398 On the Construction of Highways. 



tricities. Let no modern vandalism, misnamed public econ- 

 omy, deprive the traveller of their pleasant advantages, by- 

 stopping up their beautiful curves, and building shorter cuts 

 for economising distance. Who that is journeying for pleas- 

 ure is not delighted with them, as they pass on through 

 pleasant valleys, under the brows of hills, along the sides of 

 green rivers, or the borders of silvery lakes, now half way up 

 some gentle eminence that commands a view of a neighbor- 

 ing village, or winding round a hill and giving you a back 

 view of the scenes you have just passed. They are no nig- 

 gardly economists of time : but they seem as if purposely 

 contrived to present to the eye of the traveller everything 

 that shall make the country desirable to the sight. They 

 are delightful with their old gray stone walls, half covered 

 with sweet briars, viburnums and goldenrods, now leading 

 you through fragrant woods, under the brink of precipices 

 nodding with shrubbery, and seeming to emulate the ca- 

 pricious windings of the stream, in its blue course among the 

 hills. How pleasant, when journeying, to arrive at a village 

 by one of those gentle sweeps, that gives you several glimpses 

 of its scenes, in different aspects, before your arrival ! How 

 much, indeed, would be done for us by nature, if we left the 

 course of a road to be determined by natural boundaries, in- 

 stead of employing square and compass to direct us to a 

 straight route ! 



Beverly, Aug. 7, 1853. 



We recommend Mr. Flagg's article to the especial attention 

 of all our readers ; particularly to those who are interested in 

 land speculation, and to County Commissioners everywhere. 

 Men of the least taste will admit the truth of his remarks. 

 There is no one thing connected with the improvement of 

 our rural districts which is of more importance than the lay- 

 ing out and construction of roads and avenues. And it is 

 really surprising that in a country where land is so very cheap, 

 that the beauty of so many towns has been forever marred by 

 the narrow streets, and their ill-directed course. Why, in 

 some towns we could name in Massachusetts, Avhere the soil 



