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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