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 OFTHE 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 POWERFULLYIN BRINGING ABOUT A REVIVAL OF AGRICULTURE, AND IN CREATING AMONG THE PEOPLEA LOVE OF AGRICULTURE ANDRURAL LIFE. 

Transcriber's Note: The asterisks in footnotes 89 and 92 have do nothave corresponding references in the text. 

PREFACE. 

The chapters of this book relating to the laws of public and privateways were written and read as a lecture at the Country Meeting of theMassachusetts Board of Agriculture, in December, 1885, at Framingham, and have since been published in the "Report on the Agriculture ofMassachusetts for the Year 1885. "

The laws as herein stated are, as I believe, the present laws ofMassachusetts relative to public and private ways, and therefore theymay not all be applicable to the ways in other States; but inasmuch asthe common law is the basis of the road law in all the States, it willbe found that the general principles herein laid down are as applicablein one State as in another. 

Believing that good roads and the love of rural life are essential tothe true happiness and lasting prosperity of any people, these pageshave been written with the sincere desire to do something to improveour roads and to encourage country life; and they are now given to thepublic with the hope that they will exert some little influence inpromoting 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 Bushnellon the value of public highways. The first sponsors of art, science, and government were the builders of roads. The ancient highway betweenBabylon and Memphis. The Carthaginians as road-makers. Roman roads:their construction, extent, and durability; their instrumentality ingiving Rome her pre-eminence in the ancient world; their mode ofconstruction described. Ponderous roads in China. Magnificent highwaysin the ancient empires of Mexico and Peru. Prescott's description ofthe great roads in Peru. Bad condition of the English roads in thesixteenth century. With the revival of modern civilization theimprovement of the public highways has engaged the thought of publicand scientific men. Advantages of good roads generally and especiallyas the means of a proper distribution of population. 1-11

CHAPTER II. 

LOCATION. 

Best possible location desirable. Permanent nature of roads. Many ofthe ancient roads are still travelled by the people of to-day. The lawof the survival of the fittest applicable to the location of roads. Themakers of a good road often build better than they know. Roads may belocated in three different ways. The old Romans and the modern Latinnations locate in straight lines. The English-speaking people usuallylocate their roads in curved lines. Curved roads have many advantagesover straight ones, as good grades are more desirable than straightroads. 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 admitof foot-paths at their sides. Every road should be crowned sufficientlyto run off the surface water, but not enough to make the road-bed toounlevel. The golden mean is to be sought. A macadamized road thecheapest and best for our climate and soil. Proper foundation and depthof stone covering for such a road. The Telford road sometimes the bestfor clayey soil. Its construction. They will be the future roads of ourcountry. Earth-roads now generally prevail. How to make them, and howto keep them up. 17-21

CHAPTER IV. 

REPAIRS. 

Economy and public convenience require roads to be kept up the yearround. Advantages of a road always in good condition. Evils of thepresent system of annual or semi-annual repairs. The present systemdescribed. Advantages of the continual-repair system illustrated by thegreat turnpike from Virginia City to Sacramento, by Baden, Germany, France, Switzerland, Great Britain, and towns in the vicinity of ourgreat cities. This system alone will prevail when the principles ofroad-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 beestablished. May be laid out by town or county authorities. Distinction between town ways and public highways. When the publicofficials refuse to lay out ways, parties interested may appeal. Howdamages 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 rightsof the public authorities in making repairs. The boundaries ofhighways. The rights of travellers as to the removal of obstructionsin the road. Unauthorized persons have no right to repair ways. Highways to be protected by proper railings. How wide roads shouldbe. 32-35

CHAPTER VII. 

GUIDE-POSTS, DRINKING-TROUGHS, AND FOUNTAINS. 

Guide-posts to be erected and maintained at suitable places. Penaltiesattached to neglect or refusal to erect and maintain them. Townofficers may establish and maintain drinking-troughs, wells, andfountains. Their duty in this respect. 36-38

CHAPTER VIII. 

SHADE TREES, PARKS, AND COMMONS. 

Towns and cities have authority to beautify the roadsides and publicsquares. May plant trees and encourage their planting by adjoiningowners and improvement societies. The rights of improvement societiesand the penalties for interfering with their work. Shade trees andother 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 careto be used by travellers. Masters responsible for their servants'acts. No responsibility for inevitable accidents. What is a properrate 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. Eachtraveller has a right to a fair share of the road. The rights of lightand heavily loaded vehicles. When a traveller with team may use trackof street railway. 45-49

CHAPTER XI. 

EQUESTRIANS AND PEDESTRIANS. 

Equestrians must give way for vehicles. "The law of the road" doesnot apply to them by the terms of the statutes, but they shouldobserve it as far as practicable. Pedestrians have a right to walkon carriage-way. In cities they should walk on the sidewalks. Theymust use due care. Their rights on cross-walks. They are not subjectto "the law of the road. " They may walk out on Sunday for theirhealth. 50-53

CHAPTER XII. 

OMNIBUSES, STAGES, AND HORSE-CARS. 

Carriers of passengers for hire are bound to use due diligence inproviding suitable coaches, harnesses, horses, and coachmen. They mustnot leave their horses unhitched. If they receive passengers whentheir 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 usedfor other public purposes, gas, water-pipes, sewers, street railways, telephone and telegraph lines, etc. Every one may use the highway tohis own advantage, but with regard to the like rights of others. Whatanimals and vehicles are allowed upon the road. Towns and cities mayregulate 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 ofthe freehold, the grass, the trees, fruit, etc. If the land in the wayis subjected to any new servitude, like an elevated railroad ortelegraph or telephone lines, they are entitled to damages. They canload and unload vehicles in connection with their business on theirpremises, but it must be done in such a manner as not to incommode thetravelling 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 aspublic ways. The owner of such way must keep it in repair. The ownerof the soil may use it for agricultural purposes, and keep up bars andgates. "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 tolook out for the engine while the bell rings. Don't take animalsaffected by contagious diseases on the public way. Don't go upon theroad 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 managehim. 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 beyondyour control. Don't encroach upon or abuse the highway. Don't rideon the outside platform of a passenger coach. Don't jump off a coachwhen it is in motion. Don't wilfully break down, injure, remove, ordestroy a milestone, mile-board, or guide-post. Don't go out of theroad-way upon adjoining land. Don't suppose that everything thatfrightens your horse or causes an accident is a defect in thehighway. Don't fail to give notice in writing if you meet with anaccident on the road. Don't convey land encumbered with a right ofway. Don't keep a barking dog. 73-83

CHAPTER XVII. 

FOOT-PATHS. 

Necessity of air, sunlight, and exercise. The progenitors of everyvigorous race have found in forest and wilderness the sources oftheir strength. The Israelites, Greeks, Romans, Dutch, Anglo-Saxons. The teachings of Nature essential to the development of the humanmind. Job, David, Plato, Aristotle, Christ, Wordsworth. Foot-pathstend to bring people into the open air and into communion withNature. The by-ways of old England. Towns and cities should lay outfoot-paths. 84-88

CHAPTER XVIII. 

WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE ROADSIDE. 

Every dweller under obligation to maintain neatness and order withinand without his roadside. Unselfish exertion in this behalf pays. Hewho beautifies the roadside benefits mankind and himself alike. Adirty and shabby dwelling gives a traveller a mean idea of itsinmates. A cosey and clean house always speaks well for its inmates. Every homestead should be adorned with trees. The beauty and utilityof trees. They are inseparable from well-tilled land and beautifulscenery. Wayside shrubbery: its use and abuse; it should be allowedwhere green grass will not grow. 89-94

CHAPTER XIX. 

ENJOYMENT OF THE ROAD. 

A traveller should have a hopeful and sunshiny disposition. He shouldbe in harmony with Nature; he should have an observing eye to enjoythe _latent_ enjoyments of the way. How the observing faculties may becultivated. The pleasures incident to knowing how to appreciate thebeautiful in Nature. The different degrees of enjoyment in the samesituation. The love of Nature the sign of goodness of heart. Ruskin, Wordsworth, Christ. What an observing traveller can see to admire andenjoy on the road, grass, flowers, trees, as reminders of humanbeings, domestic and pastoral scenery, mountains, animal and vegetablelife, 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 differentcommunities, peoples, and races has ever been coexistent with theprogress of civilization. Lord Macaulay declares that of allinventions, the alphabet and printing-press alone excepted, thoseinventions which abridge distance have done most for the civilizationof our species. Every improvement of the means of locomotion benefitsmankind morally and intellectually as well as materially. 

"The road, " Bushnell says, "is that physical sign or symbol by whichyou 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 ofcivilized society. If you wish to know whether society is stagnant, learning scholastic, religion a dead formality, you may learn somethingby going into universities and libraries, something also by the workthat is doing on cathedrals and churches or in them, but quite as muchby looking at the roads; for if there is any motion in society, theroad, which is the symbol of motion, will indicate the fact. "

As roads are the symbols of progress, so, according to the philosophyof Carlyle, they should only be used by working and progressive people, as he asserts that the public highways ought not to be occupied bypeople demonstrating that motion is impossible. Hence, when we traceback the history of the race to the dawn of civilization, we find thatthe first sponsors of art and science, commerce and manufacture, education and government, were the builders and supporters of publichighways. 

The two most ancient civilizations situated in the valleys of the Nileand the Euphrates were connected by a commercial and military highwayleading from Babylon to Memphis, along which passed the war chariotsand the armies of the great chieftains and military kings of ancientdays, and over which were carried the gems, the gold, the spices, theivories, the textile fabrics, and all the curious and unrivalledproductions of the luxurious Orient. On the line of this roadway aroseNineveh, Palmyra, Damascus, Tyre, Antioch, and other great commercialcities. 

On the southern shores of the Mediterranean the Carthaginians built upand consolidated an empire so prominent in military and navalachievements and in the arts and industries of civilized life, that forfour hundred years it was able to hold its own against thepreponderance of Greece and Rome; and as might have been expected, theywere systematic and scientific road-makers from whom the Romans learnedthe art of road-building. 

The Romans were apt scholars, and possessed a wonderful capacity notonly to utilize prior inventions but also to develop them. They werebeyond question the most successful and masterful road-builders in theancient world; and the perfection of their highways was one of the mostpotent causes of their superiority in progress and civilization. Whenthey conquered a province they not only annexed it politically, byimposing on its people their laws and system of government, but theyannexed it socially and commercially, by the construction of good roadsfrom its chief places to one or more of the great roadways whichbrought them in easy and direct communication with the metropolis ofthe Roman world. And when their territory reached from the remote eastto the farthest west, and a hundred millions of people acknowledgedtheir military and political supremacy, their capital city was in thecentre 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 andmagnificent highway ran out towards every province of the empire. Itwas terraced up with sand, gravel, and cement, and covered with stonesand granite, and followed in a direct line without regard to theconfiguration of the country, passing over or under mountains andacross streams and lakes, on arches of solid masonry. The militaryroads were under the pretors, and were called pretorian roads; and thepublic roads for travel and commercial traffic were under the consuls, and were called consular roads. These roads were kept entirelydistinct; the pretorian roads were used for the marching of armies andthe transportation of military supplies, and the consular roads wereused for traffic and general travel. They were frequently laid outalongside of each other from place to place, very much as railroads andhighways are now found side by side. The consular roads were generallytwelve feet wide in the travelled pathway, with a raised footway on theside; but sometimes the footway was in the middle of the road, with acarriage-way on each side of it. The military roads were generallysixty feet wide, with an elevated centre, twenty feet wide, and slopesupon either side, also twenty feet wide. Stirrups were not theninvented, and mounting stones or blocks were necessary accommodations;and hence the lines of the roads were studded with mounting-blocks andalso with milestones. Some of these roads could be travelled to thenorth and eastward two thousand miles; and they were kept in such goodrepair that a traveller thereon, by using relays of horses, which werekept on the road, could easily make a hundred miles a day. Far as theeye could see stretched those symbols of her all-conquering andall-attaining influence, which made the most distant provinces a partof her dominions, and connected them with her imperial capital byimperial highways. 

The Romans not only had great public highways, but they possessed acomplete and systematic network of cross-roads, which connectedvillages, and brought into communication therewith cultivated farms andprosperous homesteads. In Italy alone it is estimated that they hadabout fourteen thousand miles of good roads. Their laws relating to theconstruction and maintenance of highways were founded in reason and ajust conception of the uses and objects of public ways; and they arethe basis of modern highway legislation. By their law the roads werefor the public use and convenience, and their emperors, consuls, andother public officials were their conservators. They were built at thepublic expense, under the supervision of professional engineers andsurveyors, and kept in repair by the districts and provinces throughwhich they passed. 

But during the dark ages, when arts were lost, when popular learningdisappeared or found shelter only in cloisters and convents, whencommercial intercourse between nations vanished, and when civilizationitself lay fallen and inert, these magnificent Roman roads were unusedand left to the destructive agencies of time and the elements ofNature. Rains and floods washed away and inundated their embankments;forests and rank vegetation overgrew and concealed them; winds coveredthem with dust and heaps of sand; and little by little in the processof ages their hard surfaces and massive foundations were somewhatbroken and caused to partially decay. That their remains still exist inevery part of the world which ever bore up the Roman legions isconclusive evidence that they were built by master workmen who realizedthat 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 employedin constructing great walls and ponderous roads. The road-bed wasraised several feet above the level of the ground by an accumulation ofgreat stones, and then covered with huge granite blocks. It was foundthat in time the wheels of vehicles wore deep ruts in the stones, whilethe travelled part of the road became so smooth that it was almostimpossible for animals to stand thereon. 

In the ancient empires of Mexico and Peru, where there were no beastsfit for draught or for riding, magnificent roads were constructed forthe treble purpose of facilitating the march of armies, accommodatingthe public traffic, and ministering to the convenience and luxury ofthe lordly rulers. In Peru two of these roads were from fifteen hundredto two thousand miles long, extending from Quito to Chili, --one by theborders of the ocean, and the other over the grand plateau by themountains. Prescott says: "The road over the plateau was conducted overpathless sierras buried in snow; galleries were cut for leagues throughthe living rock; rivers were crossed by means of bridges that swungsuspended in the air; precipices were scaled by stairways hewn out ofthe native bed; ravines of hideous depth were filled up with solidmasonry; in short, all the difficulties that beset a wild andmountainous region, and which might appall the most courageous engineerof modern times, were encountered and successfully overcome. Stonepillars in the manner of European milestones were erected at statedintervals of somewhat more than a league all along the route. Itsbreadth scarcely exceeded twenty feet. It was built of heavy flags offreestone, and in some parts, at least, covered with a bituminouscement, which time has made harder than the stone itself. In someplaces where the ravines had been filled up with masonry, the mountaintorrents, wearing on it for ages, have gradually eaten a way throughthe base, and left the superincumbent mass--such is the cohesion of thematerials--still spanning the valley like an arch. 

"Another great road of the Incas lay through the level country betweenthe Andes and the ocean. It was constructed in a different manner, asdemanded 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 ofearth, and defended on either side by a parapet or wall of clay; andtrees and odoriferous shrubs were planted along the margin, regalingthe sense of the traveller with their perfume, and refreshing him bytheir shades, so grateful under the burning sky of the tropics. 

"The care of the great roads was committed to the districts throughwhich they passed, and a large number of hands was constantly employedto keep them in repair. This was the more easily done in a countrywhere the mode of travelling was altogether on foot; though the roadsare said to have been so nicely constructed that a carriage might haverolled 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 bothactively at work in the business of destruction, they must withoutconstant supervision have gradually gone to decay. Such has been theirfate under the Spanish conquerors, who took no care to enforce theadmirable system for their preservation adopted by the Incas. Yet thebroken portions that still survive here and there, like the fragmentsof the great Roman roads scattered over Europe, bear evidence of theirprimitive grandeur, and have drawn forth eulogium from thediscriminating traveller; for Humboldt, usually not profuse in hispanegyrics, says, 'The roads of the Incas were among the most usefuland stupendous works ever executed by man. '"

With the revival of human thought and civilization after the MiddleAges, the improvement of the roads engaged the attention of public andscientific men, and became once more an object of government; but for along time the rulers who concerned themselves about roads thought moreabout repressing the crimes of violence and extortion thereon than theydid about improving their condition for travel. The first act of theEnglish Parliament relative to the improvement of roads in the kingdomwas in 1523; yet in 1685 most of the roads in England were in adeplorable condition. 

Macaulay says that on the best highways at that time the ruts weredeep, the descents precipitous, and the way often such that it washardly possible to distinguish it in the dark from the unenclosed heathand fen which lay on both sides. It was only in fine weather that thewhole breadth of the road was available for wheeled vehicles; often themud lay deep on the right and on the left, and only a narrow track offirm ground rose above the quagmire. It happened almost every day thatcoaches stuck fast until a team of cattle could be procured from someneighboring farm to tug them out of the slough. But to the honor ofEngland, this condition of her roads was not allowed to continue verylong. Although her progress in trade and prosperity has beenmarvellously rapid, yet such progress can be measured by theimprovement of her roads, which are now unsurpassed anywhere in theworld. 

Beyond question, internal communications are of vital importance toevery nation, and good roads are a prime necessity to every town orcity. A good road is always a source of comfort and pleasure to everytraveller. It is also a source of great saving each year in the wearand tear of horse-flesh, vehicles, and harnesses. Good roads to marketand neighbors increase the price of farm produce, and bring people intobusiness relations and good fellowship, and thereby enhance in valueevery homestead situated in their neighborhood. They cause a properdistribution of population between town and country. For many years inthis country there has been a movement of population from the ruraldistricts into the cities and manufacturing villages. Many ancestralhomesteads have been deserted for promising "fresh woods and pasturesnew" in the commercial world. This centralization of population isevidently a violation of economic laws, and when carried too farresults in business depression, in the multiplication of tramps, and inthe origination and development of industrial and social troubles. Theremedy for this state of affairs is found in the readjustment andproper distribution of population between town and country. When men, sick of waiting on waning business prospects, turn to the soil as theironly refuge from non-employment and surplus productions of factories, and reoccupy and rehabilitate deserted or run-down farms, then businessrevives, and the wheels of industry and enterprise revolve steadily andwith increased velocity at each revolution. Bad roads have a tendencyto make the country disagreeable as a dwelling-place, and a town whichis noted for its bad roads is shunned by people in search of ruralhomes. On the other hand, good roads have a tendency to make thecountry a desirable dwelling-place, and a town which is noted forits good roads becomes the abode of people of taste, wealth, andintelligence. Hence it behooves every town to make itself a desirableplace of residence; for many people are always puzzling themselves overthe problem of where and how to live, and those towns which have theirfloors swept and garnished and their lamps trimmed and burning ready toreceive the bride and bridegroom, will be most likely to attract withintheir borders the seekers of farm life and rural homes. We now live inthe city and go to the country; but we should live in the country andgo to the city. This is "a consummation devoutly to be wished;" but itcan never be brought about until good roads connect the cities andvillages with the green fields and beautiful scenery of the country. All money and labor expended upon them result immediately in aconvenience and benefit to the whole community. Every one should deemit an honor to be able to do anything to improve and beautify thehighways of his town. The Lacedemonian kings were _ex officio_ highwaysurveyors, and among the Thebans the most illustrious citizens wereproud to hold that office; and a few years ago Horatio Seymour, of NewYork, said that his only remaining ambition for public life was to beregarded 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 locatedin the best attainable place, considering the natural formation of thesurrounding country; for when a highway is once established it isimpossible to say how long the tide of humanity and commercial trafficwill seek passage over it. While the ordinary processes ofNature--rain, thaw, and frost--are ever at work lowering the hills andmountains and filling up the valleys and lowlands, the public highwaysof a country remain in the same relative positions from age to age. 

The great commercial and military highway which in the early dawn ofRoman history led from the banks of the placid Euphrates to the banksof the many-mouthed Nile--over which Abraham once wended his wearysteps on his way to Canaan, over which the hosts of Xerxes and thebrave phalanxes of Alexander the Great once passed in all the pride andglory of war, over which the wise men of the East probably journeyed insearch of him who was born King of the Jews, over which Mary fled withChrist in her flight into Egypt, and along which the early Christianstravelled as they went forth to preach the fatherhood of God and thebrotherhood of men--is to-day the highway over which is carried on theoverland intercourse between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. 

Many of the present roads in Italy and the neighboring countries areidentical with the roads over which Cęsar, Cicero, and other Romanstravelled in the olden days; and the modern British roads are the same, in many cases, as those used by the ancient Britons before theAnglo-Saxon conquest. 

The law of the survival of the fittest is applicable to the location ofroads, and any well-located road is liable to be used as a public wayduring the occupancy of the earth by the human race; and if it is notmade famous by the passage of illustrious persons or sanctified by thefootsteps of saints, yet it is liable to be travelled through comingages by "mute inglorious Miltons" and by "care-encumbered men. " Itsometimes happens that men and women, in doing faithfully and well thenearest 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 workingto establish principles applicable and needful to local issues, havethereby, unconsciously to themselves, established principles which haveproved beneficial and applicable to the whole human race. In the stressof trying times we have discovered in the constitution of our countrylatent powers which its framers never dreamed were there. Thus it iswith the humble occupation of road-building. A road constructed for theconvenience of some primitive community or to gratify the caprice ofsome rich man or lordly ruler becomes often in after years an AppianWay for public travel and commercial intercourse. 

A road may be located in one of three ways. It may be laid out in astraight line by crossing lowlands in the mud and going over hills atsteep grades. The ancient Britons, like the early settlers in thiscountry, established their homesteads and villages on commandingsituations, and ran their roads and bridle-paths in direct courses bytheir habitations. The Romans, possessors of great wealth and abundantslave-labor, built their military and public roads in direct lines fromplace to place, regardless of expense. In this way they shorteneddistances somewhat, but their roads must have been constructed atenormous expense in money and labor. Their roads were marvels ofengineering skill and workmanship, which even now, after the lapse ofeighteen centuries, impress every thoughtful observer with the ideathat he is in the presence of the work of the immortals. They threwarched bridges of solid masonry over rivers and across ravines; theycut tunnels through mountains, and sometimes carried their roadsunderground for the sole purpose of shelter from the sun; they levelledheights and made deep cuts through hills; and when they came to a marshthey built a causeway high enough and strong enough to make it safe anddry at all seasons of the year. This mode of location is still followedin the Latin countries of Italy, France, and Spain, where many of theroads are identical with the old Roman roads. 

The other mode of locating a highway is to seek the best attainablegrade the country will permit of by winding through valleys and aroundand across hills. There is obviously one advantage to a perfectlystraight road between two places: _it is the nearest route_. But thisis about the only advantage a straight road has over a curved one. In ahilly country a straight road is frequently no shorter than a curvedone, because the distance around a hill is generally no greater thanover it, as the length of a pail-handle is the same whether it isvertical or in a horizontal position. In an uneven country a straightroad with anything like the same grade as the curved road can only beconstructed at enormous and unnecessary expense and labor. Even in alevel country a road curved sufficiently to give variety of view and toconform to Hogarth's "line of beauty" is preferable to a perfectlystraight 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 inlength between a straight and a slightly curved road is very small. Thus, if a road between two places ten miles apart was made to curveso that the eye could nowhere see farther than a quarter of a mileof it at once, its length would exceed that of a perfectly straightroad between the same points by only about one hundred and fiftyyards. 

But, in any event, in road-making mere straightness should alwaysyield to a level grade, even if thereby the distance is greatlyincreased; for on a good grade a horse can draw rapidly and easily aload which it would be impossible for him to draw on a steep grade. It is an accepted maxim by road-engineers that the horizontal lengthof a road may be advantageously increased, to avoid an ascent, by atleast twenty times the perpendicular height which is to be thussaved; that is, to escape a hill a hundred feet high, it would beproper for the road to make such a circuit as would increase itslength to two thousand feet. 

Hence it is apparent that the ordinary road in a hilly and unevencountry should follow the streams as far as possible, as Nature haslocated them in the places best adapted for highways; and when hillsare found on the line of a road they should be surmounted by passingaround and across them at the easiest grades possible rather thanover them at steep grades. 

CHAPTER III. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

Suitable drainage is the first requisite of a good road, as with ourclimate and soil it is impossible to have a road in a satisfactorycondition at all seasons of the year unless the same is welldrained. In building a new road provisions should be made to get ridof all surface water, and in wet land of the water in the soil, byditches and drains sufficient to dispose of it in a thorough manner;and in repairing an old road it frequently happens that itscondition can be greatly improved and sometimes perfected by simplyproviding proper drainage for it. It is not sufficient to haveditches on each side of the road; for if the water stands in them itis liable to make the road muddy and to weaken its substratum. Theditches themselves should be thoroughly drained, and all the waterwhich accumulates in them should be carried into the naturalwatercourses of the country, or at any rate beyond the limits of thehighway. 

Every carriage-road ought to be wide enough at nearly all points toallow two vehicles to pass each other in safety. Whether it shouldbe wider than that depends upon its location and its importance as apublic thoroughfare. Any unnecessary width should be avoided, excepton pleasure and showy boulevards, because thereby land is wasted, and labor and cost in construction and repair are increased. Allimportant highways should be wide enough to admit of footpaths fiveor six feet wide on each side, and of a macadamized or travelled waycommensurate to the public traffic thereon. 

If a road is to be made wider than two vehicles require, it shouldbe made wide enough to accommodate one or more vehicles; for anyintermediate width causes unequal and excessive wear, and thereforeis false economy. 

The road-bed should generally be raised above the level of thesurrounding land, in order that it may be as free as possible fromwater; and it should "crown" sufficiently to allow all the surfacewater, to find its way quickly into the side ditches. If it is notcrowned enough, it soon becomes hollow, and therefore either muddyor dusty, and in times of heavy rains or thaws the water stands orflows in the middle of the road. If it is crowned too much, thedrivers of vehicles will seek the middle of the road in order tokeep their vehicles in level positions, and consequently theexcessive travel in one part of the road soon wears it into ruts inwhich water accumulates, and carriages in meeting are forced totravel on a side hill, which causes unnecessary wear to the road bysliding down towards the ditches. This sliding tendency greatlyaugments the labor of the horses and the wear and tear of thecarriages. Evidently, then, the wise course to pursue in the matterof crowning the road is to hit the golden mean. Much of success inlife depends upon striking the golden mean, for human experienceteaches that those who follow in this pathway are apt to findthemselves among the happy and the successful. The advice which thewise old Horace made a sage seaman give two thousand years ago isgood 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 theroad-bed should be so constructed as to induce vehicles to travel itequally in every part. 

For our climate and soil, no doubt, a macadamized road is thecheapest and best for general travel. This is made by covering thebottom of the road-bed with stones broken into angular pieces to adepth of from four to twelve inches. The bottom of the road-bedshould be solid earth, and crowned sufficiently to carry off allwater that may reach it. The depth of the stone coating may properlyvary from four to twelve inches, as required by the nature of thesoil, the climate, and the travel on it; and the size of the brokenstones may also be varied to meet the requirements of the road. Ifthere is to be heavy travel on the road, the stone coating should bethicker than on a road over which only lightly loaded teams areexpected to pass; and in the former case the broken stones should belarger than in the latter case. In any event, the top of the stonecoating should be composed of stones broken into small fragments. Acoating, from four to six inches in depth, of broken stones from oneto two inches in diameter is ordinarily sufficient to make a hard, dry, and beautiful country-road, if kept up at all seasons of theyear. Flat or round stones should never be used, because they willnot unite and consolidate into a mass, as small angular stones willdo. When travel is first admitted upon the stone coating, the rutsshould be filled up as soon as formed; or what is better, a heavyroller should be used until the stones have become wellconsolidated. 

Sometimes in wet or clayey soil it is well to put at the bottom ofthe stone coating a layer of large stones, set on their broadestedges and lengthwise across the road in the form of a pavement. Thisis called a Telford road, and has advantages over the McAdam road ina soil retentive of moisture, as the layer of large stones operatesas an under drain to the stone coating above it. 

It is undoubtedly true that the McAdam or Telford road is the bestroad for all practical purposes in this country, and will be thecountry road of the future; yet it is also true that the most of ourhighways are mere earth-roads, and will probably remain such formany years, and it is therefore desirable that they should beconstructed as well as they can be made. It is an admitted canon ofthe road-making art, that a road ought to be so hard and smooth thatwheels will roll easily over it and not sink into it, so dry andcompact that rain will not affect it beyond making it dirty, and itscomponent parts so firmly moulded together that the sun cannotconvert them into deep dust. Therefore the travelled part of anearth-road should not be composed of loam fertile enough for acorn-field, nor of sand deep enough for a beach. If the road runsthrough sandy land, it can be greatly and cheaply improved bycovering it with a few inches of clayish soil; and if it runsthrough clayey land, a similar application of sand will bebeneficial. A gravelly soil is usually the best material for anearth-road, and when practicable every such road should be coveredwith a coating of it. The larger gravel, however, should never beplaced at the bottom and the smaller at the top, as the frost andthe vehicles will cause the large gravel to rise and the small todescend, like the materials in a shaken sieve, and the road willnever become smooth and hard. 

CHAPTER IV. 

REPAIRS. 

After a road is located and constructed, economy as well as publicconvenience demands that it be kept in good condition the yearround. If a road is allowed to go for several months at a timewithout repairs, ruts and holes are likely to form on its surface, and frequently the middle becomes lower than the sides. Then, inorder to put it in good condition again, a great deal of work andexpense are necessary, whereas if every break is repairedimmediately, much less labor and expense are required to keep up theroad for the same length of time, besides the increased advantageand convenience of a good road from day to day. 

No doubt our roads could be kept in better condition than at presentwithout any additional expense, by the application of good sense andbusiness principles in their management. The present system innearly all our country towns consists in dividing up the roads intodistricts, and appointing a highway surveyor for each district, witha stated allowance of money to expend on repairs; and sometimes thetax-payer residing in the district has a right to work out his roadtax. This surveyor is usually a farmer, who is very busy duringplanting-time in the spring, and during the haying and harvestingseasons; and consequently he works upon the roads between theplanting and the haying seasons, or in the autumn after he hasfinished the fall work upon his farm. It sometimes happens that heworks out all the money allowed him in early summer, and thennothing more is done for a year. 

If a road is only to be repaired once a year, the work ought to bedone in the spring, when the soil is moist and will pack togetherhard, and not in the summer, when it is dry and turns easily todust, nor in the late autumn, when the fall rains make it muddy. Thesurveyor generally makes the repairs by ploughing up the road-bedand smoothing it off a little, or else by ploughing up the dust, turf, and stones alongside the road-bed, and scraping the same uponit. After this is done he goes about his farm work. 

The stones in the road soon begin to work up to the surface, andremain there like so many footballs for every horse to kick as hepasses over them. A horse-path naturally forms in the centre of theroad, and wheel-ruts upon either side, which make excellent channelsfor the water to run in during every rain-storm. At first the waterfinds its way over the water-bars in small quantities; but thechannels increase in depth with every shower, and soon during everyhard rain there are from one to three streams of water running overthe road-bed from the top to the bottom of nearly every hill, and asa consequence the road is washed all to pieces. The road thengenerally remains in this condition until the next fall, andsometimes until the next spring. When a road is repaired in thisway, it follows as a matter of course that it is in a bad conditionall the year round. Just after repairs the road is wretched, for itis then in better condition to be planted than to be travelled over;when trodden down a little, the wash of the rains and the loosestones make it bad again; it then grows worse and worse untilanother general repair makes it wretched again, and so on _adinfinitum_. The only way to remedy this state of affairs is tochange the system. 

There should be only one highway surveyor for the whole town, withauthority to supply such men and teams as may be necessary to keepthe roads in a good state of repair. Let them not only work in theearly summer and fall, but at all times when there is anything whichneeds to be done to the roads. A few shovels of dirt and a littlelabor in the nick of time will do more towards keeping a road ingood condition than whole days of ploughing and scraping once ortwice a year only. Every good housewife knows that there is a worldof truth in the old maxim, "A stitch in time saves nine. " Themanagers of all our well-conducted railroads understand this. Theyhave 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 washaway once or twice each year, and then rebuild it instead of keepingit in constant repair? The proprietors of the great turnpike roadfrom Sacramento to Virginia City in California, which runs mainlyover mountains a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and has anannual traffic of seven or eight thousand heavy teams, have found bycareful experiment that the cheapest way to keep that great road ingood condition is to have every portion of it looked after everyday, and during dry weather every rod of it is sprinkled with water. This continual-repair system was adopted in Baden, Germany, 1845. Itwas soon found that it was less expensive and more satisfactory thanthe old system of annual repairs. Other European countries soonfound it to their advantage to follow Baden's example in thisrespect; and now the new system is in universal use in all thecivilized nations of Europe. As a consequence the roads in thosecountries as a general thing are in splendid condition throughoutthe year. They are on an even grade, and as smooth as a racing-trackin this country. The poorest roads in France, Germany, Switzerland, or Great Britain are as good as the best of our own. They are nearlyall macadamized, and are kept in continuous repair by laborers andcompetent engineers and surveyors, who give their sole labor andattention to the roads as a business throughout the year. 

But it is not necessary to go to Europe to prove the superiority ofthe new system over the old. Many towns in this country, especiallythose situated in the vicinity of the large cities, have adopted thenew 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 newsystem in that town: "Until 1877 the old highway district system, common in the New England country towns, was in vogue here. Elevenhighway surveyors were chosen annually in town-meeting, who hadcharge of the roads in their respective districts; and although thetown appropriated money liberally for highway repairs, the roadsseemed to be continually growing worse, owing to the superficialmanner in which the repairs were made. In 1877 the town adopted anentirely different plan for doing the work. The plan was to chooseone surveyor for the whole town, who was to have charge of all theroads, and the town to purchase suitable teams and implements to bekept at the town farm. This is now the ninth year in which thissystem has been in practice, and the result of the change has beenmost satisfactory. The advantages are that the surveyor is chosenfor his especial fitness for the work. The men under him are mostlyemployed by the month and boarded at the town farm, where the teamsare also kept. A force now costing the town ten dollars per day willaccomplish more and better work in one week than would be ordinarilyaccomplished by a surveyor under the old system in a season. And thereason is obvious. The men and teams are accustomed to the work; thebest implements and machinery are employed, road-scrapers doing thework where the nature of the soil will permit; and what is stillmore important, the work is directed by the surveyor to the bestadvantage. In the winter season the teams break out the roads afterheavy snows, and in fair weather cart gravel on to the roads as insummer. And although we have an extraordinary length of road tosupport, --namely, two hundred and seventy-five miles, being more bytwenty-five miles than any other town in the State, --there has beena marked and continual improvement in their condition. 

"When this plan was first presented to the attention of the town, itmet with sharp opposition, and passed by only a small majority; butthe favor with which it is now regarded may be judged by the factthat since its adoption it has met with almost universal approval, and we should now as soon think of going back to the school-districtsystem or to support the churches by taxation as of returning to theold method of repairing our roads. "

This method is undoubtedly better than the old district system; butthe system of the future will not include a road-scraper except forthe building of new roads. Any system is radically defective whichscrapes the dust and worn-out soil of the gutters or the turf andloam of the roadside upon the road-bed. Perhaps this kind ofrepairing is better than none in many localities; but ascivilization advances and the true principles of road-making becomebetter known, after the foundation of a road-bed has been properlyestablished, nothing but good road material will ever be put uponit, and this will be put there from time to time as needed to keepup 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 tractsof land, except in large towns and cities; but they are frequentlyneeded to shorten distances and to improve grades. Consequently thelaws relative to the laying out, maintenance, and use of highwaysare of personal interest to every citizen, and many are alsointerested 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] Andsuch ways may be established by prescription, by dedication, or bythe 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 publicthoroughfares by prescriptive use, which began in colonial days, andperhaps then followed Indian trails, or were first used asbridle-paths. 

 [1] 11 Allen, 530. 

When the owner in fee of land gives to the public a right of passageand repassage over it, and his gift is accepted by the public, theland thus travelled over becomes a way by dedication. The dedicationmay be made by the writing, the declaration, or by the acts of theowner. It must, however, clearly appear that he intended and hasmade the dedication; and when it has been accepted by the public itis irrevocable. Formerly it could be accepted by the public by use, or by some act or circumstance showing the town's assent andacquiescence in such dedication; but now no city or town ischargeable for such dedicated way until it has been laid out andestablished in the manner provided by the statutes. [2] It wasformerly thought that this act applied to prescriptive ways as wellas to dedicated ways; but it is now settled that it applies only toways by dedication, and ways by prescription are not affected byit. [3]

 [2] Pub. St. C. 49, § 94. 

 [3] 128 Mass. 63. 

The proper town or city authorities have jurisdiction to lay out oralter ways within the limits of their respective cities or towns, and to order specific repairs thereon. The county commissioners havealso jurisdiction to lay out public ways, the termini of which areexclusively within the same town; and they are also clothed withauthority to lay them out from town to town. Hence roads may beeither town ways or public highways. When the proceedings for theirlocation originate with the town or city officials, they are townways; and when the proceedings originate with the countycommissioners, they are public highways. [4] Suppose a new road iswanted, or an alteration in an old one is desired, within the limitsof a town, a petition therefor may be presented either to the townauthorities or to the county commissioners. If the proposed road isnot situated entirely within the limits of one town or city, thenthe commissioners alone have jurisdiction in the premises. When theselectmen or road commissioners of a town decide to lay out a newroad, or to alter an old one, their doings must be reported andallowed at some public meeting of the inhabitants regularly warnedand notified therefor; but while the inhabitants are vested with theright of approval, they have no right to vote that the selectmen orroad commissioners shall lay out a particular way, as it is theintention of the statute that these officials shall exercise theirown discretion upon the subject. [5] If the town authoritiesunreasonably refuse or neglect to lay out a way, or if the townunreasonably refuses or delays to approve and allow such way as laidout or altered by its officials, then the parties aggrieved therebymay, at any time within one year, apply to the county commissioners, who have authority to cause such way to be laid out or altered. Butwhen a petition for a public way is presented in the first instanceto the county commissioners, or when the matter is brought beforethem by way of appeal, their decision on the question of the publicnecessity and convenience of such way is final, and from it there isno appeal. If damage is sustained by any person in his property bythe laying out, alteration, or discontinuance of a public way, he isentitled to receive just and adequate damages therefor, to beassessed, in the first place, by the town or city authorities or bythe county commissioners, and, finally, by a jury, in case one isdemanded by him. He is entitled to a reasonable time to take off anytimber, wood or trees, which may be upon the land to be taken; butif he does not remove the same within the time allowed, he is deemedto have relinquished his right thereto. In estimating the damage tothe land-owner caused by the laying out or the alteration of apublic way over his land, neither the city nor town authorities nora jury are confined to the value of the land taken. He is alsoentitled to the amount of the damage done to his remaining land bysuch laying out or alteration. [6] But in such estimation of damagesany direct or peculiar benefit or increase of value accruing to hisadjoining 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 incommon 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 causedthereby, is to be paid by the city or town wherein the same arelocated, provided the proceedings originate with the town or cityauthorities; but when the proceedings originate with the countycommissioners, they divide the cost between the towns and the countyin 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 beenestablished, they are to be kept in such repair as to be reasonablysafe and convenient for travellers at all seasons of the year at theexpense 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 asare necessary for repairing the public ways within its borders; andif it fails to do so, the highway surveyors, in their respectivedistricts, may employ persons, as directed in the statutes, torepair the roads, and the persons so employed may collect pay fortheir labor of the town. In order to make such repairs, city andtown authorities may select and lay out land within their respectivelimits as gravel and clay pits from which may be taken earth andgravel necessary for the construction and repairs of streets andways. [9] And they may turn the surface drainage of the roads uponthe land of the adjoining owners without liability. [10] But nohighway surveyor has a right, without the written approbation of theselectmen, to cause a watercourse, occasioned by the wash of theroad, to be so conveyed by the roadside as to incommode a house, astore, shop, or other building, or to obstruct a person in theprosecution of his business. [11] Properly authorized city or townofficers may trim or lop off trees and bushes standing in the publicways, or cut down and remove such trees; and may cause to be dug upand removed whatever obstructs such ways, or endangers, hinders, orincommodes persons travelling therein. [12] Even the boundaries ofpublic ways are so well guarded that when they are ascertainable nolength of time less than forty years justifies the continuance of afence or building within their limits; but the same may, upon thepresentment of a grand jury, be removed as a nuisance. [13]

 [9] Pub. St. C. 49, § 99. 

 [10] 13 Gray, 601. 

 [11] Pub. St. C. 52, § 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, orfences upon or across highways, unless the same have been thereplaced for the purpose of preventing the spreading of a diseasedangerous to the public health, or have been erected or continued bythe license of the selectmen or county commissioners. [14] A highwaysurveyor acting within the scope of his authority may dig up andremove the soil within the limits of the public ways for the purposeof repairing the same, and may carry it from one part of the town toanother;[15] and he has a right to deposit the soil thus removed onhis own land, if that is the best way of clearing the road ofuseless 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 goodcondition, and to this end gives municipal corporations greatpowers, yet let no one who is not a highway surveyor or in hisemploy imagine that he can repair a road not on his own land withimpunity; for it has been decided that if an unauthorized persondigs up the soil on the roadside by another person's land for thepurpose of repairing the road, he is a trespasser and liable fordamages, although he does only what a highway surveyor mightproperly do. [17] It is also the duty of cities and towns to guardwith sufficient and suitable railings every road which passes over abank, bridge, or along a precipice, excavation, or deep water; andit makes no difference whether these dangerous places are within orwithout the limits of the road, if they are so imminent to the lineof public travel as to expose travellers to unusual hazard. [18] Buttowns are not obliged to put up railings merely to preventtravellers from straying out of the highway, where there is nounsafe 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 notbound to keep up railings strong enough for idlers to lounge againstor 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 ofthe ordinary shyings and frights of horses with safety, for shyingis one of the natural habits of the animal;[21] although it seemsthat switching his tail over the reins is not a natural habit of theanimal, as it has been decided that if a horse throws his tail overthe reins and thereby a defect in the road is run against, nodamages 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 maintenanceof guide-posts at suitable places on the public ways; but a personhas to travel but little in many of the towns of the State to cometo the conclusion that the law is either deficient in constructionor a dead letter in execution. The law makes it incumbent upon theselectmen or road commissioners of each town to submit to theinhabitants, at every annual meeting, a report of all the places inwhich guide-posts are erected and maintained within the town, and ofall places at which, in their opinion, they ought to be erected andmaintained. For each neglect or refusal to make such report theyshall severally forfeit ten dollars. After the report is made thetown shall determine the several places at which guide-posts shallbe erected and maintained, which shall be recorded in the townrecords. A town which neglects or refuses to determine such places, and to cause a record thereof to be made, shall forfeit five dollarsfor 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 suitablesubstitute therefor, a substantial post of not less than eight feetin height, near the upper end of which shall be placed a board orboards, with plain inscription thereon, directing travellers to thenext town or towns and informing them of the distance thereto. 

Every town which neglects or refuses to erect and maintain suchguide-posts, or some suitable substitutes therefor, shall forfeitannually five dollars for every guide-post which it neglects orrefuses to maintain. [23] These forfeitures can be recovered either byindictment or by an action of tort for the benefit of the countywherein the acts of negligence or refusal occur; and any interestedor public-spirited person can make complaint of such negligence orrefusal 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, §§ 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, andcommons of their respective towns, as in their judgment the publicnecessity and convenience may require, and the towns may vote moneyto defray the expenses thereof. [25] But the vote of a towninstructing the selectmen to establish a watering-trough at aparticular place would be irregular and void, because towns in theircorporate capacity have not been given the right by statute toconstruct drinking-troughs in the public highways. And towns wouldnot be liable for the acts of the selectmen performed in pursuanceof this statute, because the law makes the selectmen a board ofpublic officers, representing the general public, and not the agentsof their respective towns. However, if the inhabitants of a townshould construct a drinking trough or fountain of such hideousshape, and paint it with such brilliant color, that it wouldfrighten an ordinarily gentle and well-broken horse, by reason ofwhich a traveller should be brought in contact with a defect in theway or on the side of the way, and thus injured, the town might beheld liable to pay damages. [26]

 [25] Pub. St. C. 27, § 50. 

 [26] 125 Mass. 526. 

It is my purpose to state what the law is, and not what it ought tobe; but I will venture the suggestion that it would not be anunreasonable hardship on towns to require them to establish andmaintain suitable watering-troughs at suitable places, and it wouldbe a merciful kindness to many horses which now frequently have totravel long distances over dusty roads in summer heat without achance 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 bekept safe and convenient, but of late years statutes have beenpassed allowing owners of land, improvement societies, cities andtowns, to do something to beautify the roadsides and public squaresof any city or town. A city or town may grant or vote a sum notexceeding fifty cents for each of its ratable polls in the precedingyear, to be expended in planting, or encouraging the planting by theowners of adjoining real estate, of shade trees upon the publicsquares or highways. [27] Such trees may be planted wherever it willnot interfere with the public travel or with private rights, andthey shall be deemed and taken to be the private property of theperson so planting them or upon whose premises they stand. [28]

 [27] St. 1885, c. 123. 

 [28] Pub. St. C. 54, § 6. 

Improvement societies, properly organized for the purpose ofimproving and ornamenting the streets and public squares of any cityor town by planting and cultivating ornamental trees therein, may beauthorized by any town to use, take care of, and control the publicgrounds or open spaces in any of its public ways, not needed forpublic travel. They may grade, drain, curb, set out shade orornamental trees, lay out flower plots, and otherwise improve thesame; and may protect their work by suitable fences or railings, subject to such directions as may be given by the selectmen or roadcommissioners. And any person who wantonly, maliciously, ormischievously drives cattle, horses, or other animals, or drivesteams, carriages, or other vehicles, on or across such grounds oropen spaces, or removes or destroys any fence or railing on thesame, or plays ball or other games thereon, or otherwise interfereswith or damages the work of such corporation, is subject to a finenot exceeding twenty dollars for each offence, for the benefit ofthe society. [29]

 [29] St. 1885, c. 157. 

It is also a legal offence for any one wantonly to injure or defacea shade tree, shrub, rose, or other plant or fixture of ornament orutility in a street, road, square, court, park, or public garden, orcarelessly to suffer a horse or other beast driven by or for him, ora beast belonging to him and lawfully on the highway, to break downor injure a tree, not his own, standing for use or ornament on saidhighway. [30] And no one, even if he be the owner of the land, has theright to cut down or remove an ornamental or shade tree standing ina public way, without first giving notice of his intention to themunicipal authorities, who are entitled to ten days to decidewhether the tree can be removed or not. And whoever cuts down orremoves or injures such tree in violation of the law shall forfeitnot less than five nor more than one hundred dollars for the benefitof the city or town wherein the same stands. [31]

 [30] Pub. St. C. 54, §§ 7, 8. 

 [31] Pub. St. C. 54, §§ 10, 11. 

CHAPTER IX. 

PUBLIC USE OF HIGHWAYS. 

After the roads are ready for use and beautified by shade trees andgreen parks at convenient places, we are confronted with thequestion, How are they to be used by the public and the owners ofadjoining estates? We, as a people, are not only continental andterrestrial travellers, but we are continually passing hither andthither over the public ways of this State, and consequently it isimportant for us to know how to travel the common roads in a legaland proper manner. 

In the first place, every one who travels upon a public thoroughfareis bound to drive with due care and discretion, and to have anordinarily gentle and well trained horse, with harness and vehiclein good roadworthy condition, as he is liable for whatever damagesmay be occasioned by any insufficiency in this respect. [32]

 [32] 4 Gray, 178. 

Another duty which every traveller is bound to observe is to driveat a moderate rate of speed. To drive a carriage or other vehicle ona public way at such a rate or in such a manner as to endanger thesafety of other travellers, or the inhabitants along the road, is anindictable offence at common law, and amounts to a breach of thepeace; and in case any one is injured or damaged thereby, he maylook to the fast driver for his recompense. But it does not followthat a man may not drive a well-bred and high-spirited horse at arapid gait, if he does not thereby violate any ordinance or by-lawof a town or city; for it has been held that it cannot be said, asmatter of law, that a man is negligent who drives a high-spiritedand lively-stepping horse at the rate of ten miles an hour in a darknight. [33]

 [33] 8 Allen, 522. 

It then behooves every one to drive with care and caution, whetherhe is going fast or slow; and it also behooves him to see that hisservants drive with equal care and caution, for he is responsible tothird persons for the negligence of his servants, in the scope oftheir employment, to the same extent as if the act were his own, although the servants disobey his express orders. If you send yourservant upon the road with a team, with instructions to drivecarefully and to avoid coming in contact with any carriage, butinstead of driving carefully he drives carelessly against acarriage, you are liable for all damages resulting from thecollision; and if the servant acts wantonly or mischievously, causing thereby additional bodily or mental injury, such wantonnessor 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 beif it allowed you to hire ignorant, wilful, and incompetent servantsto go upon the road and injure the lives and property of innocentpeople without redress save against the servants, who perchancemight be financially irresponsible. It should however be stated inthis connection that if your team should get away from you or yourservant, without any fault on your or his part, and should run awayand do great damage, by colliding with other teams, or by runningover people on foot, you would not be held responsible, as in law itwould be regarded as an inevitable accident. Thus, if your horseshould get scared by some sudden noise or frightful object by thewayside, or through his natural viciousness of which you wereignorant, or by some means should get unhitched after you had lefthim securely tied, and in consequence thereof should plunge theshaft of your wagon into some other man's horse, or should knockdown and injure a dozen people, you would not be liable, because theinjury 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 observethem. The law relative thereto is known as "the law of the road. "These rules relate to the meeting, passing, and conduct of teams onthe road; and it is more important that there should be some wellestablished and understood rules on the subject than what the rulesare. In England the rules are somewhat different, and some of themare the reverse of what they are in this country. But the rules andthe law relating thereto in this country are about the same in everyState of the Union. Our statutes provide that when persons meet eachother on a bridge or road, travelling with carriages or othervehicles, each person shall seasonably drive his carriage or othervehicle to the right of the middle of the travelled part of suchbridge or road, so that their respective carriages or other vehiclesmay pass each other without interference; that one party passinganother going in the same direction must do so on the left-hand sideof the middle of the road, and if there is room enough, the foremostdriver must not wilfully obstruct the road. [36]

 [36] Pub. St. C. 93. 

Although these are statutory rules, yet they are not inflexible inevery instance, as on proper occasions they may be waived orreversed. They are intended for the use of an intelligent andcivilized people; and in the crowded streets of villages and cities, situations or circumstances may frequently arise when a deviationwill not only be justifiable but absolutely necessary. One mayalways pass on the left side of a road, or across it, for thepurpose of stopping on that side, if he can do so withoutinterrupting or obstructing a person lawfully passing on the otherside. [37] And if the driver of a carriage on the proper side of theroad sees a horse coming furiously on the wrong side of the road, itis his duty to give way and go upon the wrong side of the road, ifby 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 properand reasonable thing to do under the circumstances, or else he willbe answerable for all damages; for the law presumes that a party whois violating an established rule of travelling is a wrongdoer. [39] Ofcourse a person on the right side of the road has no right to runpurposely or recklessly into a trespasser, simply because he haswrongfully given him the opportunity to receive an injury, and thenturn round and sue for damages arising from his own foolhardinessand devil-may-care conduct. [40]

 [37] Angell on Highways, § 336. 

 [38] Shear. & Red. On Negligence, § 309. 

 [39] 121 Mass. 216. 

 [40] 12 Met. 415. 

Every one seeking redress at law on account of an accident must be ableto show that he himself was at the time in the exercise of ordinarycare and precaution, and it is not enough for him to show that somebodyelse was violating a rule of law. When the road is unoccupied atraveller is at liberty to take whichever side of the road best suitshis convenience, as he is only required "seasonably to drive to theright" when he meets another traveller; but if parties meet _on thesudden_, and an injury results, the party on the wrong side of theroad is responsible, unless it clearly appears that the party on theproper side has ample means and opportunity to prevent it. [41]

 [41] 10 Cush. 495; 3 Carr. & Payne, 554; Angell on Carriers, § 555. 

Where there is occasion for one driver to pass another going in thesame direction, the foremost driver may keep the even tenor of hisway in the middle or on either side of the road, provided there issufficient room for the rear driver to pass by; but if there is notsufficient room, it is the duty of the foremost driver to afford it, by yielding an equal share of the road, if that be practicable; butif not, then the object must be deferred till the parties arrive atground more favorable to its accomplishment. If the leadingtraveller then wilfully refuses to comply, he makes himself liable, criminally, to the penalty imposed by the statute, and answerable atlaw in case the rear traveller suffers damage in consequence of thedelay. There being no statute regulations as to the manner in whichpersons should drive when they meet at the junction of two streets, the rule of the common law applies, and each person is bound to usedue 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 isusually wrought for travelling, and not any track which may happento be made in the road by the passing of vehicles; but when thewrought part of the road is hidden by the snow, and a path is beatenand travelled on the side of the wrought part, persons meeting onsuch beaten and travelled path are required to drive their vehiclesto the right of the middle of such path. [43] Many drivers of heavilyloaded vehicles seem to think that all lightly loaded ones shouldturn out and give them all the travelled part of the road. No doubta lightly loaded vehicle can often turn out with less inconveniencethan a heavily loaded one, and generally every thoughtful andconsiderate driver of a light vehicle is willing to, and does, givethe heavy vehicle more than half the road on every proper occasion;but the driver of the heavy vehicle ought to understand that it isdone out of courtesy to himself and consideration for his horses, and not because it is required by any rule of law. The statute lawof the road in this State makes no distinction between the lightlyand the heavily loaded vehicle. Both alike are required to pass tothe right of the travelled part of the road. In case of accident thecourt would undoubtedly take into consideration the size and load ofeach vehicle, as bearing upon the question of the conduct of thedrivers under the circumstances, and their responsibility would besettled in accordance with "the law of the road, " modified andpossibly reversed by the situation of the parties and thecircumstances 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 streetrailway when the same is not in use by the company; but the companyis entitled to the unrestricted use of their rails upon all properoccasions, and then such traveller must keep off their track, orelse he renders himself liable to indictment under the statutes ofthe State. [45]

 [45] Pub. St. C. 113, § 37; 7 Allen, 573. 

CHAPTER XI. 

EQUESTRIANS AND PEDESTRIANS. 

In England "the law of the road" applies as well to equestrians asto travellers by carriage, and I can see no good reason why itshould not do so here. The statutes are silent on the subject, and Icannot find that our Supreme Court has ever had occasion to passupon the question; but it has been decided in some of the Statesthat when a traveller on horseback meets another equestrian or acarriage, he may exercise his own notions of prudence, and turneither to the right or to the left at his option. [46] By commonconsent and immemorial usage an equestrian is expected to yield theroad, or a good share of it, to a wagon or other vehicle. It hasbeen decided in Pennsylvania that if he has a chance to turn out andrefuses to do so, and his steed or himself is injured by acollision, 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 notapplicable to people on horseback, as it is expressly limited tocarriages or other vehicles, and therefore equestrians are amenableonly to the common law of the land. By this law they are required toride on the public ways with due care and precaution, and toexercise reasonably good judgment on every occasion, under all theattendant circumstances. When they meet wagons, whether heavilyloaded or not, they ought to yield as much of the road as they canconveniently, --certainly more than half, as they do not need thatmuch of the road to pass conveniently, --but when they meet a vehiclein the form of a bicycle there seems to be no good reason why theyshould yield more than half the road. For the convenience ofthemselves and the public at large, on meeting vehicles or eachother, they ought to pass to the right, as by adopting the statutelaw of the road in this respect order is promoted and confusionavoided. 

A public thoroughfare is a way for foot-passengers as well ascarriages, and a person has a right to walk on the carriage-way ifhe pleases; but, as Chief Justice Denman once remarked, "he hadbetter not, especially at night, when carriages are passingalong. "[48] However, all persons have an undoubted right to walk onthe beaten track of a road, if it has no sidewalk, even if infirmwith age or disease, and are entitled to the exercise of reasonablecare on the part of persons driving vehicles along it. If there is asidewalk which is in bad condition, or obstructed by merchandise orotherwise, then the foot-passenger has a right to walk on the roadif he pleases. But it should be borne in mind that what is proper ona country road might not be in the crowded streets of a city. In lawevery one is bound to regulate his conduct to meet the situations inwhich he is placed, and the circumstances around him at the time. Aperson infirm with age or disease or afflicted with poor eyesightshould always take extraordinary precaution in walking upon theroad. [49] Thus, a man who traverses a crowded thoroughfare with edgedtools or bars of iron must take especial care that he does not cutor bruise others with the things he carries. Such a person would bebound to keep a better lookout than the man who merely carried anumbrella; and the man who carried an umbrella would be bound to takemore 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, § 480. 

Footmen have a right to cross a highway on every proper occasion, but when convenient they should pass upon cross-walks, and in sodoing should look out for teams; for it is as much their duty, oncrossing a road, to look out for teams, as it is the duty of thedrivers of teams to be vigilant in not running over them. "The lawof the road" as to the meeting of vehicles does not apply to them. They may walk upon whichever side they please, and turn, uponmeeting 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 isnecessary and reasonable; and if they walk in the beaten track orcross it when teams are passing along, they must use extraordinarycare and caution or they will be remediless in case of injury tothemselves. They may travel on the Lord's day for all purposes ofnecessity or charity; and they may also take short walks in thepublic highway on Sundays, simply for exercise and to take the air, and even to call to see friends on such walks, without liability topunishment therefor under the statutes for the observance of theLord's day, and they can recover damages for injuries wrongfullysustained 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 overthe public ways in the coaches of passenger carriers. Whoeverundertakes to carry passengers and their baggage for hire from placeto place is bound to use the utmost care and diligence in providingsafe and suitable coaches, harnesses, horses, and coachmen, in orderto prevent such injuries as human care and foresight can guardagainst. 

If an accident happens from a defect in the coach or harness whichmight have been discovered and remedied upon careful and thoroughexamination, such accident must be ascribed to negligence, for whichthe owner is liable in case of injury to a passenger happening byreason of such accident. 

On the other hand, where the accident arises from a hidden andinternal defect, which careful and thorough examination would notdisclose, and which could not be guarded against by the exercise ofsound judgment and the most vigilant oversight, then the proprietoris not liable for the injury, but the misfortune must be borne bythe sufferer as one of that class of injuries for which the law canafford no redress in the form of a pecuniary recompense. 

If a passenger, in peril arising from an accident for which theproprietors are responsible, is in so dangerous a situation as torender his leaping from the coach an act of reasonable precaution, and he leaps therefrom and breaks a limb, the proprietors areanswerable to him in damages, though he might safely have retainedhis seat. [52]

 [52] 9 Met. 1. 

When the proprietors of stages or street-car coaches, which arealready full and overloaded, stop their coaches, whether at thesignal or not of would-be passengers, and open the doors for theirentrance, they must be considered as inviting them to ride, andthereby assuring them that their passage will be a safe one, atleast so far as dependent upon the exercise of reasonable andordinary care, diligence, and skill, on their part, in driving andmanaging their horses and coaches; and, in fact, they are rather tobe held responsible for such increased watchfulness and solicitouscare, skill, and attention, as the crowded condition of the vehiclerequires. If, under such circumstances, a passenger is thrown out ofor off the coach by its violent jerk at starting or stopping, or inany other way through the negligence of the proprietors or theiragents, he may hold them liable for his injuries. [53] A passengermust pay his fare in advance, if demanded, otherwise he may have topay a fine for evading fare; and if he is riding free, theproprietors are not responsible, except for gross negligence; and hemust also properly and securely pack his baggage, if he expects torecover damages in case of loss. A mail-coach is protected by act ofCongress 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 ofpersons are guilty of gross carelessness or neglect in the conductand management of the same while in such use, they are liable to afine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or to imprisonment notexceeding three years. [55] And if a driver of a stage-coach or othervehicle for the conveyance of passengers for hire, when a passengeris within or upon such coach or vehicle, leaves the horses thereofwithout some suitable person to take the charge and guidance ofthem, or without fastening them in a safe and prudent manner, he maybe imprisoned two months or fined fifty dollars. [56]

 [55] Pub. St. C. 202, § 34. 

 [56] Pub. St. C. 202, § 35. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

PURPOSES FOR WHICH HIGHWAYS MAY BE USED. 

As before intimated, the public ways are mainly for the use oftravellers; but in the progress of civilization it has becomeconvenient and necessary to use them for other purposes of a publicnature. It is the great merit of the common law, that while itsfundamental principles remain fixed from generation to generation, yet they are generally so comprehensive and so well adapted to newinstitutions and conditions of society, new modes of commerce, newusages and practices, that they are capable of application to everyphase of society and business life. Time and necessity, as well aslocality, are important elements in determining the character of anyparticular use of a public way. Many public ways are now used forgas, water-pipes, and sewers, because the public health andconvenience are subserved by such use. [57] They are also used for thetransmission of intelligence by electricity, and the post-boy andthe mail-coach are disappearing. 

 [57] 35 N. H. 257. 

The horse-railroad was deemed a new invention; but it was held thata portion of the road might well be set aside for it, although therights of other travellers to some extent were limited by theprivileges necessary for its use. [58]

 [58] 136 Mass. 75. 

And now motor cars and elevated railroads are making theirappearance in the centres of civilized life, and the bicycle andtricycle are familiar objects on all the great thoroughfares. Shouldhuman ingenuity discover any new modes of conveying persons andproperty over the public ways, or of transmitting intelligence alongthe same, which should prove convenient to the everyday life ofhumanity, no doubt the highway law will be found applicable to allthe needs of advancing civilization. The underlying principle of thelaw is that every person may use the highway to his own bestadvantage, but with a just regard to the like rights of others. Thelaw does not specify what kind of animals or vehicles are to beallowed upon the road, but leaves every case to be decided as itshall arise, in view of the customs and necessities of the peoplefrom time to time. All persons may lawfully travel upon the publicways with any animal or vehicle which is suitable for a way preparedand intended to afford the usual and reasonable accommodationsneedful to the requirements of a people in their present state ofcivilization; but if any person undertakes to use or travel upon thehighway in an unusual or extraordinary manner, or with animals, vehicles, or freight not suitable or adapted to a way opened andprepared for the public use, in the common intercourse of society, and in the transaction of usual and ordinary business, he then takesevery 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 withoutproperly guarding and restraining the same, and for want of suchcare and restraint people rightfully on the way and using due careare injured, the owner of the animal is responsible, because undersuch circumstances he is bound to use the utmost care and diligence, especially in villages and cities, to avoid injuries to people onthe road. [60] So, if a man goes upon the highway with a vehicle ofsuch peculiar and unusual construction, or which is operated in sucha manner, as to frighten horses and to create noise and confusion onthe road, he is guilty of an indictable offence and answerable indamages besides. An ycleped velocipede in the road has been held inCanada to be a nuisance, and its owner was indicted and found guiltyof a criminal offence. [61] In England a man who had taken a tractionsteam-engine upon the road was held liable to a party who hadsuffered damages by reason of his horses being frightened by it. [62]It has been held to be a nuisance at common law to carry anunreasonable weight on a highway with an unusual number ofhorses. [63] And so it is a nuisance for a large number of persons toassemble on or near a highway for the purpose of shouting and makinga noise and disturbance; and likewise it is a nuisance for one tomake a large collection of tubs in the road, or to blockade the wayby a large number of logs, cattle, or wagons; for, as LordEllenborough once said, the king's highway is not to be used as astable 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 theuse and management of the public ways within their respectivelimits, not repugnant to law, as they shall judge to be mostconducive to their welfare. [64] They may make such by-laws to secure, among other things, the removal of snow and ice from sidewalks bythe owners of adjoining estates; to prevent the pasturing of cattleor other animals in the highways; to regulate the driving of sheep, swine, and neat cattle over the public ways; to regulate thetransportation of the offal of slaughtered cattle, sheep, hogs, andother animals along the roads; to prohibit fast driving or riding onthe highways; to regulate travel over bridges; to regulate thepassage of carriages or other vehicles, and sleds used for coasting, over the public ways; to regulate and control itinerant musicianswho frequent the streets and public places; and to regulate themoving of buildings in the highways. Many people are inclined tomake the highway the receptacle for the surplus stones and rubbisharound their premises, and to use the wayside for a lumber and woodyard; and some farmers are in the habit of supplying their hog-pensand barn cellars with loam and soil dug out of the highway. 

 [64] Pub. St. C. 27, § 15, and c. 53; 97 Mass. 221. 

Again, some highway surveyors have very little taste for ruralbeauty, and show very poor judgment, and perhaps now and then alittle spite, in ploughing up the green grass by the roadside andsometimes in front of houses. These evils can be remedied by everytown which will pass suitable by-laws upon the subject and see thatthey are enforced. Such by-laws might provide that no one should beallowed to deposit within the limits of the highway any stones, brush, wood, rubbish, or other substance inconvenient to publictravel; that no one should be permitted to dig up and carry away anyloam or soil within the limits of the highway; and that no highwaysurveyor should be allowed to dig or plough up the greensward infront of any dwelling-house, or other building used in connectiontherewith, without the written direction or consent of theselectmen. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

USE OF HIGHWAYS BY ADJOINING OWNERS. 

The owner of land adjoining a highway ordinarily owns to the middle ofthe road; and while he has the same rights as the public therein, healso has, in addition thereto, certain other rights incident to theownership of the land over which the road passes. When land is takenfor a highway, it is taken for all the present and prospective purposesfor which a public thoroughfare may properly be used, and the damagesto the owner of the land are estimated with reference to such use; butthe land can be used for no other purpose, and when the servitudeceases the land reverts to him free from encumbrance. During thecontinuance of the servitude he is entitled to use the land, subject tothe easement, for any and all purposes not incompatible with the publicenjoyment. If the legislature authorizes the addition of any newservitude, essentially distinct from the ordinary use of a highway, like an elevated railroad, then the land-owner is entitled toadditional compensation; for it cannot be deemed, in law, to have beenwithin the contemplation of the parties, at the time of the laying outof the road, that it might be used for such new and additionalpurposes. It has been held in New York, Illinois, and some of theUnited States circuit courts, that the use of a highway for a telegraphline will entitle such owner to additional compensation; but in therecent case of Pierce _v. _ Drew[65] the majority of our Supreme Courtdecided that the erection of a telegraph line is not a new servitudefor which the land-owner is entitled to additional compensation. 

 [65] 136 Mass. 75. 

A minority of the court, in an able argument, maintained that theerection of telegraph and telephone posts and wires along the roads, fitted with cross-beams adapted for layer after layer of almostcountless wires, which necessitate to some extent the destruction oftrees along the highways or streets, the occupation of the ground, the filling of the air, the interference with access to or escapefrom buildings, the increased difficulty of putting out fires, theobstruction of the view, the presentation of unsightly objects tothe eye, and the creation of unpleasant noises in the wind, is anactual injury to abutting land along the line, and constitutes a newand increased servitude, for which the land-owner is entitled to adistinct compensation. After the rendering of the majority decision, the legislature very promptly passed a law allowing an owner of landabutting upon a highway along which telegraph or telephone, electriclight or electric power, lines shall be constructed, to recoverdamages to the full extent of the injuries to his property, providedhe applies, within three months after such construction, to themayor and aldermen or selectmen to assess and appraise hisdamage. [66]

 [66] St. 1884, c. 306. 

The public has a right to occupy the highway for travel and otherlegitimate purposes, and to use the soil, the growing timber, andother materials found within the space of the road, in a reasonablemanner, for the purpose of making and repairing the road and thebridges thereon. [67] But the public cannot go upon the land of anadjoining owner without his consent, to remove stones or earth, torepair a bridge or the highway; and if in consequence of suchremoval the land is injured, by floods or otherwise, he can recoverdamages therefor. [68] He is not obliged to build or maintain a roadfence, except to keep his own animals at home, but if he does builda fence he must set it entirely on his own land; and likewise, if atown constructs an embankment to support a road or bridge, it mustkeep entirely within the limits of the highway, for if any part ofthe embankment is built on his land he can collect damages of thetown. [69] He may carry water-pipes underground through the highway, or turn a watercourse across the same below the surface, provided hedoes not deprive the public of their rights in the way. [70] From thetime of Edward IV. It has been the settled law that the owner of thesoil 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 lawfullyclaim all the products of the soil and all the fruit and nuts uponthe trees. He may maintain trespass for any injury to the soil or tothe growing trees thereon, which is not incidental to the ordinaryand legitimate uses of the road by the public. His land in thehighway may be recovered in ejectment just the same as any of hisother land. No one has any more right to graze his highway land thanhis tillage land. [71] He may cut the hay on the roadside, gather thefruit and crops thereon, and graze his own animals there; and theby-laws of the cities and towns preventing the pasturing of cattleand other animals in the highway are not to affect his right to theuse of land within the limits of the road adjoining his ownpremises. [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, § 10. 

It is not one of the legitimate uses of the highway for a travelleror a loafer to stop in front of your house to abuse you withblackguardism, or to play a tune or sing a song which isobjectionable to you; and if you request him to pass on and herefuses to go, you may treat him as a trespasser and make him paydamages and costs, if he is financially responsible. [73] Andlikewise, if any person does anything on the highway in front ofyour premises to disturb the peace, to draw a crowd together, or toobstruct the way, he is answerable in damages to you and liable toan 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 theway not common to the public, yet he must exercise those rights withdue regard to the public safety and convenience. Perhaps, in theabsence of objections on the part of the highway surveyor, or ofprohibitory by-laws on the part of the town, he has a right to takesoil 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 thewayside. He can load and unload his vehicles in the highway, inconnection with his business on the adjoining land, but it must bedone in such a manner as not unreasonably to interfere with orincommode the travelling public. When a man finds it necessary tocrowd his teams and wagons into the street, and thereby blockade thehighway for hours at a time, he ought either to enlarge his premisesor remove his business to some more convenient spot. He has a rightto occupy the roadside with his vehicles, loaded or unloaded, to areasonable extent; but when he fills up the road with logs and wood, tubs and barrels, wagons and sleighs, pig-pens and agriculturalmachinery, or deposits therein stones and rubbish, he is not usingthe highway properly, but is abusing it shamefully, and isresponsible in damages to any one who is injured in person orproperty through his negligence, and, moreover, is liable toindictment for illegally obstructing the roadway. [75] As before said, he has a perfect right to pasture the roadside with his animals; butif he turns them loose in the road, and they there injure the personor property of any one legally travelling therein, he is answerablein damages to the full extent of the injuries, whether he knows theyhave any vicious habits or not. [76] If his cow, bull, or horse, thusloose in the highway, gore or kick the horse of some traveller, heis liable for all damages;[77] and in one instance a peaceable andwell-behaved hog in the road cost her owner a large sum of money, because the horse of a traveller, being frightened at her looks, ranaway, 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, § 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 fewdisadvantages. Highways are set apart, among other things, thatcattle and sheep may be driven thereon; and as, from the nature ofsuch animals, it is impossible even with care to keep them upon thehighways unless the adjoining land is properly fenced, it followsthat when they are driven along the road with due care, and thenescape upon adjoining land and do damage their owner is not liabletherefor, if he makes reasonable efforts to remove them as speedilyas possible. [79] Likewise, if a traveller bent upon some errand ofmercy or business finds the highway impassable by reason of somewash-out, snowdrift, or other defect, he may go round upon adjoiningland, without liability, so far as necessary to bring him to theroad again, beyond the defect. [80] If a watercourse on adjoining landis allowed by the land-owner to become so obstructed by ice andsnow, or other cause, that the water is set back, and overflows orobstructs the road, the highway surveyor may, without liability, enter upon adjoining land and remove the nuisance, if he acts withdue regard to the safety and protection of the land from needlessinjury. [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 thegrade or so construct the water-bars within its limits, as to causesurface water to flow in large quantities upon adjoining land, tothe injury of the owner thereof; but, on the other hand, theland-owner has a right to cause, if he can, the surface water on hisland to flow off upon the highway, and he may lawfully do anythinghe can, on his own land, to prevent surface water from comingthereon from the highway, and may even stop up the mouth of aculvert built by a town across the way for the purpose of conductingsuch surface water upon his land, providing he can do it withoutexceeding 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 buildingadjoining the highway, it is his duty to provide sufficientsafeguards to warn and protect passing travellers against any dangerarising therefrom; and if he neglects to do so, and a traveller isinjured by a falling brick, stick of timber, or otherwise, he isresponsible. [83]

 [83] 123 Mass. 26. 

If the adjoining owner of a building suffers snow and ice toaccumulate on the roof, and allows it to remain there for an unusualand unreasonable time, he is liable, if it slides off and injures apassing traveller. [84] And, generally, the adjoining owner is boundto use ordinary care in maintaining his own premises in such acondition that persons lawfully using the highway may do so withsafety. 

 [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 lędas_, --"So use your own property as notto injure the rights of another. " If you make an excavation on yourland so near to a highway that travellers are liable accidentally tofall therein, you had better surround it with a fence or othersafeguard sufficient to protect reasonably the safety of travellers. Ifyou have any passage-ways, vaults, coal-holes, flap-doors, or traps ofany kind on your premises, which are dangerous for children or unwaryadults, you had better abolish them, or at any rate take reasonableprecaution to cover or guard them in such manner as ordinary prudencedictates, and especially if they are near the highway; for if you donot you may, some time when not convenient for you, be called upon topay a large claim for damages or to defend yourself against anindictment. But if you have so covered and guarded them, and by the actof a trespasser, or in some other way without fault on your part, thecover, fence, or guard is removed, you are not liable until you havehad actual or constructive notice of the fact, and have had reasonableopportunity 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. Itmay be established and discontinued in the same manner as a publicway, and it may also arise from necessity. A way of necessity iswhere a person sells land to another which is wholly surrounded byhis own land, or which cannot be reached from the public highways orfrom the land of the purchaser. In such case the purchaser is unableto reach his land at all unless he can go over some of thesurrounding estates; and inasmuch as he cannot go over the premisesof those who are strangers to him, in law, and inasmuch as publicpolicy and simple justice call for a passage-way to his land, forhis use in the care and cultivation of it, the law gives him a wayof necessity over his grantor's land, which runs with his land, asappurtenant thereto, so long as the necessity exists, even ifnothing is said in the deed about a right of way, because it ispresumed that when the grantor sells the land he intends to conveywith it a right of way, without which it could not be used andenjoyed; but when the necessity ceases, the right ceases also. [86] Inthe absence of contract, it belongs to the owner of a private way tokeep it in repair, [87] and for this purpose he may enter upon the wayand do whatever is necessary to make it safe and convenient; but ifin so doing he removes soil and stones which are not needed on theway, such surplus material belongs to the owner of the land overwhich the way passes. [88] If a defined and designated way becomesimpassable for want of repair or by natural causes, the owner of theway has not the right of a traveller on a public road to go outsidethe 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 touse it may, without liability, enter upon and go over adjoining landof the same owner, provided he does no unnecessary damage. [90] Thereason for this distinction in the law between a public and aprivate way is that in the case of a private way the owner of theway, who alone has the right to its use, is bound to keep it inrepair, whereas in the case of a public way the traveller is underno obligation to keep it in passable condition. A private way onceestablished cannot be re-located except with the consent of both theowner of the land and of the way; but if both are agreed, the oldway may be discontinued and re-located in another place. [91] Theowner of the soil of a private way may, the same as the owner of thefee in a highway, make any and all uses thereof to which the landcan be applied. [92] In the absence of agreement to the contrary, hemay lawfully and without liability cover such way with a building orother structure, if he leaves a space so wide, high, and light thatthe way is substantially as convenient as before for the purpose forwhich it was established. [93] And so, in the absence of agreement, hemay maintain such fences across the way as are necessary to enablehim to use his land for agricultural purposes, but he must providesuitable bars or gates for the use and convenience of the owner ofthe way. He is not required to leave it as an open way, nor toprovide swing gates, if a reasonably convenient mode of passage isfurnished; and if the owner of the way or his agents leave the barsor gates open, and in consequence thereof damage is done by animals, he is liable to respond in damages. [94] "The law of the road" appliesas well to private as to public ways, as the object of the law is toprescribe a rule of conduct for the convenience and safety of thosewho may have occasion to travel, and actually do travel, withcarriages on a place adapted to and fitted and actually used forthat purpose. [95] The description of a way as a "bridle-road" doesnot confine the right of way to a particular class of animals orspecial mode of use, but it may be used for any of the ordinarypurposes 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 theprohibitory don't; and thus many rules of law relating to public andprivate ways may be taught and illustrated in the same way. Forinstance:--

Don't ever drink intoxicating liquor as a beverage, at least inlarge quantities. If you ever have occasion to use it at all, use itvery sparingly, especially if you are travelling or are about totravel with a team; for if you should collide with another team, ormeet with an accident on account of a defect in the way, in a stateof intoxication, your boozy condition would be some evidence thatyou were negligent. The law, however, is merciful and just, and ifyou could satisfy the court or jury that notwithstanding yourunmanly condition you were using due care, and that the calamityhappened through no fault of yours, you would still be entitled to adecision in your favor; but when you consider how apt a sober humanmind is to think that an intoxicated mind is incapable of clearthought and intelligent action, I think you will agree with thedecisions of the courts, which mean, when expressed in plainlanguage, "You had better not be drunk when you get into trouble onthe highway. "[97]

 [97] 3 Allen, 402; 115 Mass. 239. 

Don't ever approach a railway crossing without looking out for theengine while the bell rings, and listening to see if the train iscoming; for there is good sense as well as good law in the suggestionof Chief Baron Pollock, that a railway track _per se_ is a warning ofdanger to those about to go upon it, and cautions them to see if atrain is coming. And our court has decided that when one approaches arailway crossing he is bound to keep his eyes open, and to look up anddown the rails before going upon them, without waiting for the engineerto ring the bell or to blow the whistle. [98] It is a duty dictated bycommon sense and prudence, for one approaching a railway crossing to doso carefully and cautiously both for his own sake and the sake of thosetravelling by rail. If one blindly and wilfully goes upon a railwaytrack when danger is imminent and obvious, and sustains damage, he mustbear the consequences of his own rashness and folly. 

 [98] 12 Met. 415. 

Don't drive horses or other animals affected by contagious diseaseson 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 manto keep on his own premises horses afflicted with glanders, or sheepafflicted with foot-rot, or other domestic animals afflicted withany kind of diseases, provided he guards them with diligence anddoes not permit them to escape on to his neighbor's land or thepublic way. But under the statute law of this State, a man havingknowledge of the existence of a contagious disease among any speciesof domestic animals is liable to a fine of five hundred dollars, orimprisonment for one year, if he does not forthwith inform thepublic authorities of such disease. [99] Aside from the penalty of thestatute law, it is clearly an indictable offence for any one to takedomestic animals affected with contagious diseases, knowing orhaving reason to know them to be so affected, upon the public ways, where they are likely to give such diseases to sound animals; and hewould 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'texpose yourself on a highway or in a public place; and don't exposeanother person afflicted with such disease, as thereby you mayjeopardize the health of other people, and your property also, incase you should be sued by some one suffering on account of yournegligence. [101]

 [101] 4 M. & S. 73; Wood on Nuisances, 70. 

When there is snow on the ground, and the movement of your sleigh iscomparatively noiseless, don't drive on a public way without havingat least three bells attached to some part of your harness, as thatis the statute as well as the common law. By the statute law youwould be liable to pay a fine of fifty dollars for each offence. Andby the statute and common law, in case of a collision with anotherteam, you would probably be held guilty of culpable negligence andmade to pay heavy damages. Of course you would be allowed to showthat the absence of bells on your team did not cause the accident orjustify the negligence of the driver of the other team, but it wouldbe a circumstance which would tell against you at every stage of thecase. [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 ordrive any of them on a public way at first, but confine yourexercise in horsemanship to your own land until you have acquiredordinary skill in their management; for the law requires everydriver or rider on a highway to be reasonably proficient in the careand management of any animal he assumes to conduct through a publicthoroughfare. [103]

 [103] 2 Lev. 173. 

Don't ride with a careless driver, if you can help it, because everytraveller in a conveyance is so far identified with the one whodrives or directs it, that if any injury is sustained by him bycollision with another vehicle or railway train through thenegligence or contributory negligence of the driver, he cannotrecover damages for his injuries. The passenger, in law, isconsidered as being in the same position as the driver of theconveyance, and is a partaker with him in his negligence, if not inhis sins. [104]

 [104] Addison on Torts, § 479. 

If you have a vicious and runaway horse, and you know it, you hadbetter sell him, or keep him at work on the farm. Don't, at anyrate, use him on the road yourself, or let him to other people touse thereon; for if in your hands he should commit injuries toperson or property, you would have to foot the bills; and if heshould injure the person to whom you had let him, unless you hadpreviously informed him of the character and habits of the horse, you would be liable to pay all the damages caused by the viciousnessof the horse. If you should meet with an accident by reason of adefect in the highway, you could not recover anything, howeverseverely you might be injured or damaged, provided the vicioushabits 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 yourhorses get beyond your control; for if you do your chances ofvictory in a lawsuit will be pretty slim. If you tie up your reinsfor the purpose of walking in order to get warm or to lighten theload, and let your horses go uncontrolled, and they run over a childin the road and kill it or seriously injure it, you will probablyhave to pay more than the value of the horses, unless they are verygood ones. Or if, going thus uncontrolled, they fail to use due careand good judgment in meeting other teams, and in consequence thereofdamages occur, you would be expected to make everythingsatisfactory, because your team is required to observe "the law ofthe road" whether you are with it or not, especially if you turn itloose in the highway. Even if you have hold of the reins, and yourhorses get beyond your control by reason of fright or other cause, and afterwards you meet with an accident by reason of a defect inthe 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 fencesor buildings upon its limits or by using it as a storage yard. Ifyou set a building on the line of the road, and then put thedoorsteps, the eaves, and the bow-windows of the building over theline, you are liable to an indictment for maintaining a publicnuisance; and possibly you may be ordered by the court to removethem forthwith at your own expense. [107] If you build an expensivebank-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, orelse take your chances on an indictment for maintaining an illegalobstruction in the highway. If you deposit on the roadside logs, lumber, shingles, stones, or anything else which constitutes anobstruction to travel or a defect in the way, or which is calculatedto frighten horses of ordinary gentleness, and allow the same toremain for an unreasonable length of time, you are liable to respondin damages for all injuries resulting therefrom. Even if the townshould have to settle for the damages in the first instance, youmight still be called upon to reimburse the town. [108]

 [107] 107 Mass. 234. 

 [108] Wood on Nuisances, §§ 326, 327; 102 Mass. 341; 18 Me. 286; 41 Vt. 435. 

Don't ride on the outside platform of a passenger coach; for if youcling upon a crowded stage-coach or street car, and voluntarily takea position in which your hold is necessarily precarious anduncertain, you have no right to complain of any accident that is thedirect result of the danger to which you have seen fit to exposeyourself. However, if the coach is stopped for you to get on andfare is taken for your ride, the fact that you are on the platformis not conclusive evidence against you; but the court will allow thejury to determine, upon all the evidence and under all thecircumstances, whether you were in the exercise of due care, instructing them that the burden of proof is upon you to show thatthe injury resulted solely by the negligence of the proprietors ofthe 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 youget off without doing or saying anything, or if you ring the belland then get off before the coach is stopped, without any notice tothose in charge of it, and without their knowing, or being negligentin not knowing, what you are doing, the coach proprietors are notliable for any injury you may receive through a fall occasioned bythe 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 wilfullydeface or alter the inscription on any such stone or board, orextinguish a lamp, or break, destroy, or remove a lamp, lamp-post, railing, or posts erected on a street or other public place; for ifyou do you are liable to six months' imprisonment or a fine of fiftydollars. [111]

 [111] Pub. St. C. 203, § 76. 

If in travelling you find the road impassable, or closed forrepairs, and you find it convenient to turn aside and enter uponadjoining land in order to go on your way, don't be careless orimprudent; for if you take down more fences and do more damage thannecessary, you may have to answer in damages to the owner of theland; and if you meet with an accident while thus out of the road, you cannot look to the town for any remuneration therefor, becausewhen you go out of the limits of the way voluntarily, you go at yourperil 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 frightensyour horse or causes an accident in the highway is a defect forwhich the town is liable. If a town negligently suffers snowdriftsto remain in the road for a long time, and thereby you are preventedfrom passing over the road to attend to your business, or, in makingan attempt to pass, your horses get into the snow and you are put togreat trouble, expense, and loss of time in extricating them, youare remediless unless you receive some physical injury in yourperson or property; as the remedy provided by the statutes, in caseof defects in the highway, does not extend to expenses or loss oftime unless they are incident to such physical injury. In otherwords, the statute gives no one a claim for damages sustained inconsequence of inability to use a road. [113] And so a town or city isnot obliged to light the highways, and an omission to do so is not adefect 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 withinthe meaning of the statutes. Towns and cities are only required tokeep highways in suitable repair as they are located by the publicauthorities, and they have no right to go outside the limits definedby the location in order to make the road more safe and convenientfor travel. If a highway is so narrow or crooked as to be unsafe, the proper remedy is by an application to the county commissionersto widen or straighten it. [115] Nor is smooth and slippery ice, incountry road or city street, a defect for which a town or city isliable, if the road whereon the ice accumulates is reasonably leveland well constructed. In our climate the formation of thin butslippery ice over the whole surface of the ground is frequently onlythe work of a few hours; and to require towns and cities to removethis immediately or at all is supposing that the legislatureintended to cast upon them a duty impossible to perform, and aburden 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 defecttherein, don't fail to give notice in writing within thirty days, tothe county, town, place, or persons by law obliged to keep saidhighway in repair, stating the time, place, and cause of the injuryor damage. [117] This notice is a condition precedent to the right tomaintain an action for such injury or damage, and cannot be waivedby the city or town. [118] Nothing will excuse such notice except thephysical or mental incapacity of the person injured, in which casehe may give the notice within ten days after such incapacity isremoved, and in case of his death it may be given by his executorsor administrators. [119] Formerly it was essential that the time, place, and cause of the injury should be set forth in the noticewith considerable particularity, but now the notice is not invalidby reason of any inaccuracy in stating the time, place, and cause, if the error is not intentional and the party entitled to notice isnot misled. [120]

 [117] Pub. St. C. 52, §§ 19-21. 

 [118] 128 Mass. 387. 

 [119] Pub. St. C. 52, § 21. 

 [120] St. 1882, c. 36. 

Don't convey by warranty deed a piece of land over which there is apublic or a private way, without conveying subject to such way; forif you do you may be called upon to make up the difference in valuein the land with the incumbrance upon it and with it off, which isregarded as a just compensation for the injury resulting from suchan 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 theroad and barking at passing teams. You had better get rid of him orbreak him of the habit. Under our statutes the owner or keeper of adog is responsible to any person injured by him, either in person orproperty, double the amount of damage sustained; and after he hasreceived notice of the bad disposition of his dog, he is liable tohave the damage increased threefold. 

Every dog that has the habit of barking at people on the highway isliable any day to subject his owner or keeper to large liabilities;for if he frightens a horse by leaping or barking at him in mereplay, and the horse runs away, or tips over the vehicle to which heis hitched, his owner or keeper is responsible for double thedamages thus caused by his dog. Hence I repeat the injunction, Getrid of such a dog or break him of the habit; and if this cannot bedone, then break his neck. 

Perhaps it might be well to say, in this connection, that anytraveller on the road, either riding or walking peaceably, who issuddenly assaulted by a dog, whether licensed or not, may legallykill him, and thus relieve his owner or keeper of a disagreeableduty. [122]

 [122] 11 Gray, 29; 1 Allen, 191; 3 Allen, 191. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

FOOT-PATHS. 

Air, sunlight, and exercise are absolutely essential for the properphysical and intellectual development of human beings. Thoreauthought it necessary for people who wished to preserve their healthand spirits to spend four hours a day in the open air, saunteringthrough the woods and over the hills and fields, free from allworldly engagements. No doubt he spoke from his own personalstandpoint, and many persons do not require so much exercise in theopen air as he did in order to preserve their health and spirits;but the proper observance of the laws of health certainly requiresevery one to spend a portion of every pleasant day in the open air, and on foot if possible. Since the morning stars first sangtogether, the whole creation has been groaning and travailing inpreparing the earth for the habitation of man; and the influence andteachings of Nature have ever aided powerfully in perfecting man andupbuilding the ruling nations of the world. 

The progenitors of every vigorous race have always found in forestand wilderness the tonics and sources of their strength. It tookforty years of wandering in the wilderness to prepare the Israelitesfor the occupation of the promised land. In the open and out-doorlife of the Athenians was developed a civilization noble in highaspirations for the ideal in beauty and life, rich in literary andoratorical achievements, and glorious in the great and profoundthoughts of immortal teachers and philosophers. The august andall-conquering civilization of the Romans had its origin on PalatineHill when herdsmen and wolves roamed over it. In Holland, where thepeople are ever in conflict with the elements of Nature, the landhas been reclaimed by human effort from "the multitudinous waves ofthe sea. " The streams that once spread over the land or hidthemselves in quicksands and thickets are made to flow in channelsand form a network of watery highways for commerce and thefertilization of the soil; and where formerly lagoons and morassesfound a home, there are now pleasant homesteads, great cities, andbeautiful villages. The Anglo-Saxon race, which is now and has beenfor centuries the most vigorous and progressive in the world, hasalways had an insatiable hunger for the earth, and a love for a lifein the fields by stream or by roadside. Everywhere we find thehighest type of civilization where man has gained the mastery ofNature by the work of his hands. The home of such a civilization isusually found where forests have been removed, and the wildvegetation of primitive times has been expelled to make room for thethousand and one productions of modern cultivation; where hillsidesand mountain-cliffs have been festooned with vines and made toblossom like the rose; where watercourses have been made highwaysfor trade and utilized for purposes of manufacture; and where gloomymorasses and damp lowlands have been dried up and made fertile andhabitable 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 thehuman mind. All the great teachers of the race have found in Naturethe germs of the thoughts which have widened the bounds of humanknowledge "with the process of the suns. " "Speak to the earth, andit will teach thee, " was the basis of Job's philosophy. When Davidwanted light and assistance, he lifted up his eyes unto the hills, from whence came his help. Plato taught in the consecrated groves ofthe Academy, and Aristotle in the pleasant fields of Nymphäeum or inthe shady walks of the Lyceum. Christ taught his disciples to heedthe teachings of Nature, and he sought strength and inspiration inthe wilderness and the mountains. Wordsworth's library was in hishouse, but his study was out of doors. But why enumerate, when theentire intellectual history of our race demonstrates that everyinvention or thought which has extended man's mental vision andknowledge has been evolved from the discovery of some hithertohidden law of the material world, or from the teachings of Nature, which always foreshadow the fundamental principles regnant in theseen and the unseen world? Hence anything which tends to bringpeople into the open air and into a closer communion with Nature isworthy of encouragement. 

Good foot-paths would furnish an easy and convenient way of gettingat Nature; and being free from the dust and heat of the highway, andsomewhat retired and secluded, they would be, during a considerableportion of the year, musical with the song of birds and beautifulwith green foliage and lovely flowers. These paths would invite andencourage people to take long walks, and this habit wouldundoubtedly conduce to their longevity and robust health. And thepromotion of health is now regarded, in every enlightened community, as one of the objects of government. The enjoyment of life dependsin great measure upon the state of our health. When the air feelsbracing, and food and drink taste sweet to us, much else in lifetastes sweet which would otherwise taste sour and disagreeable. Gooddrainage and vaccination are not the only means available for thepromotion of the public health. People should be encouraged andeducated into the habit of taking plenty of exercise in the openair, as in this way the public health will be improved. 

One of the charms of old England is to be found in her numerousfoot-paths and green lanes, which are recognized by law, for many ofthem are older than the highways. When a walker tires of the publicroad or is in a hurry, if he knows the country, he can turn intosome foot-path and reach the place of his destination by short cutsthrough green lanes, across pleasant meadows, and along shadyhedgerows. As one passes along these cosey byways, he sees, fromevery eminence or turn, a new prospect over the landscapeinterspersed with trees, now and then the bright gleam of waterthrough the foliage, and occasionally some beautiful vista viewacross parks and homesteads. In this way one can go from town totown, and get about the country quite independently of the highways. Most of the country churches are approachable by lanes andfoot-paths which seem to run by all the houses in the vicinage, andby their sweet attractiveness to invite all the people to go tochurch, at least in pleasant summer weather. 

In Massachusetts and some of the other States, towns and cities haveauthority to lay out foot-paths in the same manner as public ways. It is to be hoped ere-long that the intelligent and public-spiritedcitizens of our towns and cities will cause now and then a goodfoot-walk to be constructed, where it would shorten the distancefrom one place to another, and possibly pass through pleasant fieldsand 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 andpolicemen warn you frequently to "keep off the grass. "

Before our towns and cities spend any more money building boulevardsand opening new parks, would it not be well for them to consider theadvisability of laying out some foot-paths for the comfort andconvenience of pedestrians? At any rate, foot-paths could be madealongside of the road-bed of some of the public ways, so that everypedestrian would not of necessity have to trudge along in the dustor 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 useit with due regard to the rights of the public, he is under a moraland Christian obligation to maintain order and neatness within andwithout his roadside. The occupations and amenities of life are sointerwoven and intermixed that no one can live for himself alonewith justice to himself or to society. There is something in thevery nature of things which makes for the reward of unselfishexertion and for the condemnation of selfish acts. "Whosoever shallseek to save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose hislife, shall preserve it. " Public spirit, like virtue, is its ownexceeding great reward. When one benefits the community in which helives, he thereby also benefits himself; and when he is possessed ofthe right kind of a public spirit, he will beautify and improve hishomestead and his roadside, and will even throw the cobble-stonesout of the roadway in front of his house without compensation oreven hope of financial reward. 

When he plants a tree for the sole purpose of doing something forposterity, and then watches its growth and expansion from day to dayuntil he becomes familiar with its varied aspects in sunny and instormy weather, and finally, walking beneath its cooling shade andseeing its limbs swaying gracefully over surrounding objects, hisheart goes out towards it with a feeling of tenderness and love, andhe 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 andclean and covered with greensward, he finds that his example ishaving some influence on his neighbors, and that even theroad-menders begin to respect his efforts to improve the wayside, hefeels that he has been amply compensated for all his trouble andcare in his own increased enjoyment and in the increased enjoymenthe 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 townand its inhabitants than dilapidated buildings surrounded by rubbishand broken-down fences. When a traveller passes a house of thischaracter, he instinctively says to himself, "Some shiftless andpoverty-stricken family lives here;" but when he passes a well-kepthouse with pleasant surroundings, he says, "This must be the abodeof intelligent and well-to-do people. " He feels like stopping andforming their acquaintance, for he is sure that their acquaintancewould be worth having. Our opinion of a person's character is alwaysmore or less influenced by the clothes he wears and by the house inwhich he lives. The surroundings of every home of intelligence andtidiness should indicate that it is not the abode of the vulgar andignorant. Therefore every owner of a homestead should strive to makeit a cosey and pleasant home for himself and family. He should takea just pride in keeping his buildings in good repair, well paintedand suitably arranged for the purposes of his business and a happyand healthy home life. The surroundings should be made neat andattractive, by the absence of rubbish, and the presence of greengrass and shade trees. 

If he owns much land, he ought to be landscape gardener enough toset out his fruit and shade trees and to lay out his fields in thebest way for convenience and scenic effect. He should also havesufficient rural taste not to locate his barn and otherout-buildings in such a way as to shut off the best views from hishouse. He ought also to have a general knowledge of the nature anduses of trees and forests, and the necessity of their cultivationfor 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 oftheir woods, the lovers of natural scenery and rural life would seekelsewhere the gratification of their tastes. Even the stately homesof England would appear commonplace in the absence of the majestictrees and forests which now encircle them. A plain, modest house, situated in the midst of an open grass-plat and sheltered by a fewhandsome shade trees, is more beautiful and appeals more strongly tothe feelings than the stateliest mansion unprotected from the sun. Who would care to live by the side of the purest stream or body ofwater, if it were not fringed with trees? Were it not for trees, would there be any beauty in mountain, hill, or valley, --for who canconceive of a beautiful landscape scene devoid of trees?

The love of trees seems to be implanted in all noble natures. Theancients believed that "the groves were the first temples of thegods. " Christopher North says that the man who loves not trees wouldmake no bones of murdering. 

Some people give as an excuse for not planting trees that it takesso long for them to grow that they will not live to enjoy them. Theselfishness of this excuse is enough to condemn it; but it is nottenable from any point of view. It has been said that he who makestwo blades of grass grow where only one grew before is a benefactorof his race; and of all the pursuits connected with the interests ofmankind what can be the source of more true and disinterestedhappiness than the knowledge that one has been instrumental inchanging a waste and unproductive piece of land into a scene ofumbrageous and waving beauty? Cicero speaks of tree-planting as themost delightful occupation of advanced life; and Sir Robert Walpoleonce said that among the various actions of his busy life none hadgiven him so much satisfaction in the performance and so muchunsullied pleasure in the retrospect as the planting with his ownhands many of those magnificent trees that now form the pride ofHoughton. 

Of course it is not claimed that every one should have expensivebuildings upon his homestead, or wide-spreading lawns around hishouse. Many are so situated that they cannot afford to live incostly houses or to spend much money on their surroundings; butevery one can make his home, however humble, pleasant and homelike, and can keep his dooryard and wayside free from old rubbish. I canunderstand how love can be happy in a cottage, but I do not believeit possible for a family to grow in knowledge and virtue and enjoylife while dwelling in mean and dirty apartments. 

Cleanliness is next to godliness, and it is just as true of theoutside of the house as of the inside. A pleasant and beautifulexterior usually signifies pleasantness and peace within. Whilewell-fenced and well-tilled farms are always pleasing to theeyesight, and neatly dressed roadsides are generally desirable, itdoes not follow that no shrubbery or sylvan tangles of trees shouldbe allowed to grow on farms or by the wayside. A bare and rocky hillor knoll suggests images of bleak and barren desolation, coldblasts, and parching sun; while a hill clothed and capped with woodsgives the impression of a rich and charming country. Therefore theland unsuitable for pasturage or cultivation on a farm had better becovered with clusters of trees or with forests; and frequently anold stone-wall or heaps of stones can be advantageously hidden byvines and shrubbery, as they add beauty to the landscape, furnishshelter to birds, and often protect the crops from cold winds. Manya wayside in country by-roads is so rough and uneven, so rocky andfull of earth-pits, that it had better be covered with the wildshrubbery of Nature than to be cleared up in such a way as to exposeto view all its unsightly objects. Whenever the roadside cannot becovered by greensward, the native shrubs and wild vines ought to beallowed to hide its nakedness with green foliage and beautifulflowers. They give beauty to wayside scenery, and increase theinterest and pleasure of those travelling along the road. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

ENJOYMENT OF THE ROAD. 

In travelling, whether one is riding or walking, it is notsufficient for the proper enjoyment of the way to know how to getalong in a legal manner, but he should know how to put himself inharmony with the elements of Nature, and to feel the "gay, freshsentiment of the road. " The first requisite for this enjoyment is tohave a hopeful and sunshiny disposition. When people are buoyed upby hope they will find enjoyment under very adverse circumstances. Adam and Eve, according to Milton, saw without terror for the firsttime the sun descend beneath the horizon, and the darkness close inupon the earth, and "the firmament glow with living sapphires, "although they did not then know of a sunrise to come. Yet even insuch a time as that, according to this poet, these hopeful natureswalked hand in hand "in the grateful evening mild, " and held suchsweet converse with each other that they forgot all time, allseasons and their change, for all pleased alike. Thus it was in thebeginning, and thus it will be at the end; for even in the darkestas in the brightest hours hopeful humanity looks forward tosomething 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 importantthing in the natural world, so it is the best thing in human life. People with sunshiny dispositions are always happy and welcomeeverywhere, whether on the road, in the sick-room, or in the hallsof gayety. They drive away the blues and bring in hope and goodcheer; without them, life would not be worth living. 

The French philosopher Figuier was so impressed with the value ofsunshine 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 havereached the sun, the final abode of all immortal souls; and itslight and heat are the result of their effulgent goodness andsunshiny dispositions. 

Every traveller, then, who wishes to experience even the common andapparent enjoyments of the way, should start out with a light heart andrich in hope; but if he wishes to taste also the _latent_ enjoyments ofthe way, he must have an observing eye, and the love of Nature in hisheart. It is astonishing how the systematic cultivation of theobserving faculties will develop in one the habit of seeing andenjoying his environment. This habit grows as rapidly as heavenlywisdom in one who has made an honest attempt to obtain a knowledge ofGod, 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 tohim who knows how to distinguish and appreciate the beautiful inNature! He hears in every breeze and every ripple of water a voicewhich the uncultivated ear cannot hear; and he sees in everyfleeting cloud and varied aspect of Nature some beauty which theignorant 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 thingsthou learnest to know and to enjoy, the more complete and full willbe for thee the delight of living. "

We frequently find that when two persons are placed in the samesituation, one will find much to enjoy while the other will not, andsimply because one has the love of Nature in his heart, and theother has not. One person, living in the midst of the most beautifulnatural scenery, is not charmed by anything he sees on the earth orin the sky. To him all Nature is like an empty barnyard, in whichthere is nothing to inspire him with a noble thought or stir himwith a generous emotion. Another person living in the same vicinitysees much in his surroundings to admire and to enjoy. He looks atthe sunset glows with delight; he sees beauty in the grass, andglory in the flowers; he sees with admiration and awe thestorm-clouds, black and terrible, rushing together like veritablewar-horses, or piling themselves up like mountains, reverberatingwith the artillery of heaven and tongued with fire; wherever helooks nearly every prospect pleases; and to him Nature, like theScriptures, is new every morning and new every night. Such a personis more likely to be a better neighbor, a better citizen, and abetter Christian than one who has not the love of Nature in hisheart. Ruskin says: "The love of Nature is an invariable sign ofgoodness of heart and justice of moral perception; that inproportion to the degree in which it is felt, will probably be thedegree in which all nobleness and beauty of character will also befelt; that when it is absent from any mind, that mind in many otherrespects is hard, worldly, and degraded. " The love of Nature hasever been characteristic of the greatest and the noblest minds. ToWordsworth the meanest flower that blows gave him thoughts too deepfor tears; and to Christ the lily of the field was more beautifullyarrayed than Solomon in all his glory. Likewise we often find thattwo travellers will pass together over the same route, and one willsee much to admire and to enjoy by the way, and the other will seenothing to admire or to enjoy. The one who has an observing eye, andenjoys beautiful and grand natural scenery, sees in every nook andcorner 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 asoften as he thinks of it afterwards, as in imagination he views thescene 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 thefield, he can see in each blade a system of masonry and architecturethat no human skill has ever been able to equal. The stem is veryslender, but is so elastic and strong that it waves gracefully inthe breeze and bends to the earth in the storm without breaking, andassumes an upright attitude again. It is made up of delicate cellsand perfect and intricate channels, through which hidden currents oflife throb and flow as mysteriously as the vital blood through thehuman frame. It is colored with an emerald tint of such beautifulhues that it has been the despair of artists to imitate it in everyage. Ages and ages before the human hand learned its cunning, thecommand went forth for grass to bring forth seed after its kind; andto-day it is waving gracefully in every field, and crowned with thesame beautiful flowers and tasselled seed-vessels as of old. Men intheir haughty ambition have builded much larger structures. Theyhave erected towers, pyramids, obelisks, spires, monuments, andtriumphal arches, which have commanded the admiration of theirbuilders and of their fellow-men in every part of the world; butevery principle of their masonry and architecture is an imitation ofthat in the humblest spear of grass. Thus every traveller on acountry road is surrounded by monuments more ancient, moreimpressive, and more beautiful than the ancient or modern world canshow as the production of human hands. 

He finds much enjoyment in the study of the forms andcharacteristics of the different trees by the wayside. If the roadpasses over highland, on a breezy day he can look down upon oracross the tops of undulating forest trees, whose swaying movementsremind him of the waves of the sea. He can see in each species notonly a variety in the color and form of its foliage, but somecharacteristic which reminds him of some human being. The rugged oakor apple tree recalls to his mind some sturdy man, of great strengthand honesty of character, with picturesque but awkward manners. Thegracefully swaying branches of the stately elm or weeping willowremind him of some woman whose elegant form and manners make her aslovely as the moon and as beautiful as light. The rapid and constantmotion of the foliage of the poplar and the aspen reminds him ofsome nervous and excitable person who is never quiet or easy for amoment. The prim spruce-tree suggests to him some person of formalhabits and primness of dress. The symmetrical maple and pine remindhim of some quiet and dignified character who is well balanced androunded at every point. The patriarchal tree which has outlived allits companions and stands alone with few and withered branches, butstill raising its majestic head to heaven as if in supplication forblessings on the earth, reminds him of some gray-haired person who, full of years and rich in faith, after a well-spent life isapproaching and can almost see the other side of the river whichseparates this life from the eternal world. 

If he has a taste for domestic and pastoral scenery, it is gratifiedas he views the green pastures and meadows, the waving grain-fields, and the occasional gleam of water through the foliage. Ever and anonhe passes by some dwelling where the charms of culture have beenadded to the charms of Nature. By kind treatment the grass-platbefore the door has become a refreshing piece of verdure. By carefulpruning and training the trees on the lawn have become objects ofbeauty, and cast their graceful shadows over the velvety greenswardbeneath. The woodbine tastefully trained over the porch, theflower-bed in the yard brilliant with flowers, and the garden andthe fruit orchard in the field, all tend to cheer and sanctify humanlife in such an abode. Perchance the road runs by some ruralhomestead which reminds him of his own ancestral home, humble yetbeautiful to him, and all the scenes of his childhood come vividlyto mind as fond recollection presents them to view. He is once morea barefoot boy, and all is outward sunshine and inward joy. Heslacks his thirst once more from the well by the door or at thespring on the hillside; and he visits again the old familiarplay-ground, the lane through which the cows are driven, the brookwhere the sheep are washed, the fish are caught, and the boys go inswimming. 

When the road leads him into the mountains or in sight of them, heis charmed by their majesty and awed by their sublimity. A mountainpanorama presents all the characteristic phases of Nature and allthe moving variation of the atmosphere. At one time they arecloud-capped and surrounded with fog, and then in an incrediblyshort time they are glittering in a halo of sunlight. As one beholdstheir majestic heads, around which the storms of centuries havebeat, disappear as twilight changes into night, he can but feeloppressed with the gloom and melancholy of the scene. But in themorning, 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 beenprepared in order to unite as far as possible and in the closestcompass every means of delighting and sanctifying the heart of man. Mountains seem to have been built for the human race, as at oncetheir schools and cathedrals, full of treasures of illuminatedmanuscript for the scholar, kindly in simple lessons to the worker, quiet in pale cloisters for the thinker, glowing in holiness for theworshipper. "

Then, again, a country road is a good place to become acquaintedwith some forms of animal and vegetable life. The odors of growingvegetation, the movement of squirrels and other creatures, and thesong of birds, all have a tendency to impress one with the idea thatthe material world is animated with life. And when the sun poursdown a flood of glowing sunlight, and swathes the traveller and thewhole world with its glowing and life-giving beams, he realizes thatthe sun is the source of every material blessing. In the city peopleknow 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 theelectric light and the fire on the hearth; but they hardly realizethat his rays are necessary for their existence, to say nothing oftheir comfort, for even a week. But when a traveller in the morningsees all animated Nature stirring and rejoicing with the throbbingsof warmed and rejuvenated life; when he looks out over the landscapeand sees the sun raising in misty vapors the water which suppliesour springs, lakes, and streams, and refreshes the earth in showersof rain, he realizes that the sun is not only the fire which warmsthe world, but it is also the mighty hydraulic engine of Nature. 

These are some of the enjoyments of the way; but every thoughtfuland observing traveller knows that they cannot be enumerated. LikeBurroughs, "he is not isolated, but one with things, with the farmsand industries on either hand. The vital, universal currents playthrough him. He knows the ground is alive: he feels the pulses ofthe wind, and reads the mute language of things. His sympathies areall aroused; his senses are continually reporting messages to hismind. Wind, frost, rain, heat, cold, are something to him. He is notmerely a spectator of the panorama of Nature, but a participator init. He experiences the country he passes through, --tastes it, feelsit, absorbs it. "

Neither is he confined to the material demonstrations of Nature forhis enjoyment of the way. Some of the greatest sermons and speecheshave been thought out on the road. A solitary traveller can thinkcalmly and thoughtfully on the great problems of life and death, andcan learn to appreciate the fact that "the gods approve the depth, and not the tumult, of the soul. "

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University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.