John Evans wrote:
>
> Dear Members: I have a question that goes beyond trivia into some
> unnamed realm, but I have a nagging curiosity about this.  If there is
> an answer to be found, I am sure it will be here on the Forum.
>
> Whenever I read the whitewashing scene in  _The Adventures of Tom
> Sawyer_, I am always struck by the clause:
>
>         “Sighing he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost
> plank....”
>
> This suggests to me that the boards of the fence run horizontally with
> the “topmost plank” being the one farthest from the ground.  Yet every
> illustration of this scene, as well as the fence at the Mark Twain
> Boyhood Home, has the boards of the fence running vertically. And so I
> ask:
>
>         1. Is every representation of this famous scene in error?
>
>         2. Did Twain violate one of his own principles of writing: an
author
>                 shall "say what he is proposing to say..."?
>
>         3. Are Twain’s words a regional turn of phrase unfamiliar to my
> eastern ear?
>
>         4. Should I go get a life?
>
> Any thoughts on the matter beyond complete agreement with #4?
>
> John

John:

"4." is probably at least a partial answer to your question (just
kidding!).  I think this is an interesting question.  It is possible that
the detail of the fence Twain had in mind has the vertical fence boards
(the type now made w/ dog-eared tops) we've all seen in the illustrations
<and> a top rail.  This wouldn't be an uncommon detail in the rather
fussy repertoire of Victorian Gothic carpentry.

I suppose it is also possible that Twain had in mind a much more open
horizontal plank type fence, or maybe he's describing the rail on the
"back" side of the vertical plank type.

This is the best I can do...

Tim