A bench on the high street

Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.

The new bench outside the pharmacy looked like a minor addition until I walked into town with my father. He planned the journey around places where he could sit. A gap I crossed without noticing was, for him, a distance requiring negotiation. The bench changed the route from something to endure into something we could attempt with confidence.

I began noticing who else used it: somebody with shopping, a teenager waiting for a friend, a parent settling a child's shoe. It did not belong to one category of person. Arguments that a bench encouraged people to linger seemed to miss the point. A street made only for moving through excludes those who need to pause. I do not claim that a seat solves every problem of access. But it asks less of people than a town designed around the assumption that everyone can remain comfortably upright until they have finished spending money.

Source B: an original letter in a nineteenth-century voice. This is a period-voice simulation, not an archival document.

Sir, I support the proposal for seats along the promenade, though I hope their placement will receive more thought than their ornament. A bench without shade may be little comfort at noon, and one facing a blank wall is an odd invitation to enjoy the shore. Public provision should be judged from the seat, not merely admired on a drawing.

There is also the question of maintenance. A broken board or a surface left wet and dirty can turn a promised convenience into another object to avoid. Those who announce the gift should remember the years after the ceremony. I have seen visitors stand beside handsome seats because sitting upon them would spoil their clothes. Let us provide fewer flourishes and more care. A plain bench, sound and well placed, offers a better welcome than an elaborate one whose usefulness ended when the speeches were made.

Refer to the whole of both sources. Compare the writers’ perspectives on the value of public seating and how they convey those perspectives. Support your comparison with evidence from both sources.