312 OLD PLYMOUTH TRAILS 



Modern easy methods of transportation and 

 communication have put the typical New Eng- 

 land village, with its manly, self-reliant, self- 

 centered life, out of existence, and with it have 

 passed or become decadent many of its commun- 

 ity sports. I doubt if Ponkapoag will ever again 

 see such coasting as it has seen, and I fancy the 

 same may be truly said of hundreds of big hills in 

 other towns. The sport still holds in one form 

 or another, but it has changed. Coasting in the 

 streets is rightly forbidden now in many com- 

 munities. The chances of meeting dangerous 

 obstructions in these days of multitudinous au- 

 tomobiles and omnipresent trolley cars are too 

 great. In the old Ponkapoag days such things 

 were unknown, and the rarely occasional sleigh 

 or wood-sled was little to be feared. The driv- 

 ers who were not coasting themselves knew the 

 coasters had the right of way and "cleared the 

 lulla" to let them by. 



There came nights like that of the Christmas 

 just passed when the still, dry air intoxicated the 

 coasters and carried their shouts far under the 

 golden moon. Then there would be a constant 

 procession of swiftly flying forms from the brow 

 of the hill where Blue Hill loomed clear-cut 



