The Tarboxes

Raymond Cape is across the East part of Sebago Lake, called Jordan Bay, from my grandparent's house, this small camp turned residence which they bought in 1965. Near the tip of the cape there's a tiered outcrop of about 30 feet people jump from called Frye's leap. I think at one point I knew the story of Frye, I think the story goes that he leapt to escape hostile Indians.

Opening Sebago Lake Land (Herbert G. Jones, 1946) at random, I found this sad story on page 101, one I'd never heard before:

It was one of those distressing tragedies of early pioneer life that rarely if ever occur in these days. The Tarbox family consisting of mother, father, and four children, the eldest a girl of twelve, lived in a cabin on Raymond Cape. It had been a very severe winter, with storm following storm, cutting off all communications with their neighbors. Their provisions became nearly exhausted, and the father was compelled to set off on the long journey to get a bag of corn ground at the village mill. He reached the mill safely, and with the bag on his shoulders, started to retrace his steps. Meanwhile another storm came up, and within a short distance of his house, he sank down exhausted, unable to take another step.

He called for help, and his wife, anxiously awaiting his return, heard his cries and quickly left everything to go to his assistance. She soon found that she could make no headway in the deep drifts, so returned, and donning some of her husband's clothing, reached him while he was still alive. She couldn't move him, so taking off her coat, she covered him the best she could and set off herself in the direction of the nearest farmhouse for help. After a short struggle, her breath failed her and she sank down exhausted.

The children, left alone in the darkness, huddled around the fire, under the protection f the little girl of twelve, who kept blowing the horn throughout the night, trying to attract attention to their plight. But the storm closed them in for three days and three nights, before the alarmed neighbors could reach them. After a search they found the frozen bodies of the parents, and in the distress and excitement, the little tot of three had wandered off alone, and almost lost her life, before she was rescued and taken into the Hawthorne family as one of their own.

Interesting about compassion, it's faster than thought, it comes crashing over you before you know it, popping the heart like a water balloon and pooling around the feet.

Wish I had time to read the rest of this book but leave today and can't take it with me. Maybe I'll come across it again or one of his other titles: I Discover Maine, Old Portland Town, Old Koussinoc, Maine Memories, Portland Ships are Good Ships, and Isles of Casco Bay.