280 NEW ENGLAND FENCES 



ters long past, have lodged and sprouted, and have 

 been kindly nursed till they have grown from 

 tender shoots to storm-defying trees; there are 

 clumps of sumacs also, with their fuzzy twigs and 

 fern-Uke leaves and "bobs" of dusky crimson. 

 Here violets bloom, and wind-flowers toss on their 

 slender stems in the breath of May; and in sum- 

 mer the pink spikes of the willow herb overtop 

 the upper rails, and the mass of the goldenrod's 

 bloom lies like a drift of gold along the edge of 

 the field. 



The children who have not had a rail fence to 

 play beside have been deprived of one abundant 

 source of happiness, for every corner is a play- 

 house, only needing a roof, which half a dozen 

 bits of board will furnish, to complete it. Then 

 they are so easy to climb and so pleasant to sit 

 upon, when there is a flat top-rail; and when a 

 bird's nest is found, it can be looked into so easily; 

 and it is such jolly fun to chase a red squirrel 

 and see him go tacking along the top rails; and 

 there are such chances for berry-picking beside it. 

 In winter, there are no snow-drifts so good to 

 play on as those that form in regular waves along 

 the rail fence, their crests running at right angles 

 from the out-corners, their troughs from the inner 

 ones. I am sorry for those children of the future 

 who will have no rail fences to play about. 



The board fence is quite as ugly as the rail 



