PONKAPOG PAPERS

By Thomas Bailey Aldrich




TO FRANCIS BARTLETT



THESE miscellaneous notes and essays are called _Ponkapog Papers_ not
simply because they chanced, for the most part, to be written within
the limits of the old Indian Reservation, but, rather, because there is
something typical of their unpretentiousness in the modesty with which
Ponkapog assumes to being even a village. The little Massachusetts
settlement, nestled under the wing of the Blue Hills, has no illusions
concerning itself, never mistakes the cackle of the bourg for the sound
that echoes round the world, and no more thinks of rivalling great
centres of human activity than these slight papers dream of inviting
comparison between themselves and important pieces of literature.
Therefore there seems something especially appropriate in the
geographical title selected, and if the author's choice of name need
further excuse, it is to be found in the alluring alliteration lying
ready at his hand.

REDMAN FARM, _Ponkapog_, 1903.