1 1 B WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1900. 



When there is some provision made for the accommodation 

 of the footmen in our highways, we may expect to see the art 

 of pedestrianism rise and flourish, not as an exhibition of 

 endurance in a public hall or as a walking mania, but as a noble 

 pastime and the simplest and best mode of travel. 



Again, they are the source of great public convenience to all 

 travellers on the highway. The convenience of carriage drivers 

 and wheelmen and the safety of foot passengers requires that 

 footmen should be provided with a place to travel outside the 

 carriage way. It would certainly enhance the comfort and con- 

 venience of pedestrians if they were not obliged to travel in the 

 dust and mud of the carriage track. Is there any good reason 

 why a better way should be provided for vehicles and cattle 

 than for pedestrians? As a matter of law footmen have the 

 right to use the carriage road, but as a matter of fact they are 

 compelled to make way for teams and vehicles of all kinds. If 

 foot and carriage passengers were required to travel on separate 

 parts of the highway, the convenience of all travellers would 

 thereby be promoted, and accidents and confusion avoided. 



These are some of the reasons why additional footpaths and 

 sidewalks should be constructed and kept in order in our high- 

 ways, and they are sufficient to show that they are necessary 

 adjuncts of good roads, and should be built where practicable 

 on all the great thoroughfares of the country. 



A good road implies a clean and beautiful roadside. And a 

 clean and beautiful roadside means an added attraction to rural 

 life. When one travels over a good road bordered with lovely 

 waysides, the homesteads on either side put on an attractive 

 appearance, the land seems to be fertile, and the cattle in the 

 field look handsome and well cared for. And if there arc no 

 fences to interrupt the view or to harbor weeds, brush and rub- 

 bish, or to produce snow drifts, the scenery and the utility of 

 the road are thereby improved. In a mild winter like the pres- 

 ent one the snow drifts are not a source of annoyance to travel, 

 but in a hard winter the breaking out of the roads is the source 

 of great labor and expense in a country town, and the highway 

 fences and especially the stone walls cause a large part of the 



