The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1882-11-10
The Old Rail Fence.

The placing Of barbed wire fences around
farms, usurping the place of the old rail
fence, destroys half of the pleasure of farm
ing. There is something about the old rail
fence that is real comfortable, and the barbed
wire fence is forbidding, cold, repulsive.
Until you come to think of it, there does not
seem as though there was great deal of
solid comfort in rail fence, but there is Did
you eyer see two old farmers leaning against
rail fence, whiting and talking politics or
horse trade for hours together They are
more comfortable, and rest more than they
would if they were occupying the softest sofa
or the best stuffed arm chair in the world
here are so many shapes man can get into
to rest about rail fence. First the farmer
will fold his arms and rest them on the top
rail and lean his breast on the fence and talk
for half an hour, until his legs are tired, then
he will step one foot up on the second rail
from the bottom, and stand and white for
nall an hour until the top of the rail is as
polished as piece of mahogany. Then he
will change feet and lean one elbow on the
second rail from the top, and sharpen his
knife on his boot and talk for half an hour
about how he is going to pay the mortgage
on his farm next year. After that position
becomes irksome he will turn his back to
the fence stand on his heels, and place his
Two elbows on the top rail, and against the
fence, and for half an hour he will tell about
how the old mare that he is trying to trade
OIL cleared out all the road coming back from
the celebration at town, after the fireworks
on the Fourth, and how if he wasn't fixed
Just as he is, and wanted the twenty dollars
boot money to send Nathan off to the select
school, there is no man on the earth can buy
that male. Then he will get tired and stand
around sideways, put his left arm upon the
fence, and begin to white again. and swear
the man who runs the cheese factory down
at the corner is skinning us farmers out of
our eye teeth. Without going into details as to
ninety-nine other combinations by which
farmer can rest on, about or against rail
renee, 1t may not be out of place to speak of
sitting on top of fence The farmers, after
trying several positions, will instinctigely
climb up the fence and rest on the TOP
rail, their feet resting on the third rail from
the top, which is always laid with projection
enouug to make good footing, and an hour
will pass as the fellows talk of the times when
they settled in the country, and of the hard
ships they have endured, and how the
children have grown up and gone away, and
the convention will drift into sleepy chan
mel, and the sun will begin to sink in the
west and the hornyhanded sones of toll will
suddenly remember that the chores are to be
done, and with goodnight, Lige," and a
DROP, around again tomorrow, Ike" they
will separate, and one will seperate, and one
will seperate, and one will take milk pail
and a one legged stool and go towards the
lot where the COWS have come home while
the other will go across the rord to the barn
and throw down some hay for the horses and
they will both go to bed at eight o'clock as
tired as tired as though they had been now
ing. But they had splendid easy visit on
the old easy visit on the old rail fence.