House and Garden 
course of true evolution—than as a distinct 
improvement. It is an elaborate and inter¬ 
esting adaptation to modern needs ; but the 
broad plain, paved with flowers and grasses, 
swept by the wind, and lighted by the sun 
and stars, was fltted at least equally well to 
the requirements of a time when it could 
serve as the highway for the little-traveling 
world. “ The evolution of the street ” 
means, then, the change, the development, 
ence a sort of negative reason—the “ Thou 
shalt not.” Simultaneously there arose the 
other—the positive—reason. Because men 
tilled the soil they had permanent places of 
abode. They established homes. The 
points to which they went in their social and 
business intercourse were fixed ; and since 
they normally took the shortest course or 
followed the lines of least resistance between 
these foci, they went the same way over and 
Rue du Rem port, Algiers 
THE PRIMITIVE STREETS OF ALGERIA Rue des Or few res, Tlemce 
which the way of travel has undergone in 
adjustment to new conditions—that fitting 
to a purpose and marvelous specialization 
that has transformed the free, nature-given 
road into the most artificial of creations. 
With the tilling of the soil, paths defi¬ 
nitely appeared. There were two reasons 
for this : Certain places could not now 
be trodden without injury to growing crops. 
'This fact established boundaries to the limit¬ 
less area over which men might roam, and 
the narrowing of the boundaries defined path 
and road. Thus arose for the latter’s exist- 
over again, and there appeared roads and 
paths. If, as happened in the settlement on 
Massachusetts Bay according to the story, 
the circuitous route which the cows had 
taken was the path of least resistance or 
greatest convenience, that in a particular 
case was the germ from which the street 
came. But the fact that it was a cow-path 
clearly was incidental; and, considering 
streets in general, we find their origin— 
the primal stage in the process of evolu¬ 
tion — a way made by human feet from 
house to house. Shorn of all the acquisi- 
217 
