A horizontal board fence need not have "wide spaces between the rails."  I attach a photo, but if you can't open it, just use google images to look for "horizontal board fence."

Gregg

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of J. Dean
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 1:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Hannibal

The problem with having a fence that matches Twain's description and the ori= ginal Sawyer illustrations is that it seems unlikely that Aunt Polly would n= ot have seen the mob at work clearly visible through the wide spaces between=  the rails.  The vegetation in the yard could have created some visual obstr= uction, of course.  She was, also, at the back of the house nodding off over=  her knitting with the cat in her lap when Tom came to tell her he was done w= ith the job.  As Twain says she was expecting Tom to slip away, she probably=  felt she had done her Christian duty by chasing Jim away and had long since=  stopped keeping tabs on him.

Probably more to the point, the Rockwell illustration, used on the postage s= tamp and displayed in the Museum in Hannibal, is of a fence with vertical bo= ards.  That, no doubt, seals the deal as far as what type fence will be used=  on the boyhood home.  "When the legend becomes fact ..."

Jerry Dean

Sent from my iPad

> On Sep 13, 2017, at 2:34 PM, Peter Salwen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>=20
> Thanks for the terrific photos, Terry. The place seems to have changed 
>a  bit since I was there last, in 1955.
>=20
> Alas, I see they've still got that fence wrong, though, with the 
>boards  upright, even though that great and wise philosopher who wrote 
>*Tom
> Sawyer* makes
> it clear that they should run lengthwise: "Sighing, [Tom] dipped his 
>brush=

> and passed it along the topmost plank."
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> Stay well & keep sharing those pix.
>=20
> *_________________________________*
>=20
> *Peter Salwen /* salwen.com
> *114 W 86, NYC 10024 | 917-620-5371*
>=20
>=20
> On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 12:29 PM, Terry Ballard 
><[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>=20
>>   I recently traveled to Hannibal on the way to Nebraska to see the 
>> total=

>> eclipse. I'd been once before, but this time I had a camera with a 
>> nice n=
ew
>> lens, so I had an afternoon and morning of fun capturing the spirit 
>> of wh=
at
>> seemed to me to be a booming ghost town (Lots of tour buses and fudge 
>> options, no groceries or gas stations that I saw). The town was 
>> beautiful=
,
>> especially the Boyhood Home and the people were uniformly friendly 
>> and helpful. If anyone is curious, a gallery of the best images can 
>> be found a=
t
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/terryballard/albums/72157688158021175
>> Driving west, I passed on the exit for the Clemens Birth home - you 
>> have t=
o
>> save something for the next visit.
>>=20
>> --
>>=20
>>=20
>> Terry Ballard
>> Author and Librarian Without Walls
>> http://www.terryballard.org
>> Author of the book "50 specialty libraries of New York City: =46rom 
>>botan=
y to
>> magic" http:// <http://googlethisforlibraries.com/>librariesnyc.org
>>=20
>> "My memory has a mind of its own."
>>=20
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