CROPS AND PROFITS 133 



material being kept in reserve for making good the 

 border fences, and the remainder cut, split, and piled 

 for the fire. The neighbors, who cling to the old 

 system of two-acre lots, and pinched door-yards, 

 open their eyes and mouths very widely at this. 

 The novelty, like all novelties in a quiet country 

 region, is at once astounding and oppressive. As if 

 the parish parson were suddenly to come out in the 

 red stockings of a cardinal, or a sober-sided select- 

 man to appear on the highway without some import- 

 ant article of his dress. 



I fancy two or three astute old gentlemen lean- 

 ing over the border fence, as the work of demolition 

 goes on. 



" The Squire ' s makin' this ere farm irfer a pa- 

 rade-ground, a'n't he ? " says one ; and there is a 

 little, withering, sarcastic laugh of approval. 



Presently, another is charged with a reflection 

 which he submits in this shape : " Ef a crittur breaks 

 loose in sich a rannge as that, I raether guess he'll 

 have a time on't." And there is another chirrupy 

 laugh, and significant noddings are passed back and 

 forth between the astute old gentlemen as if they 

 were mandarin images, and nodded by reason of the 

 gravity of some concealed dead weight (as indeed 

 they do). 



A third suggests that " there woant be no great 



