Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1879-06-17

cause its owner has never been able to
reconcile himself to doing without the
pleasure of receiving his weekly rents
long enough to pull it down and build
another that might bring him four times
as much. She may be of any age be-
tween sixty and ninety; for the few gray
hairs that stray from beneath her decent
cap have long been white; The wrinkles
around her sharp old eyes are deep and
many; her cheeks are thin and hollow,
and her pale lips are unsteady. Her
name is of the nom -commital kind that
may be found in the United Kingdom of
America, and it is hard to tell whether
her undeniable brogue is that of the land
of cakes or the green isle of the ocean,
of merry England or remote down. East.
She comes early in the morning, in the
uncomfortable hours when everybody's
temper is wrong side out, and begins her
work, moving on steadily and slowly,
like a woman to whom day and night
are alike, and never changing muscle
of her countenancc at any mishap or any
misfortune that may occur during the day.
The stove may be flooded by crowded
boiler, the kitten drowned in the rinsing
tub, or the baby dyed to the likeness of
an ancient Briton by the contents of the
bluing basin, without producing any per-
ceptible effect on her immobile face. She
came to wash, and she washes, lifting
heavy tubs, wringiDg great blankets, with
slender arms that look too frail to carry
the lightest of burdens, and leaving the
steaming kitchen to hang out the clothes
in the freezing yard with as much insen-
Sibility as if she had been taking Russian
baths all her life. Now and then she
speaks, but never does she mention the
affairs of those for whom she is at work
1t is against her ideas of etiquette TO find
fault, no matter what indignities she may
endure, but nevertheless she speaks, and
her remarks run in this wise:
Mrs. Lincoln never has two big tubs
full of clothes for two persons. Mrs.
Pearson soaks her clothes twenty hours
instead of twelve. Ms. Goodwin al
ways has a great deal of hot water ready
for me when come. Mrs Norris never
puts blankets into the wash. Mrs. Bak-
er has bought new wash bench that
makes It a great deal easier for me TO
work. Mrs. Smith only allows her hus-
band to wear three collars week. Mr..
Pelham likes cuffs better than wristbands.
Mrs. Ramsay does Mt want a washer
woman to come before nine o'clock. Mrs.
Bridge never makes fuss about her
starched things"
All these remarks by delicate infec-
ton are made to imply the superiority Of
the person addressed, and even the state
ment that mrs. Hyde thinks that six
pieces week is enough for anybody" is
made with an air that puts the hearer at
disadvantage. Even when the wash
erwoman says, "My old dress is gone to
rags and looks disgraceful, it does, it
excites no feeling of superiority, but re-
minds one of the obligation to find her
another; but when she is not talking the
washerwoman is as near perfection as is
capable of human nature when 1t is paid
by the hour, meals included.
She is elusive as dandelion seed One
is never sure that she will keep an en-
gagement until she appears inside the
door and even then she may vanish I'M
mediately after saying that she cant
come, but will be round day after tomor-
row. leaving the household thus aban-
doned to exist in a provisional fashion,
until her reappearance or to find sub
stitute, over whose misdeeds she will
shake her head for weeks and to whose
roughness she viii long attribute all gap
ing rents and the loss of all missing but
tons About four times a year it is nee
cessary for her to attend the funerals of
remote kinsfolk who invariably go over
to the majority just before the time when
the housekeeper most needs the washer
woman's services; but when this is men
toned to her as a failing, she asks with
some little reason, And can | set the
time when folks II die" and departs,
leaving her interlocutor dumb.
She never dies herself. One fine morn
ing another woman appears in her place,
saying that she has gone away, and has
left all her customers to the speaker, and
the reign of new washerwoman begins,
differing from that which preceded it only
in the name of the soyereign.-Boston
Transcript.