I'm referring to Peter Salwen's posting (or should I say "fence post"?) in 
which he said they got the fence wrong at the boyhood home. I say, no, they 
got it right, but they got the story wrong. But Peter is right about the 
fence Tom was supposed to paint.

The fence in the famous scene in the  book has widely spaced horizontal 
boards in the illustration at page 30 and Twain's text (quoted by Peter) 
confirms this configuration. The fence at the boyhood home had closely 
spaced vertical boards in 1882-83, and still does today. But of course these 
are two different fences; one is real and the other is fictional. Tom Sawyer 
never painted a fence in Hannibal. He did not live in Hannibal. He lives in 
a work of fiction, and he tricked other fictional boys into painting that 
fictional fence for him--and none of them ever painted a fence in Hannibal 
either. Hence, when Hannibal represents the fence next to the boyhood home 
as being the fence Tom or his victims painted, they are getting the story 
wrong, but the fence next to the boyhood home is historically correct, so 
far as the record can be known.

Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB
*************************
You may browse our books at:
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com


-----Original Message----- 
From: J. Dean
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 4:23 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Hannibal

Kevin. I don't follow what you mean by the story is wrong.
Jerry

Sent from my iPad

> On Sep 13, 2017, at 3:53 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell 
> <[log in to unmask]
OM> wrote:
>=20
> They have the fence right and the story wrong. In the earliest known 
> photo=
=20
> of the boyhood home (a stereoview from ca 1882-83)  the fence is a 
> vertica=
l=20
> board fence just like what you see today, so that's historically correct.
>=20
> But see pp. 28, 30, 34, and 36 in the first edition of Tom Sawyer.
>=20
> Page 28 and 30 show the fence that was painted. Page 30 shows the fence 
> in=
=20
> the backyard (which was not painted) and page 36 shows another fence=20
> entirely. The illustration at page 30 is clear as clear can be. But 
> myths=20=

> die hard, like the bar-tab hoax or the Capt Sellers cover-story, Nigger 
> Ji=
m,=20
> and the countless things that Twain never said that trail the false=20
> appendage "--Mark Twain."
>=20
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
> Member: ABAA, ILAB
> *************************
> You may browse our books at:
> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>=20
>=20
> -----Original Message-----=20
> From: J. Dean
> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 3:31 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Hannibal
>=20
> The problem with having a fence that matches Twain's description and 
> the=20=

> ori=3D
> ginal Sawyer illustrations is that it seems unlikely that Aunt Polly 
> would=
=20
> n=3D
> ot have seen the mob at work clearly visible through the wide spaces=20
> between=3D
> the rails.  The vegetation in the yard could have created some visual 
> obst=
r=3D
> uction, of course.  She was, also, at the back of the house nodding 
> off=20=

> over=3D
> her knitting with the cat in her lap when Tom came to tell her he was 
> done=
=20
> w=3D
> ith the job.  As Twain says she was expecting Tom to slip away, she=20
> probably=3D
> felt she had done her Christian duty by chasing Jim away and had long 
> sinc=
e=3D
> stopped keeping tabs on him.
>=20
> Probably more to the point, the Rockwell illustration, used on the 
> postage=
=20
> s=3D
> tamp and displayed in the Museum in Hannibal, is of a fence with 
> vertical=20=

> bo=3D
> ards.  That, no doubt, seals the deal as far as what type fence will 
> be=20=

> used=3D
> on the boyhood home.  "When the legend becomes fact ..."
>=20
> Jerry Dean
>=20
> Sent from my iPad
>=20
>> On Sep 13, 2017, at 2:34 PM, Peter Salwen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> =3D20
>> Thanks for the terrific photos, Terry. The place seems to have changed a
>> bit since I was there last, in 1955.
>> =3D20
>> 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=20
>> brush=3D
>=20
>> and passed it along the topmost plank."
>> =3D20
>> Stay well & keep sharing those pix.
>> =3D20
>> *_________________________________*
>> =3D20
>> *Peter Salwen /* salwen.com
>> *114 W 86, NYC 10024 | 917-620-5371*
>> =3D20
>> =3D20
>> On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 12:29 PM, Terry Ballard <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> =3D20
>>>  I recently traveled to Hannibal on the way to Nebraska to see the=20
>>> total=3D
>=20
>>> eclipse. I'd been once before, but this time I had a camera with a 
>>> nice=20=

>>> n=3D
> ew
>>> lens, so I had an afternoon and morning of fun capturing the spirit 
>>> of=20=

>>> wh=3D
> 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=20
>>> beautiful=3D
> ,
>>> 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=
=20
>>> a=3D
> t
>>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/terryballard/albums/72157688158021175
>>> Driving west, I passed on the exit for the Clemens Birth home - you 
>>> have=
=20
>>> t=3D
> o
>>> save something for the next visit.
>>> =3D20
>>> --
>>> =3D20
>>> =3D20
>>> Terry Ballard
>>> Author and Librarian Without Walls
>>> http://www.terryballard.org
>>> Author of the book "50 specialty libraries of New York City: 
>>> =3D46rom=20=

>>> botan=3D
> y to
>>> magic" http:// <http://googlethisforlibraries.com/>librariesnyc.org
>>> =3D20
>>> "My memory has a mind of its own."
>>> =3D20
>> =3D20=20
>=20