The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-11-02
A MAN AS A HOUSE MAID.
Robbery, Arrests, and Exposure.

female domestic, made application at
: Burt's Intelligence Office, in this city fol
: a situation to do ordinary housework.
Soon after, a lady from Schoharie county
applied for help; but all whom she select.
ed were unwilling to leave town, The
domestic" above referred to, however,
expressed willingness to engage, but
the lady did not like her appearance
But finally she was relunctantly compel
led to accept of her services. She ac-
/. cordingly ordered her to appear with her
trunk at the Mansion House, at o'clock
the following mornirg-whcrc she found
her, on time, but quarreling with the cab
; man, whom she offered sixpence-all
themoney she said she had-for conveying
her box to the place of rendezvous. The
lady settled the difficulty, placed her
protege in the stage, and proceeded with
her to her pleasant mansion in Old Scho-
haries.
Nothing transpirci for several days to
disturb either mistress or servant The
latter took hold with most wonderful
ndustry-rising at 1 o'clock every morn
ing, and working so long as any work
was to be done. Indeed so assiduous was
she that tue lady of the house reproved
her for working harder and later than
was necessary. Her only reply was that
she "could not bear to be idle, and would
rather work than play"
The first remark on her eccentricities
was made BY little girl, who one morn
ing entered the parlor, with open mouth
and eyes, exclaiminc, 40. grandma, what
do you think, that new girl goes down
the cellar stairs at single Jump But
this was not deemed sufficiently strange
to excite any other remark than she was
a "smart girl" New developments,
however, were in reserve. A few even
ings after, when all the working men a.
bout the premises were at supper-ffteen
or twenty in number-the household was
stalled by the boisterous laughter of the
men. On inquiring the cause it appear
ed that "Elizabeth' had, on a banter,
jumped square over the broad table,
dishes and all, at bound, and offered to
wager a new bonnet that she would do
the same thing if a chair were placed on
the top Of the table-only stipulating for
single step backward. No one, how
ever, accepted the wager, but all concur
red that "she was a lectle the smartest
crittcr in the diggins"
In the courses of time, fellow servant
girl with whom the strange girl roomcd)
informed her mistress that she could not
remain any longer in the family if "Eliz-
abeth" did not leave. She refused to as
sign any reason for this intimation
but elizabeth" when arraigned, said
the other servants were angry with
her, because she refused to contribute
dollar to the Priest. As this
was known to be true, elizabeth" was
told to 90 to her work, and the other girl
to leave if she persisted in her demand,
elizabeth" continued to grow in favor
with all hands, in spite of her apparent
stupidity; but she was particularly init
mate with one Patrick, y with whom che
often took evening ramoles. Her mis-
tress chided her for this intimacy, warn
ing her against all gay deceivers;' But
she closed all reproof by the very unex-
pected piece OF information, that Pat
rick and She were engaged to be mar
ried -
No one suspected anything amiss in
elizabeth" until one morning, on the
return of the gentleman of the house, af-
ter several weeks absence The family,
consisting of sons, daughters, sons-in-law,
grand children, &C., were quietly seated
at breakfast, with elizabeth serving at
the table The gentleman scrutinizcd
her pretty closely, when as she retired,
the breakfast circle was startled by his
throwing down his knife and fork and ex-
claiming, "That girls man-didn't you
notice her beard?" "Now, don't be boy
ish with your nonsense" from his wife,
and hearty laugh from the whole group,
was all the response he received for his
wonderful discovery. "Elizabeth' con-
tinued to work with greater vigor and ef-
feet than any girl ever did work before,
and the family reSumeo tnelr conSraIu-
lations at their good luck in having pick
ed up SO "good a girl"
La a week or two the gentleman Of the
house had occasion to leave home for a
: time, and was about to get into his car
riage, when it occurred to him that there
might not be money enough in the safe
for household and business purposes until
his return. He looked through his ac-
count book, and found there should be
some 1915 in gold and silver in the safe,
besides some paper money On looking
to see whether be was right, he found the
paper money, but the gold had disap-
peared. Here was ga 60" "Who was
the robber z" was the next question. lie
decided in his own mind that there was
but one servant in the house with wit e.
nough to get hold of the keys and remove
thesamoney, unobseryed. And she was
the favorite and trusted nurse OF the grand
children, whose mistress was then absent
It was determined, therefore, that she
should be arrested, her trunks searched
&o A search warrant was accOrdinrly