[herrington] township OF SIDNEY 83 



shall pay the sum of twenty shillings, the one half to the person or 

 persons taking said Hog or Ram to the pound, the other half to the 

 Collector to the public stock of the district."^ If we desired to be 

 hypercritical we might suggest that this amendment still left it open 

 to both the owner and the animal to escape punishment if the wrong- 

 doer effected his trespass upon his neighbor by any other means than 

 over the highway and even by that means he would go scot-free if 

 once he gained the sanctuary of his home pasture. 



Sidney having given Thurlow a fair start and then launched it 

 forth on its independent career, next, in 1801, took Rawdon under 

 its wing. The latter township appears to have been a sort of junior 

 partner in the town meeting business until 1820. The name does not 

 always appear in the headings of the minutes during this period; but 

 the last time it does appear is in the minutes of 1820. 



The hog and ram appear to have been the cause of much anxiety 

 to the early settlers and various expedients were adopted to restrain 

 them from doing damage. In 1801 we find a regulation authorizing 

 "any persons finding Hog or Ram within the said limited times 

 running at large on the highways or commons to castrate them. The 

 Owners to run the risk." In 1804 the yoke was first introduced by the 

 following regulation "Hogs to run at large till they do damage the 

 owners thereof to pay the same and yoke them with a Crotch yoke 

 six inches above the neck and four below." So on year after year we 

 find the resolutions of the town meetings directed chiefly towards 

 devising means to check the trespasses committed by domestic 

 animals. 



How often when travelling through the country have we observed 

 bends in the road with no apparent reason for deviating from a straight 

 line. To-day in choosing a location for his buildings the farmer takes 

 into consideration the course of the highway which he must use in 

 going to and from his buildings. With the early settler it was quite 

 different. When he built his first cabin there was perhaps no road, 

 only a trail through the forest. Later on, when his improvements 

 had been enlarged and assumed a more permanent character he 

 sometimes invoked the machinery provided by statute^ and had the 

 road brought to his building. 



^ The expression "public stock" is not peculiar to the minutes of this town 

 meeting. In section IX of the town meetings' Act of 1793 will be found a direction 

 that the fines imposed for neglecting to be sworn into office shall be paid to the 

 treasurer "towards the public stock of the district." 



^33 Geo. Ill, Cap. IV. 



