8 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



grasses, then dropped away into some marshy flat, 

 where the flags and rushes grew rampantly, until these 

 too gave place to alders, poison sumacs, soft maples 

 and black-ash trees. 



The fences were as motley as the militiamen's 

 coats on a first Monday of May. From time to time 

 some previous tenant or owner had devoted " fall 

 leisure " to the erection of a wall mostly in continua- 

 tion of a great range of barrier which separated the 

 hill-lands from the flat. In this erection each owner's 

 views of economy (no other views being recognized) 

 had taken wide divergence. Thus, one had given a 

 circular sweep to his trail, for the sake of inclosing 

 some tempting smooth spot upon the lowest slope of 

 the hills ; another had made a flanking movement in 

 the other direction, for the sake of excluding some 

 unfortunate little group of innocent rocks. But the 

 sinners and the well-doers, on the score of the wall- 

 ing, must have long before gone to their account, 

 since the stones were all mossy, and the frequent gaps 

 had been blocked up by lopping over some vigorous 

 young hickory or chestnut which had started from 

 the base of the wall. 



But even this rustic device had not given full 

 security, for with settlements and the " bulging " 

 under frosts, this great line of barrier was no proof 

 against the clambering propensities of the sheep ; and 



