BOUNDARIES— NECESSARY AND NEEDLESS 



O MY mind, a fence is very often both un- 

 sightly and offensive. There is a confined 

 and mean character to a property where 

 boundary lines are too clearly defined. 



I suppose that, as a race, we have inherited 

 a fear of intrusion of undesirable visitors from those un- 

 fortunate forefathers of ours who were constantly involved 

 in feuds which necessitated moats and fortified walls about 

 the residences of importance, and drove the common people 

 to huddle together either under the shelter of their lord's 

 castle walls, or by the erection of a common protection in the 

 shape of an outer wall which assumed the proportions of a 

 fortress about the villa. 



In new countries, and in localities where the enforcement 

 of law is difficult, and man too crude to have respect for 

 anything save his own will and desire, I can see the necessity 

 of the fence as a protection against depredation and in- 

 trusion; but as a community becomes civilized, fences are 

 supplanted by hedges and artistic walls, designed to suggest, 

 rather than to enforce, a line of demarcation. 



And so, as I go through the villages of California look- 

 ing, looking, looking for that which is beautiful, striving 

 always to chronicle the best and to hope for better, I am 



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