Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1902-04-24

Neol9 lAhAteN - AfeA+g NNN'5 49, WI
ONE afternoon, some 20 years ago,
~ l was the companion Of DR..
Burdick while he was making some
family calls. 1t was in central Ken
lucky and an exquisitely lovely day
in the early autumn season. As we
drove over one of the smooth
and white turnpikes, / observed a
narrow and curious lane which inter
sected the turnpike at right angles.
II wasn't wide enough to admit a male
peacock when it wanted to strut.
The lane was crooked and almost hid
den from view by tangled masses of
elderberry bushes. Two farmhouses
stood in the distance and they were
of the better class for that region.
Apple, peach and pear trees were
loaded down with fruit, and great
shocks of wheat and corn were
standing in the sunlight as emblems
of peace and prosperity, These with
the clean woodland pasture and 1.-the
limbed horses readily indicated that
we we're in the far-famed blue grass
region.
A boy and girl, the boy eight or
nine years of age, the girl a year
younger, came out of the mouth of
the zigzag lane where they had been
chasing ground-squirrels, and the
doctor spoke to them in a jolly way
and Familiarity:
Hello! sammy" and "Howdy Su-
die?"
"Howdy, doc.," the girl responded.
"You going up to we-all's houseP"
81 am going by there, Sudie, and
you may ride with us If you wish"
The girl looked towards her play
mate, and, instructed by some ma
sonic sign known to childhood, she
replied: "No, thankee, sir. Sammy
is going TO see me home"
"Well, bye-bye."
"Goo'by."
As we drove the doctor remarked:
"Those youngsters win probably get
padded"
"For what?" I asked.
"You observe that lane they came
from, didn't your"
Eyes, and I intended TO ask what it
meant
at means that these two farmers
are bitter enemies. The boy, Sam, is
the son Of Tom higgins, whose house
we passed Just yonder, and the girl is
the daughter of Dick Rutherford, this
is his place just ahead of us. The d.
viding line between their farms lies
inside of those two zig-zag fences,
and the men hate each other so that
they'd rather die than join in a part
nership line. hence each has built on
his own and thus we have such an
eyesore as that. Country people,
knowing the cause of such a double
fence, call il The DEVILS lane
''Of course when such enmities eX-
list between the heads Of the fami-
lies IL estranges the entire connection
on both sides, and from these often
spring the terrible and widespread
Kentucky feuds that you hear and
read so much about.
in this case Tom Riggan and Dick
Rutherford had been the best Of
friends until two years ago, at hog
killing time, when they fen out over
guessing at the weight of fat pork
er. Their guesses were about so
pounds apart, and as the hog was
found to weigh just halfway between,
out of that sprang a misunderstood
ing. harsh words followed and the
breach has grown wider with years.
I Between the two houses there is an
enmity as strong as that between
theCapulets and Montagues, in Shake
speare's Romeo and Juliet The
women folks on the opposite sides
toss their heads and don't speak TO
each other The servants frequently
I fight and the two heads avoid each
other lest they do something rash"
I a few days ago I rode with the
doctor along the turnpike, where the
II foregoing conversation had occurred
two decades ago. The Devils Lane"
was gone. Where e had been vas the
center Of a long avenue Of stately
Lombardy poplars with alternating
apple trees, and az the head Of the