Quincy Adams Sawyer and Masons Corner Folks | Page 6

a
great extent, hilly and rocky, or full of sand and clay pits. The upper
and longest road ran through a more fertile section. The village of
Mason's Corner contained the best arable land in the town, and the
village had increased in population and wealth much faster than the
other sections of the town. To the east of the village of Mason's Corner
lay the town of Montrose, and beyond that town was situated the
thriving city of Cottonton, devoted largely, as its name indicated, to the
textile manufacturing industries.
The best known and most popular resident of Mason's Corner was
Deacon Abraham Mason. He was a retired farmer on the shady side of
fifty. He had married young and worked very hard, his labors being
rewarded with pecuniary success. When a little over fifty, he gave up
active farm work and devoted his time to buying and selling real estate,
and to church and town affairs, in both of which he was greatly
interested. His house stood about halfway down a somewhat steep hill,
the road over which, at the top, made a sharp turn. It was this turn
which had received the appellation of Mason's Corner and from which
the village eventually had taken its name.
Mrs. Sophia Mason, the Deacon's wife, was a little less than fifty years
of age. She was a comely, bright-faced, bright-eyed, and energetic
woman, who had been both a loving wife and a valued helpmeet to her
husband. Their only living child was a daughter named Huldah Ann,
about nineteen years of age, and considered by many to be the prettiest
and smartest girl in Mason's Corner. The only other resident in Deacon
Mason's house was Hiram Maxwell, a young man about thirty years of

age. He had been a farm hand, but had enlisted in 1861, and served
through the war. On his return home he was hired by Deacon Mason to
do such chores as required a man's strength, for the Deacon's business
took him away from home a great deal. Hiram was not exactly what
would be called a pronounced stutterer or stammerer; but when he was
excited or had a matter of more than ordinary importance to
communicate, a sort of lingual paralysis seemed to overtake him and
interfered materially with the vocal expression of his thoughts and
ideas. Type would be inadequate to express the facial contortions and
what might be termed the chromatic scales of vocal expression in
which he often indulged, and they are, therefore, left for full
comprehension to those of inventive and vivid imaginative powers.
This fact should not be lost sight of in following the fortunes of this
brave soldier, honest lover, good husband, and successful business
man.
The Pettengill homestead was situated on the other side of the road,
southwest from Deacon Mason's house. Ezekiel's grandfather had left
three sons, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the latter being Ezekiel's father.
Abraham had died when he was a young man, and Jacob had been dead
about five years. Uncle Ike was in his seventy-sixth year, and was
Ezekiel's only living near relative, with the exception of his sister Alice,
who had left home soon after her father's death and was now employed
as bookkeeper in a large dry goods store in Boston.
Ezekiel was about twenty-eight years of age, being seven years older
than his sister. He was a hardy, strong-willed, self-reliant young fellow.
He loved farming and had resolved to make a better living out of it than
his father had ever done. A strong incentive to win success proceeded
from the fact that he had long been in love with "Huldy Ann," the
Deacon's daughter, and he had every reason to believe that his affection
was returned, although no formal engagement existed between them,
and marriage had never been spoken of by them or the young lady's
parents.
Uncle Ike Pettengill had been a successful business man in Boston, but
at the age of sixty had wearied of city life, and decided to spend the rest

of his days in the country. Despite the objections of his wife and two
grown up daughters, he sold out his business, conveyed two-thirds of
his property to his wife and children, and invested the remaining third
in an annuity, which gave him sufficient income for a comfortable
support. He did not live at the Pettengill house, but in a little
two-roomed cottage or cabin that he had had built for him on the lower
road, about halfway between Mason's Corner and Eastborough Centre.
A short distance beyond his little house, a crossroad, not very often
used, connected the upper and lower roads. Uncle Ike had a fair-sized
library, read magazines and weekly papers, but never looked at a daily
newspaper. His only companions were about