Pleasing Effects in the Aspect of the Country. 395 



The direction which a road should follow must generally 

 be under the control of the commissioners. The nearest 

 course between the two points which form its beginning and 

 end, is usually marked out as the most convenient and proper. 

 It would be idle to say to the road commissioners, that a road 

 ought to be carried around a hill, or over a hill, or in any 

 particular direction, for picturesque effects or the advantages 

 of prospect. They must build the road on a principle that is 

 strictly utilitarian. A commissioner who should cause one 

 of fifteen miles to be made half a mile longer than conven- 

 ience required, for the sake of commanding a pleasant view 

 of certain scenery, would be likely to be voted out of office 

 at the next election. Yet it might be proved, to the merest 

 matter-of-fact calculator, that from sole regard to dollars and 

 cents it would be better to lay out a road so as to secure all 

 possible picturesque advantages, especially in the vicinity of 

 a town, even at a little additional cost. If the scenes on the 

 road are pleasing and striking, a strong temptation is offered 

 to visitors to purchase land and build there. Hence the bur- 

 den of supporting the road is proportionally lessened by the 

 increased number of tax-payers. If you and your neighbors 

 have sold land advantageously, on account of the agreeable 

 prospects afforded by this new road, you are both proportion- 

 ally better able to pay your highway taxes. 



Our mere utilitarians have not sufficiently considered the 

 fact that two roads may pursue a different course to and from 

 the same places, and never lose sight of one another, — yet 

 one may be a very delightful route, and the other an exceed- 

 ingly unpleasant one. Suppose the former were five per cent, 

 longer than the latter — who would not prefer the long and 

 pleasant road, to the shorter one that is barren of prospect ? 

 Who settles on a turnpike road ? Its straight, monotonous, 

 dreary, and utilitarian aspect renders such a road repulsive ; 

 and the old crooked road is preferred by travellers, without 

 reference to the saving of toll. A few houses are built there ; 

 but they bear no comparison in number to those built, during 

 the same period, on the old winding roads. The turnpike 

 roads were usually carried in nearly a straight course, over 



