dreu and .return them at night. The man who took 
the contract to transport these children did so for 
about a month, and then refused to carry out the con¬ 
tract. aud the trustee refused to compel him to do so. 
and told me that my children would have to go up on 
main road and wait for the “kid rig.” or 1 must carry 
my own children. There is no house on corner where 
they could go in and keep warm, and I have a girl who 
is under the doctor’s care, who. if she took cold, might 
be fatally ill. I paid $35 tax last year, kept a horse, 
bought feed and paid for barn rent, which amounts to 
about $100 for the school year. This year, is the same 
as last. I have to pay $40 school tax. and transport my 
own children to and from school. I will not let my 
children stand on corner waiting for school wagon to 
come and then get in and ride 2% miles to school. I 
have lived here eight years, and one year the trustee 
allowed me for carrying my children. Is there any way 
that I could collect pay? If they would just give me 
my taxes I would feel satisfied. Could I speak to the 
Humane Society agent? I have three children going to 
school. w. 
New York. 
Tie RURAL NEW-YORKER 
though we think you would have a good case if you 
did make the appeal. We understand that there are 
more than 1,000 districts in the State with assessed 
valuation of less than $20,000. That, of course, is 
too small to permit a good school without exorbitant 
school taxes. It seems to us great nonsense to talk 
“consolidation” in districts where children must suf¬ 
fer such hardships in being “transported" to school. 
Some of them are even 
^ | ^ them presented to us. 
worse. The scene of 
this lies among the hills 
of Central New York, 
where the fierce Win¬ 
ters make it a genuine 
cruelty for children to 
be exposed in this way. 
The district in which 
this man lives is con¬ 
tracting with another to 
teach the children. Sec¬ 
tion 530 of the educa¬ 
tion law makes this pos¬ 
sible : 
Any school district may 
decide by a majority vote 
of the qualified voters 
present and voting at any 
district meeting: (11 To 
contract for the educa¬ 
tion of all the children of 
such district in another 
district or in a city in¬ 
stead of maintaining a 
home school; (21 to con¬ 
tract for the education of 
part of the children of 
such district in another 
district or in a city and 
maintain a home school. 
The assessed valua¬ 
tion of property in the 
first district is a little 
over $20,000. while in 
the other district it Is 
nearly $100,000. Under 
the contract between 
the two districts noth¬ 
ing is .said about trans¬ 
portation. The Depart¬ 
ment of Education at 
Albany has uniformly 
held that it is not re¬ 
quired for the convey¬ 
ance to call at the home 
of each child. In many 
cases that would cost 
more than the district 
could afford to pay. The 
department rules that 
there must be a com¬ 
fortable place for the 
children to wait. In 
some cases the old 
schoolhouse is used for 
this purpose, a fire be¬ 
ing kept in cold weath¬ 
er. In the case men¬ 
tioned the parent is 
justly aggrieved. It is 
a wicked thing to com¬ 
pel little children to suf¬ 
fer as these children 
must do. The depart¬ 
ment rules that it is 
“not legal or proper” 
for the district to pav 
money to parents for 
transporting their own 
children, unless such 
parent contract to carry 
all the children, in 
which case he may include his own. In such cases 
if must be clear that consolidation means a frightful 
hardship to such little children in the Winter. In 
such eases it would be far better to have no school 
at all during the colder months and keep the school 
open during the Summer for the smaller children. 
This man should make a strong personal protest 
direct to the State Department at Albany. Write 
them a strong letter, stating your troubles clearly, 
respectfully, and be careful about your facts. We 
are assured that such a protest will he heeded. Try 
this before you appeal to the Humane Society. 
A Horse Becomes a “ White Elephant ” 
The Fall of 1 i>l!> a person tried to sell a farmer a 
horse, which he tried for a few days. Then he told the 
seller he did not want the hdrse, so seller had it turned 
back in his pasture. 'Some time later he sold the horse 
to a farmer’s son (18 years old) for $35, and the boy 
was to cut enough wood at $1.50 a cord to pay for the 
horse. The son told the seller his father would not have 
anything to do with paying for the horse. The boy cut 
10 cords of wood, lie got married about a year and a 
half ago. and lives in another State, and did not cut 
any more wood, but left the horse for his father to feed 
Kudzu on a Line Fence in the Perpendicular Pasture. Fig. 637 
A Perpendicular Pasture of Kudzu Vines. Fig. 638 
and care for. The father told the man who sold the 
horse to the son to take the horse and the 10 cords of 
wood and it would be all right, as he did not want the 
horse, as it was no good. The other man has taken the 
wood, but does not come to get the horse. Ills excuse 
is he cannot find anyone who wants it. What can the 
farmer do about the horse? It cannot eat hay, and lie 
does not. want to feed the animal another Winter. He 
has fed it two Winters and pastured it two Summers. 
It is no good to work. The owner says if farmer wants 
the horse for $15 he can have it. but he does not want 
it at all. Will you advise him? F. c. 
A FATHER is not liable for the debts of an infant 
son except for actual necessities of life. The 
vendor of the horse in question therefore cannot 
1471 
hold him liable for the balance of the purchase price. 
The lien law of the State of New York provides that 
a person keeping a livery stable, or boarding stable 
for animals, or pasturing or boarding one or more 
animals, has a lien dependent upon possessor, upon 
each animal pastured or boarded by him. provided 
an expressed or applied agreement is made with the 
owner thereof for the sum due him for the care, 
keeping, boarding or pasturing of the animal. A 
lien against personal property as above, if in the 
legal possession of the lienor, may be satisfied by the 
public sale of such property. 
“Hefore such sale is held the lienor shall serve a 
notice upon the owner with due diligence within 
such county, if such owner can be found when such 
lien arose, if not then to the person for whose ac¬ 
count the same is then held personally, provided such 
service can be made with due diligence within the 
county where such lien 
arose, but if such per¬ 
son cannot with due 
diligence be found with¬ 
in such county, then 
such notice shall be 
served by mailing it to 
him at his last known 
place of residence, or to 
his last known post- 
office address. A like 
notice shal be served in 
the same way upon any 
person who shall have 
given to the lienor no¬ 
tice of an interest in the 
property subject to the 
lien. Such notice shall 
contain a statement of 
the following facts: 
“1. That nature of the 
debt or agreement un¬ 
der which the lien arose, 
with an itemized state¬ 
ment of the claim and 
the time when due. 
“2. A brief descrip¬ 
tion of the personal 
property against which 
the lien exists. 
“3. T h e estimated 
value of such property. 
“4. The amour.: oi 
such lien, at the date of 
the notice. 
“It shall also require 
such owner or person to 
pay the amount of such 
lien, on or before a day 
mentioned therein, not 
less than 10 days from 
the service thereof, and 
shall state the time 
when and place where 
such property will be 
sold, if such amount is 
not paid. If the agree¬ 
ment on which the lien 
is based provided for 
the continuous care of 
property the lienor is 
also entitled to receive 
all sums which may ac¬ 
crue under the agree¬ 
ment. subsequent to the 
notice and prior to pay¬ 
ment or a sale of the 
pi’operty; and the no¬ 
tice shall contain a 
statement that such ad¬ 
ditional sum is demand¬ 
ed. Such notice shall 
be verified by the lienor 
to the effect that the 
lien upon such property 
is valid, that the debt 
upon which such lien is 
founded is due and has not been paid and that the 
facts stated in such notice are true to the best of his 
knowledge and belief. 
“Each sale of personal property to satisfy a lien 
thereon shall be at public auction to the highest 
bidder, and shall be held in the city or town where 
the lien was acquired. After the time for the pay¬ 
ment of the amount of the lien specified in the 
notice required to be served by the preceding section, 
notice of such sale, describing the property to be 
sold and stating the name of the owner or person 
for whose account the same is then held and the 
