190 



business, he has no occasion to be near his working place, but de- 

 mands arrangements of a wholly different character. Families re- 

 quire to settle in certain localities in sufficient numbers to support 

 those establishments which minister to their social and other wants, 

 and yet are not willing to accept the conditions of town-life which 

 were formerly deemed imperative, and which, in the business quar- 

 ters, are yet, perhaps, in some degree, imperative, but demand as 

 much of the luxuries of free air, space and abundant vegetation as, 

 without loss of town privileges, they can be enabled to secure. 



Those parts of a town which are to any considerable extent occu- 

 pied by the great agencies of commerce, or which, for any reason, 

 are especially fitted for their occupation, are therefore sure to be more 

 and more exclusively given up to them, and, although we cannot an- 

 ticipate all the subdivisions of a rapidly increasing town with confi- 

 dence, we may safely assume that the general division of all the 

 parts of every considerable town, under the two great classifications 

 of commercial and domestic, which began in the great European 

 towns in the last century, will not only continue, but will become, 

 more and more distinct. 



It can hardly be thought probable that street arrangements per- 

 fectly well adapted in all respects to the purposes to be served in 

 one of these divisions are the very best in every particular that it 

 would be possible to devise for those of the other. 



RECREATIVE REQUIREMENTS AND DISTANCE OF 

 SUBURBS. 



Another change in the habits of towns-people which also grows 

 out of the greatly enlarged area already occupied by large towns, re- 

 sults from the fact that, owing to the great distances of the suburbs 

 from the central parts, the great body of the inhabitants cannot so 

 easily as formerly stroll out into the country in search of fresh air, 

 quietness, and recreation. At the same time, there is no doubt that 

 the more intense intellectual activity, which prevails equally in the 

 library, the work shop and the counting room; makes tranquilizing 

 recreation more essential to continued health and strength than until 

 lately it generally has been. Civilized men, while they are gaining 

 oround against certain acute forms of disease, are growing more and 

 more subject to other and more insidious enemies to their health and 

 happiness, and against these the remedy and preventive can not be 

 found in medicine or in athletic recreations, but only in sunlight and 

 such forms of gentle exercise as are calculated to equalize the circu- 

 lation and relieve the brain. 



