Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-08-29
NO. 2O5.
THE THREE MARYs OF sHARPsvILLE.
CONTINUED FROM YESTERDAY.


which may dimly reach towards something
unknown and undreamed of herep No
doubt, in that future state which is to clear
mp all the mysterious injustice of this, the
monkey like malice lingering in the unde.
veloped humanity of Polly Dexter viii
nave dropped away and given her an
e4qai chance with her fellows. Till when,
what Is there left in life for such as she,
but to be pitied, avoided, and-not to put
100 me point upon it-hated?
mat last expression sounds, and indeed
Is, fnth sharp and hard How do know
but what she resisted? How do | know
bnt that when she was quite young and
her mental bones still soft and flexible,
something happened to her. so harsh, SO
cruel. so bad every way, that the expert
ence ot it entered every fibre of her being
and made her the bitter Polly she was?
my>eyes. i see her up in her
mothers house, on Sugar-Loaf Hill, lying
pale and senseless as corpse. She is on
a settle in the kitchen, and her mother
cannot. with all her efforts ''bring her to-"
lhe man in brown, hemlock dyed sur
tout. who pushed past me and ran down
the path to where Smith waited in his
wagon for me. while did my errand,-
who was he, and why did he speed by
Smith. and tear along down the hill? Ii
he had looked back, he might have seen
one Fury at least. in the person of Mrs,
Dexter. who followed him and stood at
the door. holding her level hand before
her eyes. and grinding her teeth. She did
not see me for minute, or hear my trem-
bling application for Pollys services in be-
nan OF departing carpet; and when she
did see and hear, she still looked like an
avenging ghost, that if l had been fifty in
stead OF five, | must have suspected and
unriddled the mystery.
And then, being only Polly, and having
no more soothing or stimulating infuen-
ces than rags of carpeting and broken
trousers, she had. so to speak, no materi-
ais for improvement. My elegant friend,
Agatha NJ, whose betrothed left her on
the eve of marriage, had the stimulous OF
ayengng friends and great social oppor-
tunity. She was fitted for Washington
and for st. James, She bound her wounds
with gold tissue, and wreathed her brows
with rosebuds; and if a SAVIOR of bitterness
could always be discerned through her
graceful ways and aesthetic tastes, only
the few beloved ones understood why such
a drop should mingle in cup so fair and
foaming as hers.
But Polly took her bitters every day and
all day and she had no opportunities and
no beauty. She might be said to have, in
her expressive vernacular, "no nothing"
And so Polly Dexter may have at least as
good chance as Burns gave to worse
spirit.
Like all New England villages fifty years
ago, ours was full OF original characters,
sharply cut and definite in their manifesto
tions. Even the mindless ones had their
individual notions, which they carried out
with vigor and dignity; like the half wit
ted Luna, who being supplied daily by my
mother from her own table, sent the fol-
lowing message to her benefactress: "lf
Miss r. is n goin' to send me my dinner
every day, | want 'em hot!' Which was
reasonable, divested OF the conventional
ties; and the rebuke was meekly accented
with corresponding reform.
All characteristics ran to seed in Sharps-
vile, the social pruning knife of these
days being unknown or disregarded; so
that nothing could be more relishing than
the curt phrases current among us which
described individuals without naming
them. We had every variety in our town.
from the poor, generous Polly Frank
who let in old Almy, gave up her own bed
to her, while she herself slept on the floor,
and, when | said. .'lsn't old Almy dread
full, Polly?" answered tenderly, ~'She's
dreadful poor, dear."--to rich man who,
lending hammer to his neighbor to drive
a nail thrifty charged three cents for the
use of it.
Polly Forest. my third, and best, owned
a farm. or rather a part of one, in Sharps-
vile Swamp; and might have lived at
home. had she SO chosen, or ii she had
been afflicted of false and foolish pride
which brings so many girls, in our day, to
bad lives; but being neither self important
nor self conscious, her affectionate nature
and religious faith led her to devote her.
self to the interest of her employers with
an assiduity and faithfulness than even the
Apostle Paul might have made an example
of. Also, because she was self reliant and
independent, she despised putting herself
forward, or out of her place, as she phrased
it; and she kept that of servant with
pertinacity only equaled by her modest
dignity. At the same time she held her.
self as the dear friend of us all, and an
unwearied correspondent when we were
away from home; giving important par
ticulars of the cat and fox, which she sus-
pected might be forgotten in our palor
correspondence. Being great reader,
with also pretty taste for verse making,
many were the pages of rhyme she sent
us. always under the seal OF secrecy. for
she was far too modest to make any talk
of what she was, or had learned. But in
fact hers was
"a deedfnl life,-a silent voice.
Nv Polly the third had sorrows of her own,
as we'll as Polly Frank, but not like hers.
Indeed. l doubt if Cupid ever so much as
brushed a feather of his wing against her
red cheek. They were those hard, un-
spoken sorrows, that admit no sympathy.
An Incorporate, lazy brother, and moth
er, so proud, so unreasonable, and SO ret
icent. that by no chance did kindly or
affectionate word ever escape her. To
drunken Joe she addressed all her kind
nesses, insisting on Polly's outdoor ser.
vices in his place. lnsomuch that one tlay
Polly came near being torn to pieces BY
the bull, and only escaped by climbing =
small tree. Here, at the distance of q few
feet from the roaring creature, tearing at
the slight trunk with his horns and piow-
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