Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1852-06-24
The Self-laught Servant Girl.


We have always admired the resolution
/ Of an uncouth servant girl, brought up
/ IN no very gentle way, who went to live
with a rich and cultivated lady There
/ was within her love of the beautiful.
/ dim perception of the fitness of things, by
whIch= she determined to polish herself
! and become every whit as graceful as her
mistress. Now here was a hurculean la
/ Dor to perfOrm,-a vast undertaking for a
i poor girl, whose companions for years had
been the pigs and geese around her faith
er's miserable shanty. with a mother
/ whose love for inebriatiou led her to wal
low in filth, and neglect her family for the
/ poison of the still-a girl whose skin was
begrlmmed and tanned to subsection, and
who in all probability was doomed to la
! Dor among pots and kettles for the residue
Of her life
But that was just what she determined
she would not do, and accordingly she set
/ herself at work, and her first lessons were
those Of observation
She saw much company; unobserved
she watched their manners. some of which
her native good sense rejected the more
. pleasing she treasured up in her heart
Lo the change The mistress soon
sees, bringing on the breakfast dishes,
eOmely interesting girl, with a careful
watchful air, her dark locks put tastefully
I back somewhat IL mode her dress re
arranged, her answers respectful, and tho
/ hesitating, correct Next she is surpris-
/ prised at modest request from the untu-
tored servant, that BY some means she
may learn to read. Pleased with this
me, IL So Il l., ! Il
spare time each day to the accomplish
ment of this object; aud her pupil is no
dull scholar
Almost imperceptjbly, by dint of care
and cleanliness, the brown skin grew fair
and ruddy, the thick locks hung in curls,
the brow developed broadly, and many
little elegances betrayed themselves in
motion and attire.
This young lady, as she assuredly meant
to be, craved an hour for her, if we re-
member right, after her work was over,
which privilege she was wont also to re-
tain. aud in the peculiar occupation of
which she was never to be disturbed 1t
, vas granted and her mistress thought no
more OF it, until some months after. when
passing by her room, she fancied she heard
strange voices Curiosity prompted her
to look by means of a trap door. and there
she beheld her help" in all the glory of
fancied magniiicence. seated near a table
holding in her hand book, and talking
quite eloquently with an invisible captain
whom she was honoring with her patron
age.
Presently she would get up, managing
her movements admirably, bend graceful
/ ly. as If inspecting some work Of art In
! said captains ghOstly hand. receive a COM
I pliment with all the careless elegance of
4 a leader of the ton, respond in a delicate
/ dIgnlfied manner; arrange her ebon curls
with the tip of her fan glide across the
room with the tread Of princess, fairly
bewlldered the good lady above, who
! could not make out what it all meant
/ Finally she bowed the captain out with
I the greatest ease imaginable; then re
turning. took up Shakospear, and enter
/ tanned her mistress unCOnsciously of
course-with " To be, or not to be" read
/ in clear, musical tones
But mark the conclusion of these
. strange proceeding; the lady's son return
ed from his travels, and the very first day.
not knowing who she was, escorted the do
nestle home in rain storm, as any gal
liant gentleman would have done.
In the evening, he asked impatiently
why his mothers visitor did not appear
Z" We have no visitor, my son" she re-
piled
' And pray who was that beautiful crca-
ture that l waited upon to this very door2
Am l bewitched2 ? Are there fairies yeti
I certainly in all my journeys, have not
met with so agreeable and polished a lady;
and here she disappeared
The prond woman. in anguish. explain
ed to him that it was only their servant
girl and besought him to restrain his rhap-
sodics-but he declared that she was
some divinity and no more adapted to
the kitchen than were his mothers porce-
lain ornaments to a blacksmiths forge -
And he persisted in the idea, married her
in spite Of his mothers remonstrance-ev-
en- displeasure-and the naughty woman
learned to be as fond Of her noble daugh-
ter, as her son was of his gifted wife
I Olive Branch