Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1878-10-18
Orr Hired Girl.

Leone was tall ana gaunt, and red
headed and eccentric. During those hot
days early in July, we missed her
from the house good deal, and when we
watched her we saw her going to the
stable carrying palm-leaf fan. Upon
questioning her she said that she be-
longed to the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, and she consid-
cred it her duty during the hot spell to
fan the horses. We subsequently dis
covered that she was giving bromide of
potassium to the Chattagong rooster to
cool his blood, and that she had mus
tard plaster on Joncs's COW knextsdoor)
for two days.
She was partial to medical practice,
but little uncertain. The first time
Leone took u seidlitz powder in our
house she drank one powder first and
then drank the second one. She said,
after she became calm, that she felt us
if somebody was holding Il Fourth of
July celebration in her thoracic duct.
And on the occasion when she drank
Mrs. Adeler'S liquid shoe-blacking I'M
der the impression that it was paregoric
for her cough, she expressed fear that
it would work through the pores Of her
| skin and convey to strangers the I'M
preston that she was Of African de-
scent.
found Leone upon the lawn one
day, STOPPING down, hard at work W
/ something. ! went out to observe her.
She arose with II pair of button-holc
scissors III her hand and said she in
tended to NOW the grass.
"Leone," | said, chow many blades of
grass can you cut in u minute with those
sClssorsy'
"About two II minute"
| "Wcil, Leone, there are 1 acres OF
grass with = or thousand billion blades
to the acre, SO us you will probably not
finish the Job for nearly 1000 years,
perhaps you'd better knock oil and get
supper ready first"
She said perhaps it would be better.
She had n way of trying TO beat up
eggs with gridiron that was one of the
most interesting sights ever saw. The
eggs would be i'll a small bowl, and She
could reach them only with II small cor
ner of the gridiron, but she threw n
heartness, and enthusiasm, whole
souled earnesness into lher manner Of
brandishing the gridiron which was po-
etry merely to look at There was an
originality, too, about her method of
making griddle-eakes. When they were
done enough on one side, she always
turned the griddle over instead Of the
cakes, and when the cakes dropped into
the fire she would seem as much sur
prised and hurt rs if II personal friend
had insulted hei. think she never UNI
derstood exactly how it was. She APP
peared to have dreamy kind Of IN
idea that the laws Of the universe were
suspended, somehow whenever she bak-
ed griddle-cal1es
That wet Monday we had early III
June she was unable to dry her washed
clothes III the open mir, 50 she got my
son Ivanhoe's magic lantern and turned
the reflector on the wet sheets, under
the impression that the light would dry
them. She told Mrs. Adeler that if she
had il locomotive headlight She would
dry the whole wash in an hour.
Her greatest culinary sensation, how
ever, werei produced on the day she
tried to make bean-soup out of coffee
berries and to sweeten the cup-custard
with cream Of tartar.
Leone had good deal of mechanical
ingenuity for hired girl. She rugged
up series ofwires and bell crank levers
running from the garnet to the kitchen,
by which she could bolt her sleeping
room door and unbolt it without going
up stairs (She always acted rs if she
had millions of dollars worth of dia-
monds i'll her trunk and was afraid
Of being robbed.l But the arrangement
was defective in some particulars. She
would pull the wire and unbolt the door
before going up stairs. Then, rs soon
us she let 90 of the wire the door would
bolt itself again, and when She got up
stairs she couldn't get in. She made
fifteen trips up and down stairs the first
night, trying to get the thing fixed, and
finally she slept out in the entry.
Her coal-scuttle holster was n bigger
thing still. There used to be u dumb
waiter running from the kitchen down
into the cellar, but | had it taken out.
Leone bought rope, and put it over
the pulley, which was still standing.
Then she put u large box or each end
Of the rope. Her idea was To fill one
box with loaded coal-scuttles and then
to pull them up by standing in the other
box. The first time she tried it she was
panied to find that she would have to
80 up stairs to set in the empty box
But she did 50, and the scuttles came
mp all right. However, when she de-
seconded, with the other box, she step
ped out and the scuttles came down
again with rush. Mrs. Adelcr's aunt
thought there had been IN earthquake.
Leone went up stairs again and descend
ed Il second time in the empty box.