Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-05-04
THE BOARD FENCE,

Y
cdltersl" cried Mr., Babcock, wav-
Ing his arms, as he chased tho dozen
sheep aud lambs through gap 10 the
fence.
II was a wooden lcnc1, and when
ho had succeeded In driving the ani.
mails to the other side II, he lifted
/. from It's reclining position aud prop
ped it up with stakes, This was an
operation no had found himself oblig-
ed TO repeat many In tho course
of tho season, and not only Tor that
season, but several previous seasons
Yet Mr.. Babcock was neither slack
nor thriltlcss IN fact, he rather prid'
ed himself on the ordinary appear
ancc Of his farm, and did not without
reason. How then shall wc account
for his negligence in this particular
instance
The truth was that this fence formed
the boundry lino between his estate
and that OF Mr. Smalls and three
generations Of men who owned these
estates had been unable 10 decide to
whom it belonged to rebuild and keep
/, in repair. II the owners had chanc'
cd to be men Of peaceful dispositions,
they would have compromised the
matter, and avoided quarrel !. but il
on the contrary, they belonged to that
much larger class who would sooner
sacrifice their own comfort and con-
yenience than their so-callcd rights,
this fence would have been q source
of unendiu9 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
h,dden.places musty old deeds and re-
cords, but always with the same re-
suit.
81 say it belongs 10 you to keep it
in repair that's as plain rs q pike
staff" Mr.. Babcock would say,
"And say it belongs 10 you any
fool might see that" Mr.. Small would
reply; and then high words would
follow, and they would depart in anger
more determined and obstinate than
ever, and lawyers fees and loss by
damage from each others cattle had
already amounted to a sum sufficient
to have built fence mound their es-
tates, but what was that compared to
the satisfaction Of having their own
way.
At last, one day Miss Lettia Gill, a
woman much respected in the village,
and of some wcight,as a landowner aud
taxpayer, sent for Mr. Babcock to
come and see her on business a sum-
mons " hlch he made haste to obey, as
how could it he otherwise when lady
was concerned !
Miss Lettla sat at her window sew
ing seam, but she dropped her work
and took off her spectacles when Mr..
Babcock made his appearance.
80 you got my message thank
you for coming, I'm sure. Sit down,
do. Isuppose my man Isaac told you
/ wanted to consult you on business
"a matter ofequity, | may say, II
can't be expected that we women folks
should be the best judges about such
things yon know there's Isaac, to be
sure, but then he lives on the place
maybe he would't be exactly impartial
in his judgement.
"Jes' so," said Mr.. Babcock.
"Well the state of the case is this
When Isaac came up from the long
meadow to dinner-they are moving
the meadow to-day and an uncommon
ly good yield there is-when he came
up 10 dinner he found that stray COWS
had broken in I to the vegetable gar
den."
"He did, hey ?"
"You can fancy the riot made.
declare Isaac was almost ready to use
profaue language. Pm not sure be
didn't and, after all couldn't feel
to reproach hlm very severely, for the
pains he has taken with that garden
| is something amazing; worked in
it, Mr.. Babcock, early and late, weed
ing and digging and watering, and
now TO see t all torn and tramplUd so
that you wouldn't know which was
beets and which was cucmbers. It's
enough to raise anybody's temper"
1T is So" said Mr.. Babcock.
"And that isn't all, for by the looks
of things they must have been lam.
paging IN the orchard aud clover field
before they got into the garden. Just