The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1893-01-07

A hedge fence? You don't mean to
say that YOU re goin' to set ont hedge
fence"
That's Just what I'm goin' to do. I'm
goin' to build somcthin' that'Il be boss
high, pig proof and bull strong" she
answered with emphasis.
Obed went away speeches. but soon
returned with his wife.
It'll be just n breedin place for
snakes said Obed's wife.
II aint afraid of en-
It'll take oceans o money to keep it
lookin' anyhow, after it's growed, Obed
argued.
Il aint got nothin else TO lay it ont
on" Nancy returned.
but a picket fence would'vc
ben so much nicer" Obcds wife Ia
mentcd.
You can put a picket fence long
your half, or "A stump fence or caterpil-
lar rail fence" Nancy snapped. "This
is my half now"
But YOU might "a consulted somebody
bout it, seems to me, said Obed.
IL don't consult others bout family
matters" she answered, with dry signiti-
canoe.
So they let her alone. and the fence
building went on. The Usage oranges
were well set and for two years were well
tended by the man who took the job.
1t was excellent soil and they grew
rapidly. They were splashed is,
bent lengthwise along the row and pinned
to the ground. that they might become
impenctrablc when from the PROSTATE
branches others would shoot up. And
the feeling which began with the sug-
gestion of the fence grew with its growth.
Obcd talked it over at home with his
wife, and Nancy thought it over in hours
of loneliness.
Obcd's wifc's relations thought it an
outrage. and advised Obed to get out an
injunction or something of the sort. But
Obed had wisdom enough left TO refrain
from legal proceedings.
"Twould be going from had to wusS,"
he remarked, land | don't see how a
body'd injine lot o CROWN stuff like
that"
Then another idea took possession Of
Nancy. She seldom saw Obed now
even the children did not come to see
her. 1t was So much farther around the
road, and the old path was closed. Obed
had ceased to farm her portion, saying
he posed she'd want to run her place,
as she'd run her fence. alone" and she
had promptly and spiritedly replied that
she could do it well enough. So at last
she felt herself left to the mcrcics of her
hired man, Ike.
"Ye're goin' to have that fence
trimmed up" Ike queried, one morning
She looked out. How it had grown
Those plants had been in perfect sympa-
thy with her They had sent out branches
i'll every direction, until the line was a
mass of thorn covered branches. The
hedge was impenctrable.
Serves 'em right she exclaimed,
under her breath. They'd no business
TO make sech fuss over that cow
dom 5, nor over that fcnc neither, No,
| amt goin' to trim it. Let it grow, she
went on, i'll lower tone. It'll we can't
see nOthin' of nary one of us
That was how the long line of thickly
interviewer branches came to be left to
shoot skyward untrimmed. until it lost
all likeness to the hedge she had at first
planned.
She was nervous and trembling from
an attack of neuralgia one September
when Ike informed her, as he
swallowed his third cup of coffee. that
the barn leaked like ali git-out, an the
hay'd got wet. the cow'd got the collie
catin apples, and Nep'd gone lame with
one of them sage thorns in his foot"
ending with the announcement, "Obcd's
We gone to the Fair, an I'm goin'. too"
They didn't use to forget to ask me
to go with EN-" Nancy murmurcd to her
self, as she hurried off to the east room
which faced the hedge.
To be sure, she knew she had before
now refused to 90 to the Fair with them,
saying she had Nep; but he was lamc-
and they had certainly forgotten her.
Then there was the barn, and the cow. If
the orchard fence had been built, she
would not have had the collie.
Then came the thought that there used
10 be no worry for her when Obcd had
charge; but he had left her alone.
She turned to the window involuntarilv.
and looked over the fields as she had
lone daily for years; but she could see
nothing now but tall, waving branches.
which seemed to nod at her and say,
You see we've done it; aren't YOU
ylad:' The aspiring tree-tops had at
asst fulfilled her wish; at last she could |
not see even Obed's chimneys.
She was alone indeed and she was in |
ensely miserable.
Ike drove off as she looked. calling out
20 her that the COW was dead. She saw |
Ncp limping out by the hedge, and she |
went back to the kitchen with an aching
heart and throbbing head.