"The author, George A. Martin, knows his subject, not only fence building but the farm and its requirements. He knows the stock: the unconfinable pig, the dexterous cow. He knows his materials, especially wood. I count twenty-one species of tree in the text, each especially suited for a particular application. He knows the value of work well done, done to last, and he aims to give value himself, in authorship as in the building of simple necessary structures."
from the Foreword by Castle Freeman

In earlier times, people felt the need to leave a permanent record of who they were and what they stood for. Nowadays people tend to keep quiet about those things, at least in their final resting place. But many have found a new fascination in wandering about an old graveyard. They are often touched and moved by what they read there. Those people of former generations have much to say to us, although with great economy of words because each letter had to be chiseled in stone with hand tools.