Pathway

“ A pathway three feet in width at its utmost breadth, is a handsome road in the Hills; a perpendicular rock on one side, and a precipice, perhaps three or four hundred feet deep, may be on the other. It is all very well when the road is pretty open; but when you have to turn the sharp corner of a rock, if looking over a precipice makes you giddy, shut your eyes, and give your gūnth the rein, and you will be sure to find yourself safe on the other side. The little rascals never become giddy; and after a short time you will turn such corners at a canter, as a thing of course. ”

“ When we are sauntering in the wood we sometimes come upon pathways, and we know at once that many, many footsteps of men or animals have been needed to make the paths. If those who walked here had wandered each in his own way, no path would have been made. One pair of feet going often over the same ground will make a path. ”

“ We shall have before us a vast network of pathways, all equally capable of conducting an excitation, but not all equally and at all moments open. It will always be difficult to determine what are the conditions which at any341 moment favor or obstruct particular openings. Paths that have been frequently traversed will of course be more readily traversed again ”

“ Our path lay through a wood, and as twilight deepened we sometimes doubted whether we had not gone astray through the gloom of the thicket. You know that a mile of unknown road, with some suspicion hovering in the mind as to whether you are in the right path, becomes at least three, or rather one feels as if it would never end. ”

“ I note this as a characteristic of the Road, quite apart from the more obvious considerations; such as, that primitive man would seek a ford; that he would seek gravel rather than clay; that he would try to pass as high up a river as possible, and that, other things being equal, he would keep to the general alignment of his path as much as possible in crossing a river. All these are self-evident without the test of experience, but this characteristic of which I speak is one that would not occur to a traveller who had not tested it with his own experience. ”

“ But, take the problem as a whole, whether applied to the commonest example, that of forming an hypothesis and then finding whether it could be sustained, or to the most exceptional (as where we found the Road making straight for a point in a river where there was no ford) , the general method was always the same: to consider the geographical and geological conditions, the analogy of existing trails of the same sort, the characters we had found in the Road itself throughout its length as our research advanced, and to apply these to the parts where we were in doubt. ”

“ As we are whirled along in a railway train even, the thing that stirs our imagination is the roads, the paths. I can still remember glimpses of these that I had years ago—a footpath over a rounded hilltop through long yellow grass, a rough logging-road beside a foaming mountain river, a brushy wood road leading through bars into deep shade, a country road at dusk, curving past a low farmhouse with lights in the windows. ”

“ The path the iron worker daily treads at the edge of the sandy platform, that narrow path that lies between running streams of fire on the one hand and a sheer drop on the other, is but an emblem of the Road of Life along which he must walk. ”

“ We have no doubt but many of our readers have occasionally, when on a journey, come to where the road divides into two, forking out in different directions, and the road being new to them, have not known which of the two branches they ought to take. This happens, as it often does in a novel, to be our case just now. Shall we follow little Joey, or his father and mother?—that is the question. We believe that when a road does thus divide, the wider of the two branches is generally selected, as being supposed to be the continuation of the high road. ”

“ The path, or track rather, changes direction at every moment, wriggling in and out among the rocks, over fallen masses, down descents where the brambles throw long streamers across one's path to arrest progress ”

“ There is this advantage, too, sir, over the university,—the track in which you are to travel is marked out for you; you must not stray to the right or to the left,—while in 'the world' the field of direction is wide, open, and expanded; there's a path for every one, if they 'll only look for it. ”

“ The road that leads us onward may perhaps pass unrecognized as such by travellers who are used to the smooth surface over which the motor races in a cloud of dust in Western countries. But let the Author assure them that this broad track, one side supplied with rough stones picturesquely dispersed, the other chiefly consisting of ruts and holes, is indeed a road, and that, too, one whereon we have to travel. Moving along we soon forget its shortcomings in the beauty of the scenery on either hand. ”

“ We must turn, in conclusion, to the converse aspect, which may be called “The Reaction of the Road”—that is, the effect of the Road upon its environment. A road once formed immediately begins to affect in some degree the physical circumstances surrounding it, and in a very much greater degree the human relations which it subserves. ”

“ The obstacle of gradient the “minimum of vertical effort” is the most evident of all the factors which modify the trajectory of a road; yet it is, upon the whole, the most complex. To determine the minimum of effort you have to find a formula consisting of many factors, some of which I have already enumerated in the opening words of this essay. In the first place, you have to consider the average nature of the travel to be served. ”

“ For if there is any motion in society, the Road, which is the symbol of motion, will indicate the fact. When there is activity, or enlargement, or a liberalizing spirit of any kind, then there is intercourse and travel, and these require roads. ”

“ The road here is like a goat’s path in its vagaries, and wagers are made as to the point of the compass to be aimed at five minutes in advance, or whether the track on the opposite side of the crevasse is the one we have just come over, or are now about to pursue. ”

“ To this the son: "What thou sayest about main roads is true. [6] For on a certain day when my companions and I wished to arrive in the city by sunset and were still a long way from it, we saw a footpath which it seemed would shorten the journey. But we met an old man and inquired of him about the course of that path. The old man said: "The footpath leads more direct to the city than the highway and yet you will arrive there more quickly by the highway.' When we heard this we considered him a fool, and letting him proceed along the highway, we turned into the bypath. ”

“ When we come to consider even the first of succeeding modifications we see still more clearly the complexity of any road-formulæ and the corresponding advantage of plan over habit. The marsh, the river, and the hill are but the beginning of the affair. ”

“ The road—if road it could be called—wound for the first five miles through the heart of an immense forest, and being, in every sense of the word, a by-path, was completely overshadowed by projecting branches of trees, so closely interwoven, as to prevent a single sunbeam from making its way, even at noon, within the arch. ”

“ There is always the necessity of hardening some bit of soft ground or of smoothing some bit of unevenness, and from the beginning of travel you have had the transportation of material to the established road for the improvement of its surface, for the bridging of its water obstacles or flooring of fords, for the making of its causeways over marshes. ”

“ To use the expression to which you have alluded, as being used by the coachmen, would a carriage run so true upon a road, the foundation of which was soft, as upon one of which the foundation was hard?—If the road be very good, and very well made, it will be so solid, and so hard, as to make no difference. ”

“ The low road, involving the bottom and right part of the brain, processes in a non-linear, sub-symbolic code. In other words, we actually know a lot more than we can say in words. The high road, involving in particular the cortex, or top part of the brain, is linear, logical, language-based and conscious. ”

“ Crossing is done to secure a wealth of variation. By this means we get the species into a state of perturbation or 'wabble,' and take advantage of the 'wabbling' to guide the life forces into the desired habits or channels. The first crossing is generally a step in the direction in which we are going, but repeated crossing is often necessary and judicious selection always necessary to secure valuable practical results. Crossing may give the best or the worst qualities of the parent, or any other qualities ”

“ But after driving over a circuit of several miles embracing the remarkable group of earthworks of which this is only a single feature, and satisfying myself by personal observation of the existence of parallel avenues which have been traced for nearly two miles; and of the grand central oval, circle, and octagon, the smallest of which measures upwards of half-a-mile in circumference: all idea of mere combined labour is lost in the higher conviction of manifest skill, and even science. ”

“ First in the natural development of a system of highways comes the earth road, and since a good road of this character is the very best foundation for all kinds of better highways, it may be considered, not only as a road complete in and of itself, but also as an important part of every good road. ”

“ In our whole journey we did not cross a single bridge built of stone; and those made of logs of wood were frequently so much out of repair, that it was necessary to go on one side to avoid them. All distances are inaccurately known. The road is often marked by crosses, in the place of milestones, to signify where human blood has been spilled. ”

“ The best form for a road, in order to avoid those evils, is,—in my opinion, to form it, and to keep it with just a sufficient rise towards the middle, to incline the water towards the sides; and in place of making the whole width the section of one curve, to form it by two straight lines, forming inclined planes, and joined by a curve towards the middle. ”

“ The road you are on isn't the best or shortest way. What you must do is to take the first real road to your left after you leave the gate. There are three or four cart-paths you can ignore, but you can't mistake the real road because of the large willow tree on the right just opposite it. ”

“ The route it should therefore take ought to exactly balance the objections to each extreme, that is the expense, &c., of going straight on through hills and over valleys on the one side, and the increased distance and consequent loss of time which a winding track would cause to the transit on the other. ”

“ As he advances, he observes the number of cross routes which branch off from the main road, and which, though of less dimensions, are equally remarkable for their masterly structure and compact condition. ”

“ In considering the power of traction or impulsion necessary to move a body, whether on a canal or on a road. I must carefully distinguish that force which is requisite to put the body from a state of rest into a state of motion, from that which is requisite to sustain the motion when once imparted to it. ”

“ How is a fresh path ever formed? All paths are paths of discharge, and the discharge always takes place in the direction of least resistance, whether the cell which discharges be 'motor' or 'sensory.' The connate paths of least resistance are the paths of instinctive reaction; and I submit as my first hypothesis that these paths all run one way, that is from 'sensory' cells into 'motor' cells and from motor cells into muscles, without ever taking the reverse direction. ”

“ Upon this completed foundation the summum dorsum, or surface of the paved road, was laid with infinite care. So the men of a day built roads for the centuries, and were proud to be servants to the unborn. ”

“ You are in rabbit-land, traveling its highways—the most complicated and entangling system of thoroughfares that was ever constructed. The individual roads are straight and plain enough, but at a glance one can see that the plan of the system is intended to bewilder and lead astray all who trespass here. ”

“ In what may be called the middle period of road construction—that is, in periods of high civilisation, but civilisation not provided with modern instruments—the immediate neighbourhood of material introduced a considerable modifying factor into the trajectory of a road. ”

“ The narrow, up-hill road, entrance to which is gained through a strait gate, signifies walking in the way of God’s commandments, which restrain our desires and passions, but which must be obeyed unless we would stray from the road to heaven. ”

“ Speed is the substrate, foundation, or ground of path, for every speed produces a path, or in other terms, every path is dependent on a speed. Every unit having extension and speed has persistent duration; but as these units change in position and also change in trajectory, they could not change if there were not something that persisted through change. Persistence, therefore, is the substrate, foundation or ground of change. Consciousness is the substrate or ground of choice, for if there is no consciousness there can be no choice. ”

“ Rules for Long Walks.—In walking, not only the distance should be taken into account, but the character of the road and the incline of the ascent. A distance that could be easily covered on a smooth, level highway may mean double the expenditure of muscle and nerve force if the ground is sandy or very damp. ”

“ It is an organism connected by a stalk with its base and dependent on this stalk for its feeding and equipment, its passing back of its prisoners and its wounded, and all its life. All these depend upon the Road. There are even cases in history—more numerous than one might imagine—where the first creation of the Road has been due to military action alone. ”

“ It may readily be imagined what sort of road this must make, until it becomes, by slow degrees, ground and pounded down. The striking out of a footpath across a newly-ploughed field may give some remote approach to it. ”