Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-10-13
Mary Ann and Chang Loo.
Housekeeping in San Francisco.


A lady by the name of Mary AM
Maboney had held us in bondag
for the space Of two months, ant
> our domestic life had become griev
ously burdensome to us, She hac
, found us depressed and helpless
- from the simultaneous arrival Of
to company and the dissertation Of {
'O colored individual whom we had
leaned on, and who proved a bro
en- reed in point Of kitchen worl
" and a Goliath in temper.
/ 81 done leave dis place" i" remark
n ed this Ethiopian, as she saw the
first trunk brought in at the gar
den gate and landed on the porch.
"I'tole miss when l come yer, dat
| don't mean to stand over the stove
$ stewin' and bakiu' and fryin' for
company and dat's fact"
And so it proved, for she went
} as soon as we paid her her wages,
and we had the house to ourselves.
1t was then that Mary Ann enter
ed triumphantly, bearing bandboX
with a broken lid and an immense
bundle Of clothes in paper wrap
ping, which burst as soon as she
got inside Of the kitchen door.
She had a hard face, and when
she opened her mouth brought her
small eyes together in a cunning,
leering way that was intimidating.
But am bound to confess that she
did not appear in her real charac-
ter until we had shown her the weak
side of ours; in fact, if we could
closed our eyes to the sinister eX-
preston Of her countenance, and
our ears to the grating falseness OF
her voice, we might have found
her first words full of comfort,
"It's q pretty looking kitchen
the blacky has left at her heels !"
she remarked sarcasticlly, as she
took the first view Of it. "Thim
tins hasn't seen q rub for this six
months. Will yez look at the
stove, that ought to be shinin' till
yez could see your face eIni it? Troth
she was beauty, sure enough, and
it'll take me two good weeks,
scrubbiug my fingers to the bone,
baforeI get it clane and dacint."
We admired her spirit and felt
no fears for her strength. She was
gigantic in stature aud of great
bone and muscle, but she did not
use either in our service; she spar
ed everything but her voice and
our provisions and other property.
The CONSENT noise she kept up
in the kitchen for the first day or
two pursuaded as that great i'm
provements were at work there,
aud every time one Of us peeped
in, it was to find her exploring and t
bringing to light the delinquencics |
of her predecessor. s
Hard biscuit and stale potatoes, S
burnt pans and torn towels, cups t
without handles and pitchers with t
out spouts, she fshed out and laid
riumphantly before us. i
''Do you see what robbery that c
nagur was carrying on ?" she asked. L
"Sure, it's a wonder ye have dish o
or rag left. Bad luck to the plum e
derin' william! Yez must have been c
fools to put up with the likes of II
her." .
This was towards the close Of d
Mary AIMS second day, and her h
tone had something contemptuous V
in it; besides its cool familiarity d
rs yet she had done nothing to W
speak of on her own account. The
Inner was not well cooked, and o
we were half starved before it was h
'eady, W
at was the stove," she said aye a
night as well try to roast on the
nantlepiece, as in the oven" She ii
vas trying to find out what blQcky "
lad done to it, but their was so W
much to be set right, that she could uI
lot do it all at once.
We submitted, hoping for ameli- IN
)Yaton as time vert on, but hop Ito
ng in vain ;.for the woman took to nc
lolding an awful iron spoon as II al
ort Of sccptre, and at the faintest &C
pproach to rcmonstrance would OF
wave it around her with the threat
ming inquiry CT
"Is it me yer asking to hurry up ed
nd do the work of two girls ? Well til
e have a purity hard cheek, after al
he way I've shaved myself to help
ez out of the mess the nagur left ru
ez in And this is me thanks be
ure, it's no more nor expected" ey
At this we generally retired be- du
IRE the emphatic spoon. and Mary an
mn would send us dinner half an I'M
our later, with the explanation--
''Ye fustered me so, coming on Al
, me wild yer abuse, that it's a sh
onder was able to do a hands fri
I'm, SO it is" he
We were very miserable and very
alpless. San Francisco is long sh,
stance to travel to on a visit to res
and it was scarcely fair to iol
t kitchen troubles come between sla
) and those who had achieved the wa
urney for the sake Of seeing us ent
ID enjoying our society for a few lilt
onths. Mary Ann understood wo
is, and the iron spoon triumphed snt
I'd held us in wretched and silent vly
Ihiection. old
Sha woe q pitilpss woman. and Z"