Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-03-05
THE BOARD FENCE.

''Shoo! shoe! get home, you plaguy
crittersr' cried Mr. Babcock, waving
his arms as he chased Il dozen sheep
and lambs through gap in the
fence.
1t was a wooden fence, and when
he had succeeded in driving the ami
mails the other side of it, he lifted it
from its reclining position and prop
ped it up with stakes. This was an
operation he had found himself obi
ged to repeat many times in the
course of the season, and not only of
that season, bnt of several previous
seasons.
Yet Mr.. Babcock was neither slack
nor thriftiess; in fact, he rather prid-
ed himself on the ordinary appear
ance 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 form
ed the boundary line between his os-
tate 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 keep
it in repair. If the owners had
CHANGED to be men of peaceful dispo-
sitions, they would have comprom-
ised the matter and avoided a quarrel;
but if, on the contrary, they belonged
to that much larger class who would
sooner sacrifice their own comfort
and convenience than their own So
called rights, this fence had been
source of unending chickering's and
strife.
And of this class were the present
owners. Again and again had they
consulted their respective lawyers on
the subject and dragged from their
hiding places musty old deeds and
records, but always with the same re-
suit.
81 say it belongs to you to keep it
in repair; that's as plain as pike
staff,'' Mr.. Babcock would say.
"And l say it belongs to yo"-any
fool might see that Dir. 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 suffi-
cient to have built fence around
their entire estates, but what was that
compared to the satisfaction OF hav-
ing their own way!
There were not wanting peace
makers in their neighborhood who
would gladly have settled the affair
by arbitration, but to this neither of
the belligerents would listen for q
moment.
At last, one day, Miss Letitia Gill,
a woman much respected in the vii.
lage, and of some weight rs land
owner and tax payer, sent to Mr..
Babcock to come and see her on bus
mess; summons which he had made
haste to obey, as how could it be
otherwise when lady was con-
cerned?
Miss Letitia sat at her window
sewing a seam, but she dropped her
work and took off her spectacles when
Mr.. Babcock made his appearance.
$50 you got my message; thank
you for coming, Pm sure. Sit down,
do. l suppose my man Isaac told
you that l wanted to consult you on
matter of business-a matter OF
equity, l may say. 1t can't be ex-
pectcd that we women 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 dinner-they're moving
the meadow to-day, and an uncom-
monty good yield there is-whcn he
came up to dinner, he found that
stray cows had broken into the vege-
table garden"
ale did, hey?"
"You can fancy the riot they made.
l declare, Isaac was almost ready to
use profane language. Pm not sure
that he didn't say deuce and I'm
certain he did say darn and, after
all, Didn't feel like reproaching 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 tramplcd SO that you would
not know which was beets and which
was cucumbers. It's enough to raise
unybody's temper"
'sIt is, so,' said Mr.. Babcock.
"And that isn't all, for by the looks
OF things they must have been ram
paging IN the orchard and clover
field before they got into the garden.
Just you come and see;" and putting
on her n-bonnet Miss Letitia show
ed Mr.. Babcock over the damaged
precincts.
"You don't happen to know whose
animals did the mischief" asked MIR.
Babcock.
.Well, I didn't observe them in
I narticnlar ,nvaalf huf Isaac aaid there