232 NEW ENGLAND FENCES 



ciently supplied with water, sometimes the musk- 

 rat burrows there, and you may see his clumsy 

 tracks in the mud and the cleanly cut bits of the 

 wild grass roots he has fed upon. Here, too, the 

 hyla holds his earliest spring concerts. 



All this applies only to the plain, impretend- 

 ing fence, built simply for the division of fields, 

 without any attempt at ornament. Nature has as 

 slow and painful a labor to bring to her com- 

 panionship the painted crib that encloses the 

 skimpy dooryard of a staring, white, new — or 

 modernized — farmhouse, as she has to subdue 

 the glare of the house itself; but she will accom- 

 plish it in her own good time, — the sooner if 

 aided by a little wholesome unthrift of an owner 

 who allows his paint-brushes to dry in their pots. 



The fence which is half wall and half board has 

 a homely, rural look, as has the low wall topped 

 with rails, resting on cross-stakes slanted athwart 

 the wall, or the ends resting in rough mortises cut 

 in posts that are built into the wall, which is as 

 much of a "post and rail" fence as we often find 

 in northern New England. A new fence of either 

 kind is rarely seen nowadays in our part of the 

 country, and both may be classed among those 

 which are passing away. 



Of all fences, the most enduring and the most 

 satisfying to the eye is the stone wall. If its 

 foundation is well laid, it may last as long as the 



