AUTUMN 



fence or 



stone -.vail ? 



ize especially at this season, when nearly every Migrating 

 day shows us fresh flocks of birds which have 

 come under the influence of that strange power 

 which moves them " to stretch their wings tow- 

 ard the South," bringing them (even the more 

 timid species) this morning to our very doorstep 

 in search of food, inducing them to-night to re- 

 sume a voyage which may terminate only in the 

 tropics. 



Each walk abroad brings up new questions for 

 settlement. The last is one of preference pure 

 and simple, namely, whether the " snake" fence Snake 

 or the stone wall affords the greater possibilities. 

 Till recently I had no doubt as to the aesthetic 

 superiority of the stone wall. It has such infinite 

 capacity for tumbling, for taking on a coat of 

 lichens and mosses — for wearing soft tints of time 

 and weather. When quite prostrate, its ruin is 

 hidden so tenderly by blood-red tangles of Vir- 

 ginia creeper or silky plumes of clematis, and by 

 masses of soft ferns, which nestle lovingly about 

 its feet. In the presence of the ideal stone wall 

 — and I know a hundred such — there seems no 

 room for indecision. 



Yet the crooked course of the snake fence is 

 undeniably picturesque. Its " zigzags" offer sin- 

 gularly choice retreats for great clumps of purple- 

 stalked, red-stained, heavy-fruited poke-weed, for 



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