues and bring in hope and good +cheer; without them, life would not be worth living. + +The French philosopher Figuier was so impressed with the value of +sunshine in human nature that he taught that the rays of the sun, +which bring light and heat and life and all blessings to the earth, +are nothing but the loving emanations of the just spirits who have +reached the sun, the final abode of all immortal souls; and its +light and heat are the result of their effulgent goodness and +sunshiny dispositions. + +Every traveller, then, who wishes to experience even the common and +apparent enjoyments of the way, should start out with a light heart and +rich in hope; but if he wishes to taste also the _latent_ enjoyments of +the way, he must have an observing eye, and the love of Nature in his +heart. It is astonishing how the systematic cultivation of the +observing faculties will develop in one the habit of seeing and +enjoying his environment. This habit grows as rapidly as heavenly +wisdom in one who has made an honest attempt to obtain a knowledge of +God, when-- + + "Each faculty tasked to perceive Him + Has gained an abyss where a dewdrop was asked." + +What a source of pleasure, solace, and recreation, then, is open to +him who knows how to distinguish and appreciate the beautiful in +Nature! He hears in every breeze and every ripple of water a voice +which the uncultivated ear cannot hear; and he sees in every +fleeting cloud and varied aspect of Nature some beauty which the +ignorant cannot see. + + "Earth's crammed with heaven, + And every common bush afire with God; + But only he who sees takes off his shoes." + +There is truth in the quaint language of Platen: "The more things +thou learnest to know and to enjoy, the more complete and full will +be for thee the delight of living." + +We frequently find that when two persons are placed in the same +situation, one will find much to enjoy while the other will not, and +simply because one has the love of Nature in his heart, and the +other has not. One person, living in the midst of the most beautiful +natural scenery, is not charmed by anything he sees on the earth or +in the sky. To him all Nature is like an empty barnyard, in which +there is nothing to inspire him with a noble thought or stir him +with a generous emotion. Another person living in the same vicinity +sees much in his surroundings to admire and to enjoy. He looks at +the sunset glows with delight; he sees beauty in the grass, and +glory in the flowers; he sees with admiration and awe the +storm-clouds, black and terrible, rushing together like veritable +war-horses, or piling themselves up like mountains, reverberating +with the artillery of heaven and tongued with fire; wherever he +looks nearly every prospect pleases; and to him Nature, like the +Scriptures, is new every morning and new every night. Such a person +is more likely to be a better neighbor, a better citizen, and a +better Christian than one who has not the love of Nature in his +heart. Ruskin says: "The love of Nature is an invariable sign of +goodness of heart and justice of moral perception; that in +proportion to the degree in which it is felt, will probably be the +degree in which all nobleness and beauty of character will also be +felt; that when it is absent from any mind, that mind in many other +respects is hard, worldly, and degraded." The love of Nature has +ever been characteristic of the greatest and the noblest minds. To +Wordsworth the meanest flower that blows gave him thoughts too deep +for tears; and to Christ the lily of the field was more beautifully +arrayed than Solomon in all his glory. Likewise we often find that +two travellers will pass together over the same route, and one will +see much to admire and to enjoy by the way, and the other will see +nothing to admire or to enjoy. The one who has an observing eye, and +enjoys beautiful and grand natural scenery, sees in every nook and +corner by the way some lovely flower or comely shrub to admire, and, +like Wordsworth,-- + + "Beside the lake, beneath the trees, + Fluttering and dancing in the breeze, + He sees the golden daffodils." + +And he not only enjoys the present sight, but he enjoys the scene as +often as he thinks of it afterwards, as in imagination he views the +scene over and over again,-- + + "For oft when on his couch he lies + In vacant or in pensive mood, + They flash upon the inward eye + Which is the bliss of solitude; + And then his heart with pleasure fills, + And dances with the daffodils." + +And in the common and unnoticed grass by the roadside or in the +field, he can see in each blade a system of masonry and architecture +that no human skill has ever been able to equal. The stem is very +slender, but is so elastic and strong that it waves gracefully in +the breeze and bends to the earth in the storm without breaking, and +assumes an upright attitude again. It is made up of delicate cells +and perfect and intricate channels, through which hidden currents of +life throb and flow as mysteriously as the vital blood through the +human frame. It is colored with an emerald tint of such beautiful +hues that it has been the despair of artists to imitate it in every +age. Ages and ages before the human hand learned its cunning, the +command went forth for grass to bring forth seed after its kind; and +to-day it is waving gracefully in every field, and crowned with the +same beautiful flowers and tasselled seed-vessels as of old. Men in +their haughty ambition have builded much larger structures. They +have erected towers, pyramids, obelisks, spires, monuments, and +triumphal arches, which have commanded the admiration of their +builders and of their fellow-men in every part of the world; but +every principle of their masonry and architecture is an imitation of +that in the humblest spear of grass. Thus every traveller on a +country road is surrounded by monuments more ancient, more +impressive, and more beautiful than the ancient or modern world can +show as the production of human hands. + +He finds much enjoyment in the study of the forms and +characteristics of the different trees by the wayside. If the road +passes over highland, on a breezy day he can look down upon or +across the tops of undulating forest trees, whose swaying movements +remind him of the waves of the sea. He can see in each species not +only a variety in the color and form of its foliage, but some +characteristic which reminds him of some human being. The rugged oak +or apple tree recalls to his mind some sturdy man, of great strength +and honesty of character, with picturesque but awkward manners. The +gracefully swaying branches of the stately elm or weeping willow +remind him of some woman whose elegant form and manners make her as +lovely as the moon and as beautiful as light. The rapid and constant +motion of the foliage of the poplar and the aspen reminds him of +some nervous and excitable person who is never quiet or easy for a +moment. The prim spruce-tree suggests to him some person of formal +habits and primness of dress. The symmetrical maple and pine remind +him of some quiet and dignified character who is well balanced and +rounded at every point. The patriarchal tree which has outlived all +its companions and stands alone with few and withered branches, but +still raising its majestic head to heaven as if in supplication for +blessings on the earth, reminds him of some gray-haired person who, +full of years and rich in faith, after a well-spent life is +approaching and can almost see the other side of the river which +separates this life from the eternal world. + +If he has a taste for domestic and pastoral scenery, it is gratified +as he views the green pastures and meadows, the waving grain-fields, +and the occasional gleam of water through the foliage. Ever and anon +he passes by some dwelling where the charms of culture have been +added to the charms of Nature. By kind treatment the grass-plat +before the door has become a refreshing piece of verdure. By careful +pruning and training the trees on the lawn have become objects of +beauty, and cast their graceful shadows over the velvety greensward +beneath. The woodbine tastefully trained over the porch, the +flower-bed in the yard brilliant with flowers, and the garden and +the fruit orchard in the field, all tend to cheer and sanctify human +life in such an abode. Perchance the road runs by some rural +homestead which reminds him of his own ancestral home, humble yet +beautiful to him, and all the scenes of his childhood come vividly +to mind as fond recollection presents them to view. He is once more +a barefoot boy, and all is outward sunshine and inward joy. He +slacks his thirst once more from the well by the door or at the +spring on the hillside; and he visits again the old familiar +play-ground, the lane through which the cows are driven, the brook +where the sheep are washed, the fish are caught, and the boys go in +swimming. + +When the road leads him into the mountains or in sight of them, he +is charmed by their majesty and awed by their sublimity. A mountain +panorama presents all the characteristic phases of Nature and all +the moving variation of the atmosphere. At one time they are +cloud-capped and surrounded with fog, and then in an incredibly +short time they are glittering in a halo of sunlight. As one beholds +their majestic heads, around which the storms of centuries have +beat, disappear as twilight changes into night, he can but feel +oppressed with the gloom and melancholy of the scene. But in the +morning, when-- + + "Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day + Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops," + +he can but conclude with Ruskin, that "mountain scenery has been +prepared in order to unite as far as possible and in the closest +compass every means of delighting and sanctifying the heart of man. +Mountains seem to have been built for the human race, as at once +their schools and cathedrals, full of treasures of illuminated +manuscript for the scholar, kindly in simple lessons to the worker, +quiet in pale cloisters for the thinker, glowing in holiness for the +worshipper." + +Then, again, a country road is a good place to become acquainted +with some forms of animal and vegetable life. The odors of growing +vegetation, the movement of squirrels and other creatures, and the +song of birds, all have a tendency to impress one with the idea that +the material world is animated with life. And when the sun pours +down a flood of glowing sunlight, and swathes the traveller and the +whole world with its glowing and life-giving beams, he realizes that +the sun is the source of every material blessing. In the city people +know in a general way that the sun is the source of heat and light, +and that he adds to their comfort and convenience, as do the +electric light and the fire on the hearth; but they hardly realize +that his rays are necessary for their existence, to say nothing of +their comfort, for even a week. But when a traveller in the morning +sees all animated Nature stirring and rejoicing with the throbbings +of warmed and rejuvenated life; when he looks out over the landscape +and sees the sun raising in misty vapors the water which supplies +our springs, lakes, and streams, and refreshes the earth in showers +of rain, he realizes that the sun is not only the fire which warms +the world, but it is also the mighty hydraulic engine of Nature. + +These are some of the enjoyments of the way; but every thoughtful +and observing traveller knows that they cannot be enumerated. Like +Burroughs, "he is not isolated, but one with things, with the farms +and industries on either hand. The vital, universal currents play +through him. He knows the ground is alive: he feels the pulses of +the wind, and reads the mute language of things. His sympathies are +all aroused; his senses are continually reporting messages to his +mind. Wind, frost, rain, heat, cold, are something to him. He is not +merely a spectator of the panorama of Nature, but a participator in +it. He experiences the country he passes through,--tastes it, feels +it, absorbs it." + +Neither is he confined to the material demonstrations of Nature for +his enjoyment of the way. Some of the greatest sermons and speeches +have been thought out on the road. A solitary traveller can think +calmly and thoughtfully on the great problems of life and death, and +can learn to appreciate the fact that "the gods approve the depth, +and not the tumult, of the soul." + + * * * * * + +University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Road and the Roadside, by Burton Willis Potter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROAD AND THE ROADSIDE *** + +***** This file should be named 28607.txt or 28607.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/0/28607/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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