The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-04-24
POLLY AND THE DEATH TRAP
BY cHAs. sLoNA REID.

Polly Blake was sitting OIL pun
cheon stool, milking a one-horned
COW. A man stood few feet behind
her with his back against the fence.
He was quite different from Po1ly's
kind, as any stranger might have
guessed. He was a town man
Polly was mountain girl.
Polly kept busy with her milking
and the man talked volub1y, as he
usually did. 1t was sunset and the
shadow of night already had fallen
upon the valley below, giving dusky
hue to the foliage of the distant trees.
It was the hour when Polly usually
MIXED the one-horned COW in the
evening and it was not by accident
that the man was there, talking to
her. Polly wore no bonnet and the
mass of curling brown hair which
hung about her neck and shoulders
was ravishing in the richness of its
effect. Obviously she was glad of
the mans presence, for a certain hap
piness and certain amount of en-
barrassment, when he was near, in
variably set her heart to humping in
a way that caused the color in her
cheeks to come and go like the CLEAN
of a red ripe cherry in ftful SUM-
light.
Polly" said the man, as he rat
tied on from one subject to another,
without taking the trouble to round
his periods, "that COW worries me.
I think, since she cannot have uni
form pair of horns, it would be much
better if she had none at all. What
do you think about it?"
eyes, I think she'd look better
without any, 'less'n she had two.
But I reckon she couldn't help losin'
the other one."
"How did she lose it, anyway"
"She fell into blind ditch and
broke 1t off tryin' to get out"
"What is blind ditch, Polly?"
'It's gulley that has been kiver-
ed over with bresh an sick like"
"That's a pretty dangerous sort
of thing to have about the place,
isn't it 7"
eyes, reckon it is. Never know
where ye're goin to land, sometimes,
if ye break through the bresh."
81 guess 1t would be we'll for a
chap to be careful in climbing about
these hills, then?'
GAS I've hinted to ye once or twice
already, it's a good idea to be keer-
full in several ways, Mr.. Gordon. !"
ooh, don't call me Mr.. Gordon,
Polly, say Maxey. 1t would sound
more like you cared a little, you
know. And you do, don't you, Pol
ly? There's no one listening. won't
you tell me yes?"
But Polly was silent and her very
silence assured the man that she did
care.
Her task was soon finished, and
Polly arose from the milking stool.
Gordon advanced to take the pail.
This little gallantry he had paid regu-
larly every evening for fortnight
and Polly had come to accept it as a
matter of course. So they walked
along together, she in her simple ma
ture unable to conceal her heart S
growing fondness for this stranger,
and he apparently pleased with her
ma 1o&,ifectad 1ikinU
Later, when the evening meal was
finished, and Gordon, with the Blake
family, sat near the fireplace, he en-
tertaining the rest with stories of
travel and incidental anecdotes, the
apparition of head and shoulders at
an open window near where Polly sat
caused the narrator to pause in one oi
his stories. The head and shoulders
were those of stout young noun
taineer, and the face would have been
one marve1ously handsome with the
added expression of a cultivated mind.
At the pause in Gordon's story,
Polly turned her head, and when her
gaze alighted upon the man at the
window she lowered her eyebrows.
Ben Martin had been her acknowl.
edged lover for a long time; and now
as she thought of how her heart had
gone away from him, a little pang OF
something like remorse troubled hel
bosom.
Ben stood silently gazing in the
window for several minutes, then he
spoke in tone of voice more that oi
command than of entreaty.
"Polly. 1 want ye to come out here
a minute" he said "there's some
thing got to say to you.
The girl glanced at Gordon, ther
arose. Gordon chuckled to himself
He knew how matters had stood be-
tween the two and he suspected that
this was to be one more appeal or
Martins part.
When Polly came up to where Ber