Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-08-12
A Young Girl in Bows Clothes.

! \ young man made his appearance in
Justice Purdy's office last evening, in com
pany with an officer, whose very fair com
/ pleXion and general petite appearance. al
once attracted attention. He had 4 pretty
face, world "i brown rInglrts, melting blue
eyes, and such winning little mouth, with
dmplrs 1T the corners, that ~ wonan could
have resisted falling IN love with hun oh thr
sput--i circumstance that. Ia an experienced
eye, sharpened with long familiarity with
feminine rccentriciIeS, suggested doubts Of
sexual identity suspicious that the pretty
boy was no boy 1T all, but only Il pretty girl
i'll boy clothes. With the doubt came the
confirmation in the account of the officer,
who stated that he arrested his prisoner at
the instance "t IL boarding house keeper on
Randolph street. namei Mrs. Murray, VIII"
alleged that she WAS 4 runaway gIrl IN bny :
clothes. She Was quite abashrd ut her de
lection and 1t the nquisItivc eyes directed
upon her, and. for some time. declined IL
make any answer to the questions put, cx-
cept by spi!ctul little poutS but she finally
regalned her temper. and gave III account ut
herself, with many heSitatlOnS and half
frightened Chances ut the listeners gathered
around. She said her name WAS Minnie
Harris, and that she belonged i'll Canada.
somewhere near Woodstock if anybody
knows where that is. and that her father WAS
Il master mechanic, who hal no appreciation
OF the troubles of young ladies OF i romantic
character.
She had received tolerably good cduca-
ton. the principal elemenr Of which WAS IN
extensive course Of novel reading. from which
she gathered enlarged ideas of the sphere
designed for the development of young ladies
III the bud. She thought that washing dish
cS was the last thing Tor Il heroine to engage
in, and she thought some Of becoming Il he
roinc, and told her father SO. He did not APP
preciate her romantic sentiments. and sent
her to bed AT sundown for being obstinate
and talking trash. as he styled it. She
improved the time between Sundown and
morning in reading Rinuldo Rinaldno, by
the light of Il tall W dip. Being unacquaint-
ed with the plot OF this intensely interesting
work, we are unable to state It's substance,
but gathered from her narrative that there
was young lady in it who ran away from
home in boy clothes, climbed over noun
tain, rolled up her sleeves to fight Il blg g-
ant. but succeeded in subduing him with a
glance of her mild eye, and then ferried her
sclfacross a biz sea, i'll il dug-out, to Il great
city, where she had many charming and
successful adventures, and finally married
rich.
Minnie awoke in the morning, with her
blue eyes sufrsed with tears at her hard
fate. which were not done away by the events
OF the day, consisting, as they did, Of sever
al hours application othe wash tub, III COM
pliance with the demands of her parents
Her mind was made up that night to follow
III the footsteps of the brave and yrtu"uS
Geraldine. No more wash tub for hcr-no
more dish-clOth to disturb her romantic Wis
ions-no more drudgcry to dash the a>pira-
tons of her sentimental Soul-al should be
novelty, adventure AMI success. She would
20 and teach school sell dry goods. embroii
er fancy work or engage III any other light
diversion, until some rich gentleman came
and threw himself at her feet offered TO kill
all her prosecutors, and married her in Il halo
OF happiness
She went in the best suit OF her youngest
brother and arrived in Detroit IL couple of
weeks ago. Here she found herself alone
and irlcndIcSS among IL multitude of Stran-
gers, not one nf whom cared Il straw value
inr her welfare What on earth To do she
did not know and in despair she went to
the boarding house, and cried her eyes out
during the first two or three days, after which
she settled down into listlcsS bcwildered
state of mind and made no effort whatever
to help herself. The consequence was that
sharp eyes soon discovered her secret, and
she was speedily handed over to the police;
50 here she was, and that was her story,
aud all she wanted was to get home. Glad
enough was she to hear that she would be
sent there by the first train in the morning
- DehoG Free Press.