Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-02-17
FIVE MILE BEACH JOURNAL, WILDWOOD, !. j. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY Il, 1922

friend of Polly Hopkins. Long ag'
she had found him, lost in the Wider
ness of the Storm country, and hat
brought him to the Silent City.
The shanty consisted Of three rooms
Back of the kitchen Daddy Hopkins
slept, and in the miserable coop-hole
where Polly had once stored rubbish
Granny Hope stretched out her weary
bones at night. Polly's bed ranHeo
the kitchen wall, and the room had
but a bench, two old chairs and n
thr~ee-legged table to offer in rude nos
pitality.
81 wheedled a little milk from Os-
car, Granny" said the girl. "Goddy,
but he's gettin' stingy!"
She put down the pail, went to the
stove and thrust a piece of wood into
it.
"Wood's as wet as he'll" she com
planned, almost as if she had spoken
TO herself.
The old woman stirred and lifted
her withered lids.
Hell amt wet" she muttered. ITS
dry an warm-hot, ! mean," and she
shivered, drawing nearer the fire.
"'Tain't like this lakeside"
Granny Hope had been in the Hop
kins' shack since the first winter now
Her W hut stood on a little point
about a quarter of a mile away. In 1t
she had lived alone yer since her hus-
band had gone down in the Big Blow,
a storm that was a tradition in the
settlement, and which only the oldest
inhabitants of the Silent City could
remember.
One day Polly had found her sick in
bed, and, as she had led the forlorn
billy goat home, so did she bring
Granny Hope, never realizing that in
the tottering old figure she was en-
tertaining an angel unawares. All she
knew was that GraIny's toothless
smile, her cheerful words of love and
kindness, made the sun shine bright
er and the meager food more filling.
During the winter, Mrs. Hope had
encouraged the girl to read. At first
that had been difficult, for the shanty
contained nothing but the tattered
Bible the old woman had brought with
her. Over and over Polly had read
the miSeries of Job the patient, the
long lamentations of jeremiah, who al
ways put her in mind of Daddy Hop
kins; and she also knew by heart the
of the crucifixion of Jesus, who,
so the Bible said, was the best man
that had we walked the globe.
So had those winter days of close
companionship with the woman who
had lived long and suffered much, and
who now was almost ready to on to
larger experiences, brought out in
Polly Hopkins a greater capacity for
The squatters called her
'Pollyop, the love-lass," and some
times, Polly of the sum-" Granny
explained this by saying: "They
Ill love you, Poll, an it's out of your
own heart they get the feelin' of Joy
when they see ye."
From behind the wood-box near
where the goat stood, Pollyop took up
an ak. Tenderly she bent and placed
4 kiss upon the goats horny head.
Then she touched Granny Hope.
The woman lifted her lids and
at the girl.
whats the matter, love-lass?" she
nurmured.
I'm goin' out, Granny" replied
Polly. IF Daddy comes, tell i'm I'll
De back in a while"
Into the rain she went, her bare feet
carrying her swiftly over the ragged
rocks, her curls gathered under her
chin like a warm glistening hood.
When later she appeared in front of
shanty, her Bingham skirt was
filed with rusty pans and old pieces
Of tin. She placed them on the door
step, and looking hesitatingly at the
tree, went back into the house.
From a peg Polly took a pair of her
trousers and clambered into
them, tucking her skirts out of sight
and rolling up the trouser legs, for
Hopkins was much taller than
his daughter. Into one of the big
Polly thrust a handful of
nails. 1t was a grotesque looking girl
GS~ .ZMWNWMMMNKN