Wichita eagle., 1886-12-09

Heading.
A week ago was as all unconscious of tn
social value of fences as the fiercest person
who searches this column of fence lore
little visit to an artist friend who makes hi
home on the crest of the hill that reache
! down to the Hudson, back Of Irvington, frs
opened my eyes. The hundreds of millions o.
dollars that live along this hill have mad.
even the fences significant The wooden o.
iron or stone barriers that border the roa6
all tell of the characters of the owners a.
plainly as if the rich men had come out and
written them in the dust. At least, that il
what my tist-philosopher friend said as W.
drove past the beautiful villas, and he ought
TO know.
Take AIr. Jay Gould's fence, for instance
Knowing the man as you DO, what would yor
expect 60 find, a flimsy structure that would
| let half the COWS of the neighborhood stray
into the grounds, or give wandering tramp;
an opportunity to drop in and call ON the
little great man: Well, hardly. You know
that Of all the fences that shut in those acres
| of smiling lawn and shaded woodland that
stretch in country homes for miles and miles
along the Hudson, there is no stronger fence
| than his There is no need to tell you that
y
never seen his country place.
TO SHUT IN MILLIONS.
The fence is built as if to shut in millions.
Its broad stone sections, closely cemented
show not the smallest crevice through which
any of the outside world can penetrate The
stone coping that crowns the whole sheds the
rain just as its owner shakes off the envy OF
those about him, and the thick masonry
strong as a prison wall, seems to keep out
everything of sympathy and Of affection. II
is too hard climbing for thcs, :eatler virtues
to get over the fence. And then, as if to
crown the whole, thick hedge rises behind
the wall and selfishly shuts out from free
view the beautiful grounds and the river
below But not all selfishly. In one place a
great tree has grown just in the line Of the
wall, and so that the tree may not be harmed
the solid fence takes sudden dip around it,
making charitable V, with the tree in the
middle, and then continuing in the same
straight line
Massive square gate posts guard the two
entrances, ard the gates are Cf severely plain
timbers, heavy enough to do duty as batter
ing rams There are two lodges, too, one at
each gate. Past one Of these the public is
usually allowed TO drive, to see the grounds.
The other is the private entrance, and is
always jealousy closed. The public can go
just so far and no further. That is what Mr.
Goulds fence is like. Couldn't you have
guessed it:
Only few doors from Mr. GOuld's place
Mr.. Jafray, the dry goods man, has built up
a fence to stand between himself and the cut
side world. It is just such good, sub
5tantial, Presbyterian sort of fence as you
would expect from a self-reliant business
man. No show there, no pretense, nothing
of the kind a low, smoothly finished stone
wall, just to let people know where the lawn
ends and the road begins There isn't much
foliage in the way, and from the road one
can sec far back, after the manner of places
that have nothing to hide On the side be
has left an old-fashioned wooden paling
standing, a fifty-year-old fence, such as we
all used to climb and swing on years and
years ago when she was with us still-she
with her young eyes that somehow have
never since been matched. But that was
long ago, and really hasn't very much to do
with MIR. Jaifray's character as shown in his
fences. Only very successful man could
afford to let such an OLD fence stand as the
one at the side OF the house, but with his III
teIDciitcttJ ll1nCIpicS HS uOGSn nllHt
TIE MOST ARTISTIC FENCE.
Tiffany, who runs his fingers through heaps
of diamonds as carelessly as another dips water
III his hands, and whose eyes have learned to
look only on the pretty things of life, tells all
this to they eriest passer5y who cares to look
at his fence Next door to the stone church,
and only a short distance from Jaffrays
home, anybody can tell that those broad
gates lead up TO the home Of one who is at
heart an artist. There is 10 striving after
effect, no straining to make an impression,
and Yet the entrance is perhaps the most
artistic OF any that tempt one along the road
Double gates Of real rustic work-not the
factory made stuff-invite You in, and over
head a kind of canopy reaches from post 70
post and forms { graceful arch. a paneled
rustic fence, with each panel different from
the other tells of character not afraid of in
nOvationS and 4 suggested carelessneSS about
the place makes it look homelike, as if he
really lived there and did not keep it for show
alone.
Driving slowly homeward while the shad-
ows were purpling on the hills across the
river the substantial wall that shuts in the
Harper place seemed all III sympathy with
the quiet of the hour. The lawn comes clear
down to the edge of the bank Of masonry,
and here and there creepS over il as if they
were the best Of friends Daisies are not
afraid to grow there, and between the crev-
ices they peep out boldly as if they knew they
would not be disturbed. Conservative and
English as the careful head of the great pub
fishing house, the wall with the banked-up
earth reaching to its very top, solid as the
rampant Of a fort, has yet something of
friendliness about it, and | really believe il is
the only place for fifteen miles about where a
tramp would dare enter and ask for food
And now having learned SO much fence
lore, let me give just one more picture and
YOU shall guess at the character yourself A
fence built of big, round powders so large
that two o. them reach above your waist,
with : mass OF greenery growing over all,
making 1t look more rustic than it really is
An artificial rustic gate, made in The shops.
n gate of boughs and twisted roots, turned
by machinery ard no. by nature. Over this
queer wooden gate, that tries SO hard to be
natural, Sand has been Sifted until it CliStens
in the sunlight as if il were Of iron. So Won
can take yoGr cloice and call it iron or wood,
or anything yoo please, and YET be right. The
strip OF turf that runs down 10 the roadway
is kept scsopu!ously neat, and The bravest
daisy that ever lifted its head to he sunlight
Wouldn't dare show Itself IN such g painfully
oQt-oEthe-wdy place. That is Mr. Fields
fcG-c-T ?. Duneka In Sew York World.