Dear Ralph, Thank you for your kind reply. I am familiar with the type of fence you describe, sheltered easterner though I may be. There is a horse farm right outside my window with just such a fence. My problem was not with the type of fence, but the apparent inconsistency between Twain's description of the topmost plank and every illustration of the whitewashing scene that ignores it. There is also a matter of the dimensions which Twain states as being “thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. This would hardly be the picturesque fence used for horses. A corral fence with those dimensions would be more suited to enclose a giraffe, and Aunt Polly didn't own one. At any rate, the mystery of the fence was solved for me by Barbara Schmidt and Victor Fischer who provided me with the following information. I am taking the liberty to pass it on to you. Twain's original fence was just the type of fence you described, but later exaggerated to the dimensions cited above. True Williams who illustrated the first edition worked from the original manuscript and drew Tom whitewashing a four foot high plank fence. Since then, apparently, most illustrations have shown the vertical fencing implied by the dimensions. Thanks again, John