[mcw,jp,sb,mf]
All quotations are authored by Pauline Yvonne Parker unless noted otherwise. Medlicott is abbreviated as "M" when indicated as a source, while Glamuzina and Laurie are abbreviated as "G&L". [jp]
Senior Detective Brown testified at the trial that he found fourteen exercise books, a scrap book and a diary in Pauline's room. [actually two diaries. jp]
March 1953
Her fictional family intruded into the diary with bewilderingly frequent and tangled escapades; there were bedroom scenes, highway robberies and often more than one violent death a day. [M]
She was very interested in creative writing, and from March 1953 she began including synopses of her stories in the diary. [G&L]
April 4, 1953
In the diary record within a paragraph Roland slaps Carmelita's face when she turns his proposal of marriage down because she is engaged to Roderick, and in a blazing fury he shoots Roderick. The horse 'Vendetta' kills Gianina the night before her marriage to Nicholas. On the ledge of 'Satan's Hollow' 'Vendetta' crashes down on to Nicholas and with a wild scream turns into the sunset, his revenge complete. [M]
May, 1953
Sudden death, suicide and murder assumed extravagant proportions. They were preoccupied with ideas of great power, especially to murder without reprisal, and vicious characters were greatly respected. Their favourite character Diello was particularly vicious. Death and murders were treated lightly. [M]
The Empress of Volumnia, who was only thirteen, "has a violent temper and when in a tantrum has killed all the people who have incurred her wrath. Also she is very proud and refuses to interview anyone in the lower classes." Her people loved her and would not have had her otherwise. [M]
"Barton...silly bounder...tried to shoot me, and I have a terrible temper when roused and I am afraid I broke his back and put him in the mere (lake)...(stupid blighter). And Linker... poor fellow...you know I really quite liked him...indiscriminate in his choice of friends and is now...alack!...in the mere with Barton." [M]
[A female character]: "I don't kill people...I thought you might like to know since you asked me some time ago. My father hasn't killed anyone for quite a while. I would like to kill someone sometime because I think it is an experience that is necessary to life." [M]
"Sunrise makes the peaks crimson, as if some giant hand had dipped and smeared it with blood." [M]
1954
Pauline's book 'The Donkey's Serenade' was finished by the end of February and she immediately followed it with another. By the time of the murder they had completed or were in the process of writing six books between them, in addition to plays, poetry and an opera. [M]
THE ONES THAT I WORSHIP
There are living among(st) two dutiful daughters
Of a man who possesses two beautiful daughters
The most glorious beings in creation;
They'd be the pride and joy of any nation.
You cannot know, nor (yet) try to guess,
The sweet soothingness of their caress.
The outstanding genius of this pair
Is understood by few, they are so rare.
Compared with these two, every man is a fool.
The world is most honoured that they should deign to rule,
And above us these Goddesses reign on high.
I worship the power of these lovely two
With that adoring love known to so few.
'Tis indeed a miracle, one must feel,
That two such heavenly creatures are real.
Both sets of eyes, though different far, hold many mysteries strange.
Impassively they watch the race of man decay and change.
Hatred burning bright in the brown eyes, with enemies for fuel,
Icy scorn glitters in the grey eyes, contemptuous and cruel.
Why are men such fools they will not realize
The wisdom that is hidden behind those strange eyes?
And these wonderful people are you and I.
Pauline Yvonne Parker, 1953. (back of diary)
Note that the punctuation of this version is partly speculative, and is based on a version published in contemporary news articles, on the lyrical content and the known grammatical precision of PYP's writing [G&L]. The punctuation, and a few words, do not match the (largely unpunctuated) version obtained from the trial transcript (which is a secondhand verbal record, after all), or the version transcribed by Medlicott in his paper, although Medlicott noted that 'Goddesses' was capitalized whereas 'heavenly creatures' was not. All published versions approximately contemporary with the case include the term "heavenly creatures." There have been some recent press reports suggesting that the term did not appear in Pauline Parker's writings. [mcw,jp]
See Medlicott's article for his analysis of this poem, and also for comments by PYP and JMH made to Medlicott concerning the poem in response to his questions. Medlicott notes that both girls treated him with open contempt [JMH: "You do think, don't you?"] so their comments to him about "The Ones That I Worship" may have to be taken with a pinch of salt. [jp]
