Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-08-29

indeed, eeenAcA An1sALauAt. Duh IOE uIuHn.
en- Joe and neighbor, who with much
would have been my Pollya Polly always
addressed her mother in third person, as
if she spoke to some potentate. ts
would ma am like to have the door
shutan or, "Shall I get the water for
ma'am?" 9F
There was nothing to be afraid of that
could see, In Mrs. Forest, who seemed
only pale, stiffish woman; but to her
daughter she was an object of awful de-
ference, and she obeyed every token of
her will more like slave than a child.
/ think Mrs. Forest had no objection to
Pollv's "going out to live" for q year at
time, though she never said SO and Polly
always formally asked ma'am's leave,
when she came to us, though she was
twenty-five or thirty years old.
There was no 'sbase law Of servitude"
between US. 1t was always love matter.
1t was understood that she was to have the
highest wages given in town Qour and
sixpence week, and time to mend her
own clothes after nine O'Clock at night;
but she earned it well in a family of six
teen, and with children about in all direc-
tons, hindering as well as helping her.
Before the kings of Ireland overran this
land and before the Yankee tendency to
patent inventions had been so stimulated
by ignorance and stupidity that pail of
water cannot be drawn in natural way
from the well, our Polly used to go smil-
ing into the garden and gather eight or
ten kinds of vegetables for dinner, pre-
pairing each for the table. and they had q
sweet freshness and flavor found in no
market produce now.
Her skilled eye detected the full corn in
the ear by the look of the husk. and she
knew by the swell of the pod when the
peas were ready for boiling; she knew
what squashes not to get, and where were
the crispest cucumbers. Indeed, she had
that native talent which induced cows to
give down1heir milk. even without the
promise of silk gown; the wit to make
hens lay and chickens live and rising,
like the virtuous woman in Proverbs
while ii "as yet night, her washing was
hung in snowy lines. Or ever her breakfast
was eaten Whatsoever her hands found
TO do, that did she with her might. She
was so fond of flowers, and so patient in
their shortcomings and their ever-needed
pottings, and think she must have gar
den now somewhere in Paradise. croons
Methodist hymns over her flowers, as she
used to here, about
"The Lord unto his garden comes,
The spices yield rich perfume,
The lilies grow and thriYe,n
and so on; for I don't see how heaven is
going to change ones tendencies unless
one is made over; how queen is to take
mp the role of a peasant, or a philosopher
that of stock broker, merely by another
place of residence.
My Polly In that state or place where
YOU are gone, do you find any one to min
lister to, serve with loving diligence, with
heart full, unwearied tenderness. as you
did hereF There was tie between you
and those You loved closer than that of a
maid to her mistress, and that tie may re-
main in another world. She whom you
loved so much, and in whose arms you
died. when she too went to the world of
souls, must have found you. think, wait
ing for her, with the same simple devo.
lion as when you left her to take up you,
old relation Of unselfsh love.
Like most country girls. Polly coult
,lrive nail and split wood if necessary
which fancy it often was at her home
She was pretty good carpenter, and be
sides tinkering the house on occasions
could give form to her own invention wit
some skill. A board for securing knive
Of her make, with sundry contrivances an
conveniences, lasted in my kitchen unit
-ilvering them came into fashion.
The greatest treat we had as children
was to go to Polly's farm between whie
to visit her. | remember wildly queer
long, narrow passages to remote parts OF
the house, which defied all rules of arch.
itecture, and which led nowhere, with a
captivating mystery. | was glad to lind
something that illustrated the "Romance
Of the forest double glad when got
only into the back kitchen and was relyed
from the tear of seeing skeleton. Mrs
Forest was generally to be found there
untiringly scrubbing; and smell, inhaled
there. of milk and clean pans and tubs,
fingers in my memory to this day, as also
the impression of the whole inside of the
ceiling freshly white washed ALWAYS, the
boards as well as plasiering. it was
fearfully and wonderfully clean at Forest
Farm.
Then, not having the dread of tn, bull
before our eyes, having asertained that
he was rightly confined, we strolled off
into the woods that skirt South Mountains,
where we gathered the tender checker
berry leaves, or. if early in the season, the
rich berries themselves and the delicate
May flower. Afterwards, being refreshed
BY ma'am's hospitality of rye and Indian
bread and cheese, we sat off at dusk, on
our two mile homeward way, and Polly
stood at the delectable gate, as we called
it, guarding us with her smiles, till the
long road bent and shut her away from
our sight.
know my Polly that the recording
angel never set down against You the lit.
tie whiffs al temper that made Won some
tines even throw the chairs out of the
window, or the little iniustices that made
my brother Ralph hate you. To me you
were always kind, gentle and patient !:
but who pretended you were perfection ;
Only would could find helper to nv
domestic infirmities one hundredth par,
as faithful, as clean and capable, faults all
counted in; would there he any question
of wages between us? Think of Pc ly
going to leave because there Is sickness,
in the family!" Think ofPolly withdraw
ing from the storeroom portion of grocer
les, under some ethical delusion familiar
TO the Celtic Imagination Think of Polly
at all in the same category with locks and