CHAPTER X 



FENCED IN 



ON the 26th, when I reached the station at 

 Exeter, I found Thompson and the gray team 

 just starting for the farm with the second load 

 of wire fencing. I had ordered fifty-six rolls of 

 Page's woven wire fence, forty rods in each roll. 

 This fence cost me seventy cents a rod, $224 a 

 mile, or $1568 for the seven miles. Add to this 

 $37 for freight, and the total amounted to $1605 

 for the wire to fence my land. I got this facer 

 as I climbed to the seat beside Thompson. I 

 did not blink, however, for I had resolved in the 

 beginning to take no account of details until the 

 31st day of December, and to spend as much on 

 the farm in that time as I could without being 

 wasteful. I did not care much what others 

 thought. I felt that at my age time was pre- 

 cious, and that things must be rushed as rapidly 

 as possible. 



I was glad of this slow ride with Thompson, 

 for it gave me an opportunity to study him. I 

 wondered then and afterward why a man of his 

 general intelligence, industry, and special knowl- 

 edge of the details of farming, should fail of 



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