Margaret Mayo 
Polly of the Circus 

We meet Polly on her sixteenth birthday. She has always been part of the circus. Her father worked the big cats (and died on the job) and her mother rode horses, but also had a tragic accident when Polly was just a baby. Big Jim and Old Toby the clown raised her, and Polly became a horse rider herself. 

But one night Polly miscalculates a leap through a hoop while in the ring, and falls from her horse. Jim carries her to the nearest help, the church and parsonage nearby.When Polly wakes up the next day, the circus has gone on to another town and she needs time to recover from her injuries. What will change in her life during the year it takes for her to regain her health? When the circus comes back to town will she ride again? And what do the elders of the church think of the charity their parson is extending to this (gasp) Circus Girl?!

A simple story in a way, but it has it moments as well, such as when the parson tells the church people that he won’t leave them because they so desperately need someone to show them how to behave like Christians.