Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

[Baker, John]

        This would, of course, be earlier than Mieder's 1846 example.
In light of the many who cite to Frost for this proverb, it's another
reason why we need to see the Yale Book of Quotations (currently $30 at
Buy.com) as soon as possible.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Fred Shapiro
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 5:04 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

On Mon, 5 Jun 2006, Baker, John wrote:

>        As Frost himself recognizes, it is an old saying and of
> incontestable accuracy where there are cows or other animals that can
> damage crops.  Here's an 1859 example, from Transactions of the State
> Agricultural Society of Michigan; With Reports of County Agricultural
> Societies, for the Year 1859, Vol. XI, at 342 (1861) (via Making of
> America):

There are a number of examples from the 1830s and 1840s findable on the
databases.  The earliest I have found is 1834 in American Periodical
Series, I believe.

Fred Shapiro

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