Explore "The Old Snake Fence" by James McIntyre on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
In early times the pioneer / When a few acres he did clear, / He found an ample recompense / For splitting rails and making fence.
Though it was crooked as a snake, / And zigzag style did not awake, / He thought it was a thing of beauty, / Yet in its day it did its duty.
And though the old snake fence must fall, / 'Twas easy made, axe, wedge and maul, / Were all the tools the pioneer / Bequired the old rail fence to rear.
And the old pioneer could boast / Of fence that did not need a post, / To build it now is waste of timber, / And fertile lands it doth cumber.
And pine stump fence with its sharp roots / Will long endure and ward off brutes, / For the crops they ample shield / And do protect each separate field.
But old style fence doth waste much land, / Where weeds do grow and bush expand, / And thistle down doth blow from thence, / So folks build wire and the board fence.