The Washington herald., 1913-06-01
SIDEWALKS EXPRESS CHARACTER

the Inhabitants of the Vale of Belvoil
raised vehement protest against sucf
stones being used for pathway leading
to the parish church. The local authori'
ties, however. sought to justify the meas
1 ure on the ground that there was plenty
of old gravestones on hand. which, II
used, might result In q saving Of taxes
\ There Is said to exist a pavement al
| Gwardfu. Africa, in the making Of which
thousands Of human skulls are alleged
| to have been employed.
| One of the most extraordinary pave
ments in the world is to be seen at
| Monterey, Cal. This is a memento OF
the old whaling days. The pavement
leads up from the street to the west
door of the Church of San Carlos de
Borromeo. This is one of the churches
| founded by the Spanish missionary
| fathers, and Is still in excellent condi-
ton.
| The priests live in a house adjacent
to the church. and services are held
regularly. The round. mushroom-like
objects in the pavement are the verte-
brae of the great mammals. The pave
| ment Is in a state of excellent preser-
walton, and seems to wear well. Hun
dreds of persons walk upon it without
ever knowing of what material II is
| made. The pavement is probably unique,
at any rate in this country.
The oId-fashioned Brick.
There was a time. as many people
| can remember, when town and city side
walks were commonly laid Of brick. of
ordinary red brick. such as were used
for building purposes. Sometimes one
saw a pavement of yellow brick, and
occasionally one encountered, in front
of the place of a man OF means a side
walk of fine. sharp-edged and weil-fit-
ting Philadelphia pressed brick, of a
dark red tint, but the majority of side
walks were paved with just ordinary
red brick
Sometimes these brick sidewalks were
laid with the bricks crosswise of the
walk and with broken joints-that is,
the bricks were laid with their ends
overlapping as they are in brick wall:
but in later days the bricks were laid
diagonally with a regularly interlock-
ing pattern. A brick sidewalk laid in
this manner was more agreeable to the
eye and 1t also wore better, because
when trodden upon the feet of the pedes-
TRANS touched more bricks at once, the
pressure on them was more distributed.
and SO the bricks kept their places better
than did those in a sidewalk where the
bricks were laid square across.
II a man could afford II, he sometimes
fancied a sidewalk laid with the bricks
set on edge. Thus set, they were less
likely to weave under pressure. But
brick sidewalks were commonly laid with
the bricks fat, and il was a very re-
markable brick sidewalk that endured
a Northern winter without getting IN
even and lumpy. Moisture would pene-
trate into the innumerable' spaces be-
tween the bricks and down into the sand
or gravel in which they were laid. In
the spring. when, with everything else,
the brick sidewalks thawed out, they
were sure to lose their original smooth |
ness. 1t was a common sight to see the |
relaying of brick sidewalks in the spring. |
Many, however, were not relaid. and |
these resulted in great and disturbing |
OF Bluestone Slabs.
There were. in those days occasional |
sidewalks made of bIuestone slabs, nag
were generally to be found in the |
might also be seen in residential streets,
most frequently in the outlying districts,
where a wide strip of tagging might |
serve, with grass on either side. Since \
1t was considerably more expensive than
brick, the flag sidewalk was a mark OF |
distinction in front of a house in a.
small city or town. People OF moder-
ate means used to run a line Of flag
ging from a brick sidewalk in front of |
their houses up to their doorsreps.
While. in some larger cities, tagging /
had gradually come into a more general
use, brick was in the old days the side
walk material almost universally used
in the residential sections OF most cities
and towns. Some forty or fifty years
ago there was invented the concrete or
cement sidewalk. The first of these was
not particularly attractive nor durable
II was likely to dry out nearly black
N color. 1t was also likely 10 crack in
ugly fashion.
Such pavements were r1rst used for
paths up to and around the house Crude
Is they were, they became popular. SINCE
hey cost less than brick and could be
more quickly laid.
Then, as towns and cities grew in size,
md trade and traffic in them increased.
he old-time weavy brick sidewalks be-
gan more and more to disappear from
business streets and the sidewalks came
more and more to be paved with nagr
lags of larger dimensions. In the mean
line cement sidewalks had been vastly
In the materials and In the
aging. Indeed, the laying of such pave
nents has now become a science or art.
n these days II a property owner cares
o pay for II he can have laid a cement
idewalk that will stand, a walk that
will dry out an agreeable stone mint and
year like stone or better. Such side
walks are now often laid in business
treets instead of stone, and cement side
walks of one sort or another are now
verywhere laid.
Brick sidewalks of the old sort are still
o be found scattered here and there
bout the country, but generally speak
lg they are things of the past.
rom the New YORK Sun
Queen Mary, as always at this time
Z year. is devoting her time to the