The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-04-19
A HIRED GIRL S soRRoWFUL TALE

| Mary Ann was hired girl She was
called hired chiefly because she al
ways objected to having her wages low
cred. Mary Ann was of a foreign extrac-
ton, and she said she was descended
from a line of kings. But nobody every
saw her descend, although they admitted
that there must have been great de-
scent from 4 king to Mary Ann. And
Mary Ann never had any father and
| mother AS far as could be ascertained.
she was spontaneously born in an intelli-
gcnce office. 1t was called an intelli-
gcnce office because there was no intelli-
gence about it. excepting an intelligent
way they had o! chiseling you out of two
dollar bills. The early youth of Mary
Ann was passed in advertising for . place,
and in sitting ona hard bench, dressed in
bonnet and speckied shawl and three
ply oarpeting, sucking the end of her
parasol. her base began well, and had
evidently been conceived in an artistic
spirit, Dat there Seemed not to have bee,
STUN o. ouoh as it was half tinishc-u, and
.,,,,cl,ed inward at the er.u She said
She would never I've anywhere where
thev didn't have Brussels carpet in the
| Kitchen, nor with family that wouldn't
t.i,o nor TO the sea shore in the summer.
| Aud as she knew absolutely nothing, she
said she must have five dollars week as
s., slirht compensation for having to take
the trouble to learn.
| Mary Ann was eccentric, and she would
often boil her stockings in the tea kettle,
and wipe the dishes with her calico trock.
Her brother was brick layer, and he
used to send her letters sealed up with
dab of mortar: and it was thus, perhaps,
she conceived the idea that hair was a
GOOD thing to mix in to hold things to-
9ether, and so she introduced some Of
hers into the biscuit. But Mary Ann was
fond-ves, passionately fond-of work.
In fact. she was an absorbing person, and
many other things were absorbed besides
Mary Ann.
Butter, beef and eggs, were all absorb
ed, and nobody ever knew where they
went to. And whenever Mary Ann had
to make boned turkey she used to bone
the turkey soeffectually that nobody could
tell what had become of it. And if she
so much as laid her finger on saucer,
that identical saucer would Immediately
fall on the floor and be shattered to
atoms. But Mary Ann would merely say
very powerful in that spot she was No. to
blame for it, for she had no control over
the laws of Nature.
Uncles seemed to be one of Mary Ann S
weakness-for she had some twenty or
thirty cousins, all male, who came to see
her every night; and there was mystic
rious and inexplicable connection between
their visits and the condition of the
pantry. which nobody could explain
There was something shadowy and OBJ
scure above it, for whenever Mary Ann S
cousins came there was fading away in
the sugar-box. and low tide in the flour
barrel. 1t was strange-but trde;
, Mary Ann was troubled with absence OF
mind but this was not as strong suit
, with her as absence of body, for her Sun
' day out used to come twice week, and
= sometimes three times 4 week. But she
always went to church, she said, and she
thought it was right to neglect her work
for her faith, for she believed that faith
. was better than works.
y But if the beginning of Mary Ann was
STANCE, how extraordinary was her end
ing! She never died-Mary Ann was mo-
one of your perishable kind. But she sud
denly disappeared. One day she was there
full of life and spirits and hope, and cook
g ing wine, and the next day she WASH {
and the place that once knew her knew
her no more. Where she went to, how
she went, by what means she went, IL
one could tell; but it was regarded rs
singular coincidence that eight napkin
t, soup-ladle, five silver spoons, bonnet
OF two dresses, two car rings.and lot O
- valuable greenbacks melted sway at thu
as same time and it is supposed that the per
- son who stole Mary Ann away must hav
IT, csrtu--A ti,ass also,