Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1883-11-29
MARY'S TROUBLES.

Mary isour washerwoman. She dear
ly loves "an airly walk and she al
ways comes when the dew is Oh the
grass. She hears the morning concert
of the birds, and the cherry Interchange
Of greetings between the boastful
chanticleers.
She stops on her way at mr. rose
bed and ruthlessly plucks my rarest
bud, that | have watched for days,
just unfolding, marvel of beauty, on
that unlucky morning.
Perhaps have destined that particd-
lar rose for Jacks buttouhole on his
birthday (Iack is my husband and he
dearly loves rOse); but my washer
woman loves roses too, and so she
comes in smiling and complacent with
the pet of my garden turned jauntily
behind her ear.
No young and blooming girl is she,
my Mary; but old and wrinklGd, and
ugly enough to scare away the witches.
Still, she has sort of rugged beauty
all her own, and she looks healthy and
wholesome.
And oh! she has the gift of blarney
in remarkable degree, even for one
of her noted race.
"rve a compliment for yees to-day,
num-" she said tome on one occasion.
"Oh! have youP'
"Yis, indade, that have" with an
emphatic nod of her head. Eye see !
was u goin' along the road and l met
Mrs. Jones, q woman | used to wash
for, an says she to me, says she:
"'Who ye washing for the day,
MaryP says she.
'For Mrs Lane says l, 'an' as
nice woman as ever put my hand tc
the tub for says |. It's the whole
pan o. milk she gives me to dhrink
lawn alone the many o. things shC
sends to the childer,' says |.
"'A-a-h?' says she.
"Yis, indade; it's the truth for ye,'
says |.
Now, | had never given her any
thing like u whole pan of milk, bu
from that day increased the quantity
as well as the number of cookies ant
things for the "chllder." So susceptible
is the American woman to ilattery.
Another time she said:
"There's them that would be glad tc
git your day out o me, mum"
''What's that, Mary?"
"0h, Miss BemiS comes to me tn
other day, an she says to me:
"'Mary, | wants me washin' don,
the fust O the week. says she. Can
yo come o ChuesdayF
"oh, get along says, |, wild you
wan sheet an pillow-case,' says |.
goes o. Chuesday to wash for q woman
(m'anin' yorself, mum) as has a lin
full as long as from here to Mali
street. says /, AN no scrimpin' il
the pay, naytherN says /.
"Miss Bemis is wan O. thin scrimpin
kind o. wimmin," said Mary, with
shrug of infinite disdain.
MARY" asked her just before thu
presidential election "what are you
democrat or republican,"
"a dimmicrat, num-" was tn
prompt reply.
eyes? And why are you demo
crat?"
"An' sure amt all the Oirish dimmi
cratsp"
"But why are they?" persisted.
'I'll tell ye why" says she, suspend
ing her rubbing to give force to he
words with her soapy fists. "The rt
oublicans is for the nagurs, an tn
: nagurs is agin the Oirish, an the Oiris
hates the nagurs like pizen! That
whym
/ laughed. "Oh, Mary" said
''you are sadly behind the times,
/: fear"
, Behind the times, is it? Well, thir
, dunno; but nagurs is nagurs to-da
lust the same rs iver-that do know
and glory be to God! that dirty blac
devil that lived on our street, wild h
4 three woolly-headed brats, has had t
| 90! We made it hotter than blood
murther for him, an he's just too
himself of, bag and baggage! vi
mum! an bad luck go long of hil
Wherever he goes"
! oncetook occasion to reprove he
: for her seeming profanity. "Goddl
4 mighty" "My God" and "Glory
\ to God" were common to her ever,
day speech; but she seemed wholly III
conscious of any impropriety in the us
of such language, and she met my r
: proof with q look of such utter incon
= prehenslon--such blank inquiry-thi
4 | could not press the matter.
d often went to Mary's house
n liked to go. 1t was cheerful sight
see them of an evening, after the
II days work was done-old Mike, h
u husband, sitting by the fire with h
" pipe and the nest of "childer" swarr
d ing about, playing pranks upon eat
; other, cracked and cutfed or laught
!, at by both father and mother.
II ragged, saucy lot they were, at on
the torment and blessing of their po
II parents.
y One night went to the house, al
/, as approached heard sounds of fe
70 tivity and saw light in the best roor
20 | opened the door silently and locke
G. A puff of hot air and that smell whit
Is is never absent from an Irish habit
I'd ton, but which one can best endu
NJ cold, swept out into my face. Istepp,
!, in unobserved, except by one or tv
10 at the door, to whom | made signs
W keep quiet, and joined the lookcrs-o
lie There was n. row of people, me
8 women and children, sitting aroul
w the room, and in the middle of t
" =. floor our Mary and a stout, red.fac
hs young man were dancing an Irish j
ly They were evidently past the first q
m corous beginnings of the dance, a
rv had arrived at the wild and UNCOVER
! ! able stage. They danced with fren1
their legs faster and faster; streams
o. perspiration rolled down their cheel
We their eyes shone with wild, excit
light, and at short intervals they