Across Lots is Best 261 



is convention. Thank heaven, and thank earth, 

 that when one goes across lots there is a parting 

 with conventions. 



This used to be uniformly the case, in the old 

 days, for a rail fence is nothing but a piece of 

 Nature ; but nowadays the hateful barbed-wire 

 fence does introduce convention. The wanderer 

 of the woods and fields detests these wicked in 

 trusions, and he delights to see how soon the 

 wretched contrivance loses hold of its hooks and 

 gets crushed down by the operations of Nature. 

 Some of the masters of woodcraft have been heard 

 to observe that barbed-wire fence, particularly in 

 the winter, is apt to sag and droop, and get tangled 

 and torn off, whole lengths of it, of course they 

 don t know how it happens. The fact is, the best 

 sort of fence for the cross-lots man is the old- 

 fashioned one. That fence he crosses with honour 

 and respect, and if a rail be displaced, he stops 

 to replace and even strengthen its hold. 



All along the way one finds the evidences of 

 the native uses, and that there is a considerable 

 population in the woods and fields. Tracks of 

 foxes and rabbits, of gray and red squirrels, mark 

 the snow, each in the peculiar fashion of the 

 creature. If one is quiet enough for a while, one 

 may see these furry denizens of all out-doors, but 

 he cannot be sure of it. The wild creatures do 



