The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1881-01-13
The Board Fence.

Yet Mr.. Babcock was neither slack
nor thriftless; in fact, he rather frid.
ed himself 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
generations of men who owned these
estates had been unable to decide t.
whom it belonged to rebuild and keel
it in repair. If the owners ha(
Glanced to be men of peaceful dispo
siti0ls, they would have compromised
the matter and avoided quarrel; but
if, on the contrary, they belonged tt
that mnch larger class, who would
sooner sacrifice their own comfort ani
convenience than their SO. called rights
this fence would have been source Of
of unending chickering's and strife.
And of this class were the present
owners. Again and again had they
consulted their respective lawyers OF
the subject, and dragged from Their
hiding-places musty old deeds ;,nl
records, but always with the same
result.
II say it belongs to you to keep it il
repair; that's as plain as pike-staff, ,
Mr.. Babcock would say.
':And I 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 thar
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 ell
tire estates, but what was that com
pared to the satisfaction of having
their own way!
At last, one day, Miss Letitia Gill, q
woman much respected in the village
and Of some weight as a landowner
and taxpayer, sent for Mr.. Babcocl
to come and see her OH business: 4
summons which he made haste to obey
and how could it be otherwise where q
lady was concerned?
Miss Letitia sat at her window sew.
ing seam, but she dropped her work
and took off her spectacles when Mr.
Babcock made his appearance.
$50 you got my message; thank yO,
for coming, I'm sure. Sit down, do.
suppose my man Isaac told you that
wanted to consult you on business {;
matter of equity, may say. 1t can't
be expected that we women folks ca17
be the best Judges about such things,
you know; there's Isaac, to he sure, but
then he lives on the place; maybe lie
wouldn't be exactly impartial in his
judgement about our affairs.''
''Jes' so,' said Mr.. Babcock.
swell, the state of the case is this
When Isaac came up from the long
meadow to dinner-they'r re moving the
meadow to-day, and all uncommonly
good yield there is-when he came up
to dinner, he found that stray COWS
had broken into the vegetable garden -
''He did, hey?"
''You can fancy the riot made. I de.
clare, Isaac was almost ready to use
prOfane language, and am not sure he
didn't; and after all l couldn't feel to
reproach him very severely, for the
pains he had 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 trampled SO that you
wouldn't know which was beets and
which was cucumbers. It's enough t.
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 ram.
paging in the orchard and clover-field
before they got into the garden. Just
you come and see;;" and putting or
her sun-bonnet, Miss Letitia showed
Mr. Babcock over the damaged pre-
cincts.
"You don't happen to know whose
animals did the mischief, said Mr.
Babcock.
swell, 1 didn't observe them in par
ticular myself, but Isaac said there
was one with peculiar white mark
something like 4 cross, on it's hauncl,. ,
why, that's Small's old brindle, >
cried Mr.. Babc0ck. Il know the mark
as we'll as know the nose on my face
She had balls on her horns, didn't she!'
~ es, so Isaac said.''
s'And a kind of hump on her back!'
"A perfect dromedary,'' said Miss
Letitia. II noticed that myself"
''They were Small's cows, no doub,
of it at ALL said Mr.. Babcock, rub
bling his hands. ''No sheep with them
hey?''
swell, now think of it there were
sheep-they ran away rs soon as they
saw Isaac. Yes, certainly, there were
Sheep said Miss Letitia.
Il knew it-they always 80 with the
cows; and what you want of me-?''
''It's to fix damages" said Miss LIE.
titia. Gas I said before, women folks
are no judges about such Matters
Mr.. Babcock meditated Il moment,
and then said:
swell, I wouldn't take II cent less
than seventy-tive dollars, if l were
yOll-nOt cent
:'Seventy-tive dollars!' Isn't that a
good deal, Mr.. Babcock! You know I
don't wish to be hard on the Door
man; all want is fair compensation
for the mischief donc.''
''Seventy-five dollars is fair. ma'lm
in fact, I might say it's low. I
wouldn't have had a herd of cattle and
sheep trampling through my premises
in that way for 4 hundred
''Fhere's one thing I forgot to state;
the orchard gate was open, or they
couldn't have got in; that makes diff.
ference
Not a bit-not a bit. You'd a right
to have your gate open. but Small's
COWS had no right to run loose. I hope
Isaac drove them to the pound, didn' t
he!''
II heard him say he'd shut 'em up
somewhere, and I didn't mean to let
'em out till the owner calls for 'em.
But, MI. Babcock, what if he should