St. Landry democrat., 1879-04-05
Our New Neighb0rS at POlkapOg.
BY r. B. ALDRICH.

When I saw the little house building,
an eighth of mile beyond my own, on
the Old Bay road, wondered who were
to be the tenants. The mod st structure
was set well back from the road, among
the trees, as if the inmates were to care
nothing whatever for a view Of the
stylish equipages which sweep by during
the summer season. For my part like
to see them passing in town or country !;
but each has his own taste. Tie pros
rietor, who seemed to he also the archi-
tect of the new house, superintended
the various details of the work with al
assiduIty that gave me a high opinion
of his intelligence and executive ability
and I congratulated myself on the pros.
pect of having some very agreeable
neighbois.
1t was quite early in the spring, if l
Hmeu,ber, when they moved into the
Wrtage-a newly married coupe, evil
hptIy; the wi e very y"ung pretty
& wowith the air of lady; the hu b4nd
hlstwhat Older, but still in the fr-t
: Hush of manhood. It was under-t'od
i'll the viilpge that they Came from b.
timore but no one knew them p rson>
ally and they brsuLht no letters OF
introduction. For obvious reas ms |
refrain rom NJ informing names) 1t was
clear that, tor the present at least, their
own Company was entirely sufficient for
them. They made no advances toward
the acquaintance of any OF the families
in the neighborhood, and consequently
were lett to themselves. That, appa-
, rently, was what they desired, and why
they came to Ponkapog. For, after its
black bass and wild duck and teal, soli-
tude is the chief staple of Ponkspog.
Perhaps its perfect !, rural loveliness
should be included. Lying high up
under the wing of the Blue hills, and in
the odorous breath or pines and cedars,
it chances to be the most enchanting bit
of genuine country within fifty miles of
Boston, which, moreover, can be reached
in. half an hours ride by railway. But
the nearest railway station Heaven be
praised y is two miles distant, and the
seclusion is without haw. Ponkapog
has one mail day; two mails day
would render the place uninhabitable,
The village-it looks like a compact
village at distance, but unravels and.
disappears the moment you drive into it
has quite large floating population.
I do not allude to the perch and pickerel.
Along the Old Bay road, highway
even in the colonial days, there are
number of attractive cottages struggling
off toward Milton, which were occupied
for the summer by people from the city.
These birds of passage are a distinct class
from the permanent inhabitants, and the
two seldom closely assimilate unless there
has been some previous connection. It
seemed to me that our new neighbors
were to come, under the head of per-
manent inhabitants they had built their
own house, and had the air ot intending
d. to live in it all the year round. oesa
n: :. 80 sc Are you not going to call on them ?"
Fl. I asked my wife one morning. '''5S5'
When they call on. u.s. she replied
lightly. ro ~uas.- @-t2 @=v%s
"But it is our place to call first, they
being strangers" ~
This was SAID as seriously as the Cir
cumstances demanded; but my wife
turned it off with q laugh, and I said no
more, always trusting to her intuitions
in these matters She WIS right. She
would not have been received, and a
cool "not at home" would have been
% bitter social pill to us if we had gone Out
of our way to be courteous.
I saw great deal of our neighbors,
! nevertheless Their cottage lay between
US and the posloffice--whrre h. was
never to be met by any chance--and I
csught frequent 81 mpses OF the two
working in the garden. Horticulture
did not appear so much an object as
exercise Pc sibly it was neither may
be they were engag d in digging ior
specimens OF those arrowhead and flint
hatchets which are contin ally coming to
the surface hereabouts. There is scarcely
an acre in which the plowshare has not
turned up come primitive stone weap IONS
or domestic gutensil, dlsdainfully lett to
us by the red men who once held the
domain-an ancient tribe called the
Punkypoags, q forlorn descendant of
which. one Polly Crowd, figures in the
annual Blue Book, down to the close of
the southern war, as state pensioner
7 quote from the local histriographer.
Whether they were developing a
kitehen-garden or emulating Professor
sehliemann at Mycenae, the new c5msrs
were evidently persons of refined musical
l. taste the lady had a voice OF remarkable
sweetness, although Of no great compass,
md I used often to linger of q morning
by the high gate and listen to her exc