Middletown transcript., 1874-10-03
grlett Storp.
THE BOARD FENCE.

q Shoe, shoe, get home, you P'as"y
critters!" cried Mr.. Babcock. waving
his arms as be chased dozen sheep
and lambs through gap in the fence
1t was wooden fence, and when be
had succeeded 10 driving the animals
the other side of it. he lifted it from its
reclining position and propPed It up
with stakes. This was an operation ne
had founi himself obliged to repeat
many times in the course OF the season.
and not only that season, but of several
previous seasons.
Yet Mr.. Babcock was neither slack
nor shiftless in fact, he rather prided
aImself on the ordinary appearance OF
his farm, and not without reason How
then shall we account for his negligence
in this particular instance? - :.
The truth was that this fence formed
the boundary line between his estate and
that Of Mr.. Small; and three genera
tions of men who owned these estates
had been, unable to decide to whom It
belonged to rebuild and keep it in re-
pair. If the owners had chanced to be
men Of peaceful dispositions, they had
compromised the matter and avoided a
quarrel but if. on the contrary, they
belonged to that much larger class who
would sooner sacrifice their own COM
fort and convenience than their so. call
ed rights, this fence had been source
of unending chickering's and strife.
And Of this class were the present
owners. Again and again they had
consulted their respective lawyers on
the subject and dragged from their hid
ding places musty old deeds and
records, but always with the same re-
suit.
yi"I say it belongs to you to keep it
in repair; that's as plain as pike-staif, ;
Mr.. Babcock would say
And say it belongs to you-any
fool might see that Mr.. Small would
reply, and then high words would fol-
low, 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 sum sufficient to
have built fence around their entire
estates, but what was that compared to
the satisfaction of having tneir own
way?
There we're not wanting in the neigh
borhood peace-makers who would glad
ly have settled the affair BY arbitration,
but to this neither Of the belligerents
would listen for moment.
A last. one day. Miss Letitia Gill. a
woman much respected in the village.
and of some weight as land owner and
tax payer, sent for Mr. Babcock to
come and see her on business; sum-
mons which he made haste to obey, as
how could it be otherwise where lady
was concerned :?
Miss Letitia sat at her window sew
ing = seam. but che dropped her work
and took off her spectacles when Mr..
Babcock made his appearance.
so you got my message; thank you
for coming. I'm sure. Sit down, do.
I suppose my man Isaac told you I wan
ted to consult you on matter Of busi-
ness-a matter Of equity, I may say
It can't be expected that we women
folks should be the best judges about
such things, you know; there's Isaac.
to be sure, but then be lives on the
place. and maybe he wouldn't be exact
ly impartial 10 bis judgment about our
affairs
.Jes' 50, said Mr. Babcock.
We'll, the state of the case is this :
When Isaac came up from the long
meadow to dinner-they're moving the