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]> wrote:
> 
> They have the fence right and the story wrong. In the earliest known photo 
> of the boyhood home (a stereoview from ca 1882-83)  the fence is a vertical 
> board fence just like what you see today, so that's historically correct.
> 
> But see pp. 28, 30, 34, and 36 in the first edition of Tom Sawyer.
> 
> Page 28 and 30 show the fence that was painted. Page 30 shows the fence in 
> the backyard (which was not painted) and page 36 shows another fence 
> entirely. The illustration at page 30 is clear as clear can be. But myths 
> die hard, like the bar-tab hoax or the Capt Sellers cover-story, Nigger Jim, 
> and the countless things that Twain never said that trail the false 
> appendage "--Mark Twain."
> 
> 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 3:31 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."
>> =20
>> 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
>> =20 
>