COASTING ON PONKAPOAG 319 



After the leviathan slid over the brow of the 

 hill and began its downward course there could 

 be no slowing up, no backward sled tracks, till the 

 end of the course was reached. He must nego- 

 tiate the curve at Captain Bill Tucker's corner 

 at lightning speed and must rightly manage the 

 mass in mighty momentum after that, if he would 

 not spill them all in Ponkapoag brook. The big 

 Ponkapoag bob-sled needed no bugle to herald 

 its coming. When it started off and especially 

 when it swung the curve at Captain Bill's the 

 mingled melody of delight and dismay, masculine 

 and feminine, could easily be heard a mile, and 

 throughout the course the chant of the coasters 

 carried runic warning well ahead of the ap- 

 proaching thunderbolt. In the legend of it all I 

 find no mention of anyone being hurt. 



A great if not famous inventor once lived in 

 Ponkapoag. James Basin came from one of the 

 Channel Islands, a French Huguenot, with his 

 family, and settled in the little village; it would 

 be hard to tell why. He invented the ''Basin 

 trumpet," a curious kind of cornet with which 

 one gets change of pitch by turning a crank with 

 one hand while holding the instrument to the 

 mouth with the other. This was played in the 



