The Evolution of the Street —/. 
A STREET IN A TURKISH VILLAGE 
tions of civilization, the street was simply a 
way ol going. 
it is an old saying that, in broad terms, 
the race develops as does the nation, just as 
the nation follows the same general course 
of growth as do child and man. If we 
would know the aspect of the earliest streets 
when, in the childhood ot mankind, the way 
of going became differentiated, we have to 
seek those primitive settlements where civil¬ 
ization is yet no more than a promise. We 
can go backward in time merely by going 
backward in progress. We can 
observe the childhood ot hu¬ 
manity by observing the child¬ 
hood of a nation that is in ar¬ 
rested development—or that 
is yet to feel the thrill of civil¬ 
ization’s awakening touch. 
The traveler ot today, fa¬ 
miliar with the topographical 
glory of Riverside Drive, New 
York ; with the roar of the 
busy Strand, in London, and 
with the magnificence ot the 
Champs Elysees, in Paris, can 
find in the little town of the 
Orient a type of the street in 
its early development. As he 
walks between perpendicular 
walls of stone or stucco, built 
flush with the road—which is 
no more than a space between 
them, u npaved, undrained, and 
with no division for vehicles 
and foot passengers — he is in 
a street as primitive as if he 
had gone back two thousand 
years. Here he steps around 
a group of children, squatting 
in the dust of the road. Above, 
the projecting drains from the 
roof empty their contents on 
the ungraded way, where the 
water must lie beneath the 
feet of the travelers until the 
sun or hard ground absorb it. 
There is no beauty, no attract¬ 
iveness, no construction about 
the street. It is simply a slit 
between the walls, untouched 
— a bare, comfortless, way 
of going. 
Continuing, he may come to a somewhat 
more promising thoroughfare. Walls still 
rise sheer from the street—their doors and 
windows no more than openings, with rarely 
a stone slab before an entrance, rather for a 
seat than a step. The spouts from the roofs 
still throw their contents into the thorough¬ 
fare, but the surface of the latter has now 
been slightly raised at the sides so that sur¬ 
face water drains into a languid middle 
stream ; and some tall palms that happen to 
be beyond the walls throw a welcome shade 
Rue ties Ou!ed-Nails , Biskra , Algeria 
THE STREET A SOURCE OF ENTERTAINMENT 
218 
