CHAPTER XXII 



SHADE TREES FOR STREETS 



IN the middle ages it was accounted an act of piety 

 to make or maintain a road or a bridge, or to do 

 anything in connexion with them that would con- 

 duce to the safety or comfort of the wayfarer. The 

 planting of trees for shade, or the placing of a 

 shaded bench for rest came within the same category 

 of pious works. In our days, when rush and hurry 

 and the pressure of business, and the worship of 

 bare utility fill the minds of most men, there are 

 many who have almost forgotten the gracious aspects 

 of the more leisurely life. It is probably from this 

 cause that so many opportunities are lost that might 

 be seized by those in authority for making the 

 lives of our fellow-creatures somewhat easier and 

 pleasanter. 



In days of extreme heat what a difference in 

 comfort there would be between the bare sun-baked 

 expanses of the streets of many a town, such as we 

 all know, and the same spaces carefully planted with 

 shade-giving trees ! In very narrow streets trees are, 

 of course, out of the question, or in any street 

 whose width is not enough to allow of easy traffic 

 and trees as well, but one cannot walk through any 



town, except the very few in which the question has 



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