Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1874-09-26
THE BOARD FENCE.

''Shoo. Shoe, get home, you plaguy crit
ters!" cried Mr. Bahcnck, waving his arms
rs he chased Il dozen sheep and lambs
through a gap in the fence.
1t was IL wooden fence, and when he had
succeed d in driving the animals the other
ton and proppcd it up with stakes. This
was an operation he had found himself
obliged TO repeat many times in the course
Of the season. and not only of that season,
but ofseveral previous Seasons.
Yet Mr.. Babcock was neither slack nor
thriltle>S in fact, he rlther priled himself
on the ordinary appearance Of his farm, and
not without reason. How ,hen shall We ac-
cot:nt for his negligence in this particular
instance?
The tri!,li was that this fence f,.lncd the
boundary line between his estate and that
of Mr. Small and three generations of men
who owned these estates had been unable to
decide to whom it belonged to rebuild and
kcepiI in repair If the owners had Glanced
to he mcn Of peaceful dispositions, they had
: compromised the matter and avoided a
quarrel; bat if, on the contrary, they be-
Hinged to tlmt much larger c'ass who would
sooner sacrifice theic own comfort and con-
fence had been source Of amending bickcr-
ting> and strife.
And of this class were the present owners.
gain and again they had consulted their
respective lawyers on the subject and
s dragged from their hiding places musty old
: fdeedsarr records, but always with the same
result.
81 say it belongs to you to keep it in re-
pair; that's as plain as pike-s:ail,' Mr.
Bahcock would say.
and say it belongs to you-any fool
might see that" Mr.. Small would reply,
and then high words would follow, and they
would part in anger, more determined and
obstinate than ever. The lawyers fees and
the loss by damages from each others cattle
had already amounted to il sum sufficient to
have built fence around their entire es-
tates, but what was that compared to the
satisfaction Of having their own way?
There were not wanting in the neighbor-
hood peace-makers who would gladly have
settled the affair by arbitration, but to this
neither of the beIliycrents would listen for a
moment.
At last, one day, Miss Letitia Gill, u
woman much respected in the village, and
of some weight as land owner and tax
payer, sent for Mr.. Babeock to come and
see her on business IL summons which he
made haste to obey, as how could it be
otherwise where lady was concerned?
Miss Le,ilia sat Mt her window sewing a
seam, but she dropped her work and took
off her spectacleS when Mr.. Babcock made
ihis appearance.
$50 yon got my message; thank you for
coming, I'm sure. Sit down, do. | sup
pose my man Isaac told you l wanted to
consult you on n matter of business-a mat
ter of equity, | may say. 1t can't be ex-
pected that we women folks should be the
best judges about such things, you know
there's Isaac, to be sure. but then he lives
on the place, and maybe he wouldn't be
exactly impartial in his judgment about our
Affairs
''Jes' so,' said Mr. Babcock.
"Well, the state of the case is this :
When Isaac came up from the long meadow
to dimer-they' re moving the meadow to-
| day, and an uncommonly good yield there
is-when he came up to dinner, he found
that stray COWS had broken into the vegeta-
bic garden"
"IIe did, hey?'
"You can fancy the riot they made. |
declare, ISaac was almost ready to use pro-
fame language. I'm not sure that he didn't
say deuce, and I'm certain he did say
darn and. after all, couldn't feel to re-
proach him very severely. for the pains he
has taken with that garden is something
amazing; working in it, Mr.. Babcock
early and late, wedding and digging and
watering and now to see it all torn and
ttampled 50 that you wouldn't know which