LEAF AND TENDRIL 



the complexion of the May days when the work 

 •was going on. It was built from a still older wall, 

 and new material added. It leans and staggers in 

 places now like an old man, but it is still a sub- 

 stantial fence. This one upon the upper side of the 

 road, my father told me he built the year he came 

 upon the farm, which was in '28. He paid twenty 

 cents a rod for having it laid to a man whose grand- 

 children are now gray-haired men. The wall has a 

 rock foundation, and it still holds its course without 

 much wavering. 



The more padding there is in a stone wall, the 

 less enduring it is. Let your stone reach clean 

 through. A smooth face will not save it; a loose and 

 cobbly interior will be its ruin. Let there be a broad 

 foundation, let the parts be well bound together, 

 let the joints be carefully broken, and, above all, 

 let its height not be too great for its width. If it is 

 too high, it will topple over; if its interior is defec- 

 tive, it will spread and collapse. Time searches out 

 its every weakness, and respects only good material 

 and good workmanship. 



