[Editor: This poem by Barcroft Boake was published in Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems (1897).]
How Polly Paid for Her Keep
Do I know Polly Brown? Do I know her? Why, damme!
You might as well ask if I know my own name!
It’s a wonder you never heard tell of old Sammy,
Her father, my mate in the Crackenback claim.
He asks if I know little Poll! Why, I nursed her
As often, I reckon, as old Mother Brown
When they lived at the Flats, and old Sam went a burster
In Chinaman’s Gully, and dropped every crown.
My golden-haired mate, ever brimful of folly
And childish conceit, and yet ready to rest
Contented beside me: ’twas I who taught Polly
To handle four horses along with the best.
’Twas funny to hear the small fairy discoursing
Of horses and drivers! I’ll swear that she knew
Every one of the nags that I drove to the Crossing —
Their voices, and paces, and pedigrees too.
She got a strange whim in her golden-haired noddle
That a driver’s high seat was a kind of a throne:
I’ve taken her up there before she could toddle,
And she’d talk to the nags in a tongue of her own.
Then old Mother Brown got the horrors around her:
(I think it was pineapple rum drove her daft)
She cleared out one night, and next morning they found her,
A mummified mass, in a forty-foot shaft.
And Sammy? Well, Sammy was wailing and weeping,
And raving, and raising the devil’s own row:
He was only too glad to give into our keeping
His motherless babe — we’d have kept her till now;
But Jimmy Maloney thought proper to court her:
Among all the lasses he loved but this one:
She’s no longer Polly, our golden-haired daughter;
She’s Mrs. Maloney, of Packsaddle Run.
Our little girl Polly’s no end of a swell (you
Must know Jimmy shears fifty thousand odd sheep) —
But I’m clean off the track: I was going to tell you
The way in which Polly paid us for her keep.
It was this way: My wife’s living in Tumbarumba,
And I’m down at Germanton yards, for a sale,
Inspecting coach-horses (I wanted a number)
When they flashed down a message that made me turn pale.
’Twas from Polly, to say that the old wife had fallen
Down-stairs, and in falling had fractured a bone:
There was no doctor nearer than Tumut to call on,
So she and the blacksmith had set it alone.
They’d have to come down by the coach in the morning,
As one of the two buggy ponies was lame:
Would I see the old doctor, and give him fair warning
To keep himself decently straight till they came?
I was making good money those times, and a fiver
Per week was the wages my deputy got;
A good, honest worker, an out-and-out driver —
But, like all the rest, a most terrible sot.
So, just on this morning — which made it more sinful —
With my women on board, the unprincipled skunk
Hung round all the bars till he loaded a skinful
Of grog, and then started his journey — dead drunk!
Drunk! with my loved ones on board — drunk as Chloe!
He might have got right by the end of the trip
Had he rested contented and quiet; but no, he
Must pull up at Rosewood, for one other nip.
That finished him off quick, and there he sat, dozing
Like an owl on his perch, half awake, half asleep,
Till a lurch of the coach came, when, suddenly losing
His balance, he fell to earth all of a heap;
While the coach, with its four frightened horses, went sailing
Downhill to perdition and Carabost break —
Four galloping devils, with reins loosely trailing,
And passengers falling all roads in their wake.
Two bagmen, who sat on the box, jumped together
And found a soft bed in the mud of the drain;
The barmaid from Murphy’s fell light as a feather —
I think she got off with a bit of a sprain;
While the jock, with his nerves most decidedly shaken,
Made straight for the door, never wasting his breath
In farewell apologies: basely forsaken,
My wife and Poll Brown sat alone with grim Death.
While the coach thundered downward, my wife fell a-praying;
But Poll in a fix, now, is dashed hard to beat:
She picked up her skirts, scrambled over the swaying
High roof of the coach, till she lit on the seat,
And there looked around. In her hand was a pretty,
Frail thing made of laces, with which a girl strives
To save her complexion when down in the city —
A lace parasol! yet it saved both their lives.
Oh, Polly was game, you may bet your last dollar!
She leans on the splashboard, and stretches and strains
With her parasol, down by the off-sider’s collar,
Until she contrives to catch hold of the reins.
They lay quite secure in the crook of the handle,
She clutched them — the parasol fell underneath.
I tell you no girl ever could hold a candle
To Poll, as she hung back and clenched her white teeth.
She must get a pull on them ere they should reach
The fence on the hill, where the road had been mended …
The blocks bit the wheels with a scroop and a screech;
The little blue veins in her arms swelled and blackened;
The reins were like fiddle-strings stretched in her grip;
When the break hove in sight, the mad gallop had slackened:
She had done it, by God! they were under the whip.
They still had the pace on; but Polly was able
To steer ’twixt the fences with never a graze:
They flashed past the change, where the groom at the stable
Just stood with his mouth open, dumb with amaze.
On the level she turned them — the best bit of driving
That ever was done on this side of the range —
And trotted them back up the hill-side, arriving
With not a strap broken in front of the change.
And the wife? Well, she prayed to the Lord till she fainted:
I reckon He answered her prayers: all the same,
He must have helped Polly. It’s curious now, ain’t it?
To see a thin slip of a girl be so game.
Did I summons the driver? I had no occasion,
The coroner came with his jury instead,
Who found that he died from a serious abrasion —
Both wheels of the coach had gone over his head.
Source:
Barcroft Boake, Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, Sydney (NSW): Angus and Robertson, 1897, pp. 67-72
Also published in:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 6 February 1892, p. 10, columns 1-2 [by Barcroft H. Boake]
Relevant notes from the “Notes to poems” section in this book:
15. HOW POLLY PAID FOR HER KEEP, p. 67. — Printed in The Bulletin, February 6, 1892. Signed ‘Barcroft H. Boake.’ A note by author was appended: ‘Where a mail road passes through a fence it is customary to dispense with a gate, a lane being built on either side of the opening instead, which goes by the name of a “break.”’
The object is to avoid the cost and trouble of a gate, while preventing the passage of sheep from one paddock to another. E.g., sheep feeding along the fence in the direction of the arrows above, and reaching the barrier, would be turned back into the centre of their own paddock. The lane is narrow — hence the need of clever steering (verse 26).
Verse 27. ‘The change.’ The end of a coach-stage, where horses are changed.
Editor’s notes:
The poem published in The Bulletin, 6 February 1892, included a notation (indicated by an asterix on the line, “Downhill to perdition, and Carabost “break,”*”); the footnote was as follows:
* Where a mail road passes through a fence it is customary to dispense with a gate, a lane being built on either side of the opening instead, which goes by the name of a “break.”
ain’t = (vernacular) is not, isn’t (“ain’t” can be a contraction of: am not; are not, aren’t; has not, hasn’t; have not, haven’t; is not, isn’t)
all roads = all ways; all over the place; in different directions
amaze = an archaic form of “amazement”: the state of being astonished, astounded, surprised, and/or full of wonder
bagmen = (plural of: bagman) swagmen, plural of swagman [see: swagman]
base = ignoble, lacking decent moral values, lacking good personal qualities, lacking honour; contemptible; cowardly; dishonest; infamous; selfish; corrupt, evil, terrible; regarding someone from a low socio-economic class, of or relating to a peasant; born outside of marriage; born as a slave; coinage not made from valuable metal or having a low proportion of valuable metal; counterfeit; lacking value, of inferior quality or worth, worthless
basely = acting in a manner which is base [see: base]
brimful = very full (full to the brim), filled to the utmost capacity, full to the max (filled to the maximum extent possible)
buggy = a small lightweight cart or carriage, with two or four wheels, with a single seat, pulled by one horse
burster = to go all in (financially, physically, emotionally, or otherwise); to invest all of one’s available resources; to commit or engage without restraint; something which bursts or which causes something to burst
See: “buster n.2”, Green’s Dictionary of Slang [see section: go in a buster (v.)]
by God = an exclamatory oath, used to express determination, emphasis, or surprise
clean off the track = off the topic; strayed from discussion of the current subject; gone off on a tangent
cleared out = departed, left, moved, went away; cleared off, ran away
crown = a coin equivalent to five shillings
daft = crazy, insane, mad (can also mean: foolish, silly, stupid; madly in love with, very fond of)
damme = an expression of vehemence (to give emphasis to a statement), anger, annoyance, or surprise
devil’s own = a phrase used as an intensifier, to emphasise a statement (e.g. the devil’s own luck, the devil’s own work)
drunk as Chloe = very drunk; the phrase has been traced back to the late 18th century; it was popularised in Australia by “Chloe”, the famous nude painting (painted in 1875) which was purchased by one of the owners of Young & Jackson’s pub in Melbourne, and hung therein on public display from 1909 onwards
See: 1) “drunk as Chloe adj.”, Green’s Dictionary of Slang [cites a usage of the phrase from 1789]
2) “Chloe | Jules-Joseph Lefebvre”, Only Melbourne
3) “Chloé (artwork)”, Wikipedia
ere = (archaic) before (from the Middle English “er”, itself from the Old English “aer”, meaning early or soon)
fiver = five pound note (British Imperial currency); five pounds (£5)
game = possessing a fighting spirit, plucky; eager, ever ready, or willing to have a go at something new or challenging; ready for anything, brave and determined enough to tackle hard or dire obstacles (used in the phrase “game for anything”)
grog = alcoholic beverages
He = in a religious context, and capitalized, a reference to God or Jesus Christ
hold a candle = come close or near to the greatness, level, or quality of something (normally used as a negative comparison, to state that one entity is comparatively inferior to another entity), e.g. “Alex can’t hold a candle to Casey” (meaning Alex is not as good as Casey, in whatever activity or field is being referred to), “No batsman can hold a candle to Don Bradman” (meaning no other batsman is as great or as successful as Don Bradman, the legend of Australian cricket), “Hollywood could not hold a candle to Australia” (meaning Hollywood is not as good as Australia for the making of movies)
level = a area of relatively flat or level ground (i.e. not on a hill, incline, or slope)
Lord = in a religious context, and capitalized, a reference to God or Jesus Christ
nag = (slang) horse; can also have a negative meaning, referring to a horse which is regarded as inferior or worthless
nip = a small mouthful, or a sip, of a drink, especially an alcoholic drink; a small amount of an alcohol drink
noddle = (slang) head; (archaic meaning: back of the head)
occasion = a motive or reason; a chance (especially a timely chance) or opportunity; a necessity or requirement; an incident or occurrence; an instance in time (especially referring to when something of interest or of note occurred); a ceremony, celebration, function, or significant event
off-sider = (also spelt “offsider”) a bullock on the left-side of a bullock team (or a horse on the left-side of a team of horses); an assistant or helper; a bullock-driver’s assistant, who would walk on the off-side (the right-side) of a bullock team and handle the bullocks on that side when any such action was required (along with any other assistant duties); normally a bullock-driver would walk on the left-side (near-side) of a bullock team, beside the best bullock (whose position was on the front-left of the team), whilst the bullock on the right-side (the off-side) was known as the “off-sider”, so in due course the bullock-driver’s assistant also came to be known as an “off-sider”, and the term was later applied to any assistant in general
See: 1) “Glossary of Slang and Peculiar Terms in Use in the A.I.F.”, School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University [“Offsider: Assistant. The term applies to a bullock driver’s assistant who when his services are required works on the off or right hand side of the team.”]
2) “The Bullockies”, The Australian Teamsters Hall of Fame [“A bullocky walked on the nearside (left) of the bullocks for added control of the team”]
3) “Bullocky”, Wikipedia
perdition = Hell; eternal damnation, eternal spiritual ruin, loss of one’s soul; absolute destruction, disaster, failure, or ruin; downfall
Poll = a diminutive form of the name “Polly”; a diminutive form of the nickname “Polly”, being a rhyming-related form of the name “Molly” (a diminutive form of the name “Mary”)
See: “Poll”, Wiktionary
row = a noisy argument, conflict, disturbance, or fight; an argument or dispute; a loud noise, commotion, or uproar
shaft = a mining shaft (a vertical or sloping passage dug into the earth as part of a mine)
skinful = a lot of alcoholic drinks, being enough to make a person drunk (e.g. “He’s had a skinful, he can hardly stand up!”); a large amount of drink, being enough to fill up a skin (a container made from animal skin, or leather, usually made from sheep or goat skin, used for holding liquids; also known as a “waterskin”); a large amount of something
See: “Waterskin”, Wikipedia
sot = an habitual drunkard
splashboard = a board placed at the front of a horse-drawn cart or coach, designed to protect people from water, mud, dirt, or other material being splashed up from the roadway
straight = not drunk; not inebriated or mentally affected by the use of alcoholic drinks or recreational drugs; someone who is not a user of alcoholic drinks or recreational drugs; someone who used to be a user of alcoholic drinks or recreational drugs, but no longer partakes of such substances
summons = the act of issuing a summons to someone to appear in a court of law to face a charge; a summons document (a document issued by a court, an government administrative agency or by an authorised government official, demanding that someone attend a hearing in a court of law on a specified date, or for someone to produce certain documents)
See: “Summons”, Wikipedia
swagman: a roaming labourer who carries his personal belongings in a swag, or bundle, whilst traveling about in search of casual work; especially used to refer to itinerant labourers travelling around the country areas of Australia in the late 1800s to early 1900s (also known as a “swaggie”)
swell = someone who is fashionably dressed; a toff, a dandy; someone who is socially prominent
’twas = (archaic) a contraction of “it was”
’twixt = (vernacular) a contraction of “betwixt” (i.e. between) (can be spelt with or without an apostrophe: ’twixt, twixt)
under the whip = under control (e.g. when horses respond to the crack of a whip, and do as commanded); being controlled or dominated by someone (including submitting to someone’s manipulation, will, or force of character)
[Editor: Changed “helped Polly, It’s curious now, ain’t it?” to “helped Polly. It’s curious now, ain’t it?” (replaced the comma after “Polly” with a full stop), “I had no occasion” to “I had no occasion,” (inserted a comma).]
Leave a Reply