The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-03-05
WAYS OF TIE R~AzoRBAcKs
tion-Trouble with a Fence-Hope
Abandoned.


Abandoned.
1t was apparent at a glance that he
not a native of Virginia. He was
big-framed, Ioose-jointed. and stoop-
shouldered. His face was weather-beat-
en- and heavy. with a straight-set
mouth. big jaws. and little, worried
ray eyes. half-hidden under shaggy
GROWS. He vas sitting in the ruins OF
a pig-pen. back of the barn-where
horse, GOV and chicken lived together
and there was nothing. either in his
expression OF pose, OF hat perfect
a which comes to the native-born
planter with his efforts TO run a worm
out tumble-down Virginia plantation.
Only a man who had been raised in
New England could thus sit a rail fence
which, in this a formed the only
wall of the pen left standing. His he
were caught between the top rails, and
his elbows. resting on his knees, form
ed a sort of reversible tripod, which he
used as q support for his head
The visitor from the adjoining plan
tation found him gazing vacantly into
the empty pen, n IL was plain that
some great. brooding sorrow had come
to him. He was talking to himself.
and he kept right on. as though wholly
ignorant Of the visitors presence. mo,
sir" he was saying. there amt NJ two
ways about it: il can't be did. I'll
wager on't that them pig could break
out Of one of these mere new-fangled
safety deposit vaults fore they'd been
penned in twenty minutes. A man
might full s we'll try TO keep track OF
a flock of hummin' birds-iest exactly.
If they can't root under. they'll jump
over; and if they can't Jump over,
they'll jest " through-and there We
be-" The man on the fence turned sud-
denly upon his visitor. and inquired
deinantly: What's a nan goin' to do
with a lot of conSarn deceivin, stee-
plechasin' hogs like that? 1 tell We,
there amt nothing he can do. Ever
since ! cum here last spring. tryin' to
make a honest Twin farmin', them
hogs have kept me on the Jump night
an day. Kept me hollerin' and beller-
ing on their track like a hound pup af-
ter a rabbit-an' me most sixty-three
years old.
Il tell you, it's all the fault of tn
country. How can you expect a hog t.
have any decency when tn farmers
are too shiftless and lazy t. care
whether their pigs are in their pen or
on the front piazzy? I've a tn hand
lin of hogs fer tn last fifty years, an
1 lowed when I cum here an seed how
things was that I'd show folks how a
hog ought to be brung up. That was
most a year ago, and 1 can't truthful
ly say t'-day, that I've got the slight
est influence over the weakest-minded
hog in the lot. My idee was to keep
'em penned and fatten 'em on milk
n swill tn same as they do in tn
north. / calk'lated 1 could sell them
when they'd dress a hundred pounds in
just about half tn time 1T takes these
ell l~.~ ~
n built the pen-1eSt an ordinary
ten-by-twelve pen. with a three-foot
board fence. Mister. them pigs never
knowed they was even intended to be
Shet up. There was sixteen on EN-,
and there VAN one in tn lot that
didn't clear that fence by a good foot.
I added two more boards that night,
and them pigs jumped it standin'. 1
KEEP a addin' an they KEEP a hurdlin'.
A first, as soon's they'd git out
they'd start for the house, an a four
foot picket fence was Jest play for 'em.
They'd root round till they found a
board that want fastened down with
ten-penny nails. and then they'd all
stan back and ram that weak spot like
a steam pile-driver. MY wife spent
two-thirds her time drivn' 'em out tn
kitchen, an fore they got done with
her she'd like t. have ervou prostra-
ton. Never see a woman peter out so
afore. After a while they got sick O.
roaming through tn house, rootin'
round tn melodian. and gnawing
tn tides an tn crayon family por-
traits, an struck fer tn timber For
two months they a me an all tn
niggers I could draft into tn service
thrashin' through the woods after
them. 'Casionally we'd ketch a f1eetin'
glimpse o one through tn pines about
SHUTDOWN, but never could git near
'nough to identify .'em. Finally, bout
a week ago, I got 'em all herded up, an
put EN- back in tn pen I built a fif-
teen-rail fence around it. an tried to
bride 'em with double portions O. milk
an swill t. stay t. home long 'nough t
get their breath. They want one on
'em that want peakeder n a barbed-
wire fence an harder n an iron hitch
in'-post.
"'Twa'n't no use: they stayed jest
long 'nough to practise hinnin' up a
cedar post an his mornin' they all
broke fer the wamp.
9TH the ole one Jest elm up tn
fence till he could get his nose under
tn top rail and hist it off. Then he
backed down a rail an kept h'istin'
he'd got five of 'em off. he took a
runnin' jump fer tn rest. with tn hull
litter arter him. There amt no human
creetur that can find 'em now. I've
done with 'em. Won't raise a finger
fer 'em ag'in. A hog hat hain't tn
mora decency t. stay where he's put,
with a ffteen-rail fence t encourage
him., amt worth tryin' to improve"
The man who had come all the way
from New England to improve the
southern hog cast a last glance into
the empty pen-a glance in which he
forever renowned his mission-turned
his back upon the uin and walked de-
jectedly away.
Ever since northern farmers first
came into Virginia with the hope OF
restoring the emaciated plantations,
there have been many such hop-de-
stroying struggles; and. in min cases
out of ten. with the same result. The
hog has out-manoeuvred and out-root-
ed the foreigner every time. 1t is not
because the hog is naturally wilful or
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