The age-herald., 1900-11-19

''The passing of the fence," subject which has been vigorously agitated in the columns of the Age-Herald and other local papers recently was made the basis of an interesting talk by pr. J. H. Phillips, su- perintendent of the public schools in one of his Monday morning chats with the pu- pills of the High School which is given in full as follows:
 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down." Heb. xii. 20.
 During the past few weeks an interest ing campaign has been inaugurated in our city for the removal of fences. Tear down the fences" has been the cry raised by the newspapers and taken up by the people, and as a result the fences that once en- closed our city parks and many of our beautiful residences have already disap- peared. The reasons generally given for this movement are superficial; we must inn itate the large and older cities: it adds to the beauty of our streets; 1t Is economy; many people dispense with their fences simply because it is a fad.
 Has 1t ever occurred to you that there is deeper meaning and a more far-reach- ing significance in this simple fact of the removal of the fences in our city? The facts of our lives effects, and even the passing of the fences is an evolution. What is the real significance of this fact? What is its logical relation to history?
 To me there is an air of serene confidence and trustfulness about residence without a fence around 1t. It implies a great deal of faith in the honesty and good will of the neighborhood, and is a very high com pliment to the children of the next door neighbor. It suggests that the owner of that residence Is at peace with all his neighbors, and that the children of that neighborhood are not rogues and yandals. l am pleased every time I pass that beau- tiful unfenced residence across the street. The owner of that residence seems to say to me and to every other passer-by: You are very decent, respectable man; trust you; you and I do not need fences" An unenclosed residence suggests friendliness sociability and community of feeling. It suggests unselfshness and arge-hearted- ness In the cities of Europe, the resi- dences of the wealthy are generally en- closed with high stone walls, so that the passerby cannot get even a glimpse of the green lawns, the flowers and the beautiful shrubbery within. There is an air of dis trust and selfish exclusiveness about those forbidding stone walls. AS I pass them they seem to say to me, You are not to be trusted; these flowers and these lawns are not for you; you cannot, you shall not enjoy them" But an unfenced residence gives me assurance of welcome: it seems to convey this message from the man within to the man without, "I trust you; look at my gardens and my flowers and enjoy them with me-
 The residence of the middle ages was a castle, with high stone walls, ten feet or more in thickness. There were windows, to shoot out of rather than to let in light. Then there was the moat filled with water, the draw-bridge and the portcullis. In the Watch-towers were sentinels to keep a sharp lookout for approaching enemies. It does not take the reader of medieval his tory or the traveller in Europe long to find out what the people of those days thought of each other. Every home was a fort. in dicating suspicion, fear and war. The peo- pie had little love for their neighbor little faith in mankind.
 From the castle of the dark ages-the fortified dwelling of the fourteenth cen tury, down to the fencelesS residence of today, Is long, long story; a story of bloodshed and revolutions, a story of hu- man tragedy and world-suffering, but yet 1t is story of the gradual development of brotherly love and of faith in man. The cities of the old world in ancient times were enclosed with high stone walls for the pro- lection of the inhabitants. Some of the old est cities of the new world were also sur rounded with walls. When the French set llSu III klu6DeC, lne HTSC lnlnB they ulu was to build a wall around the town, to protect themselves against the Indians and against the English. Remnants of the old town walls of early American history may be still seen in Quebec in St. Augustine and Santa Fe. The old walls serve no purpose today; the progress of brotherly love, faith and good will has rendered them useless; they stand only as silent witnesses to the suspicion, the hate and the faithlessness of other days. Fences and walls suggest wild land filled with wild beasts and bar barians; primeval forest filled with blood thirsty savages.
 The growth of faith in humanity during the last half century has swept away in- ternational barriers. Nation trusts nation more and more as the years pass. and the whole world is rapidly becoming com munity of nations without walls or fences The nation that isolates itself from the rest of humanity by a great wall will son find itself in the condition of China; 1t must tear down its walls and enter the great community of nations, or suffer the humiliation of defeat and disgrace.
 St. John in his vision caught a glimpse of the good time coming when he prophe- sled, '"There shall be no more sea-" The great oceans that once kept the nations of the earth apart are to-day great high ways of commerce and friendly inter- course. There shall be no more sea" as a barrier to brotherhood, and with the in- crease of faith upon the earth, we may hope for the realization of Tennyson's