The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-09-07

because they knew how easily she could
pick them up and toss them over the
fence If she chose, and partly, perhaps,
because most of them remembered how
kind and patient she had been when
some of their friends were sick, or when
their mothers needed help.
Once Sylvia went to help farmers
wife who had more work on her hands than
she could do alone. Sylvia was not only
handy and faithful, but she was by this
time unusually strong and capable of do.
ing hard work. One evening she had
been straining the milk into big pans in
the kitchen-they used big, heavy,
brown, earthen pans, not often seen IN
cities-and she started to carry them
down cellar. So she took up pan,
holding nine or ten, perhaps twelve,
quarts of new milk, and went toward the
cellar door.
Now this was an old-fashioned kitchen,
and had in the ceiling overhead a row OF
hooks which were made to hold long
poles for the purpose of drying apples,
pumpkins. and other things. Ordi-
nary people were obliged to stand
in chairs in order to reach these
poles, and the drying apples were quite
out of the way above peoples heads.
But Sylvia was not an ordinary woman /;
and as there were at this time no poles
in the hooks she forgot about them, and
as she passed too close to one 1T caught
in her hair and held her fast. The poor
woman could not raise her hand to her
head to free herself, because both hands
were steadying the great pan, swim
ming-full of milk; she could not even
move her head back and forward to try
and unhitch it, because such shaking
would spill the milk ON the nice, white
kitchen-hoor which she had Just secured !:
and there was no one but herself in the
house at the time, as the farmer was in
the barn-yard with his cattle, and his
wife had stepped into neighbours
house.
So poor Sylvia could do nothing but
stand and wait, and occasionally give a
faint call for help; for surely no one
could shout very loud, with her head
caught up by the hair, and her whole
attention engaged in holding without
spilling a heavy pan of milk. More
than half an hour passed before poor
Sylvia was liberated from her painful
predicament; and even when the farmer,
coming in for another milk pail, dis
covered her sad plight, he laughed so
immoderately at the affair that it took
him long time to free her. In fact, it
was said that he did not know what to
do first, and actually went to the neigh
boris to call his wife, without thinking
to relieve poor Sylvia first, by taking the
pan from her aching hands.
BY and by Mr. Barnum, the Snowman,
heard in some way of Sylvia, and he at
once sent an agent to see her, and try to
hire her to come to his museum in Bos-
ton as a curiosity. Now poor Sylvia
was just as averse to being stared ut as
you or 1 would be; she could not bear to
be set up for show and have all man.
ner of people looking at her and making
remarks about her broad shoulders and
her large hands, so at first she refused.
But her parents were getting old, and
she could not obtain by her poorly paid
labor many little comforts which she
knew they needed; and, moreover, she
had greater expenses than most country
women, since it took so many yards of
cloth to make her garments. All her
friends and acquaintance joined i'll tell
ing her that it was really her duty to ac-
cept Mr.. Barnum's offer, which was q
great deal more money than Sylvia had
ever earned or seen in her life; and SO,
finally, after many tears, she decided to
go.
OF course Sylvia could never buy any.
thing ready made, as she could never
find any garments large enough. All
her "things," excepting shawls and
haLlkerchiefs, had to be made on pur-
pose for her, shoes, stockings, and ALL
She had always been obliged to weal
knitted gloves or go handed but
when she was going to Boston for the
first time in her life she thought she
ought to have pair of kid gloves. She
searched in all the stores and sent al
over the country, hoping to find pail
of mems gloves which she could wear
but none large enough could be found
either of kid, silk or cotton, and poo
Sylvia was obliged to go to Boston will
pair of homemade gloves.
Mr.. Barnum treated Sylvia very kind
ly, but he made the most of her size
wishing her to wear high head-dresse
and high-heeled boots, which added
greatly to her gigantic appearance, and
in consequence, she looked great dea
larger in Boston than she ever hat
looked in Maine. She was a goo,
woman, and she was undeniably
great woman Vide AWdke for Sep