Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-07-28
THE HIRED GIRL:

IN that tropical sunshine" said MIR. Vii
lars. 'Look at her, with that scarle
ribbon at her neck and those coils of hal
waving blue-black in the intense light
1t is like dream of Italy~
eyes" said Mrs. Leeds, "she is yer,
pretty, but that don't signify so much
She's good, smart girl, and don't los
any time looking at herself in the glass
like some I've had"
"Whcre did you pick her up" asked
the young clergyman, carclcssly DRAWN!
the newspaper from his pocket as he sa
down on the carpet of pinc-necdles unde
the big evergreen tree.
Didn't pick her up anywhere" sale
Mrs. Leeds tartly Qor this was a part o
the transaction that had never been quit,
satisfactory to her business like souD.
"She came along"
"Camc along" with slight accen
of surprise.)
"Yes--looking for work"
Mr.. Villars lifted his eyebrows.
"Then how do you know who she isT
he asked.
81 don't know" rctortcd Mrs. Leeds
unconsciously bctraying her weak point
by this irritability of manner; "but
know what she is, and that's more to thu
purpose. She's the best washer that evel
crossed my threshold; as docile as kit
ten, and as smart as cricket; does twice
the work of any one else that ever had
and if she's ever tired she don't say so. ,
Mrs. Leeds hustled off to interview
Farmer Parks for more Aldcrncy cream
for the summer boarders, now that the
house was beginning to fill up.
Mr.. Villars improvised pillow out oil
his coat folding it cylinderwisc and
placed under his head, and closed his
eyes in sort of summer dream among
the pine boughs and butterflies.
And Eliza, spreading out blackberrics
to dry on the board platform that had
been erected along the garden fence, be.
gan to sing softly to herself. She was
very silent ordinarily, but somehow ii
seemed as if the sunshine had thawcd out
her very heart to-day.
Mr.. Villars had been right. There
was something of the atmosphere of
Italy about Eliza-her eyes were so deep
and dark, her hair so glossily black, her
cheek stained with such rich olive.
Morever, she did not move like the
girls of rock-bound New England. There
was subtle, gliding motion--a languor
of gracefulness in her gait-which was
foreign to all her surroundings.
The girls of the vicinagc did not fra
tcrnize with Eliza when, at rare intervals,
she accompanied Mrs. Leeds to church,
scwing-circle or village gathering; for i'll
Staplevillc the employer and employee
occupied one all-comprchensivc social
platform.
They said she was "odd;" they looked
at her askancc; and Eliza, always very
quiet in her ways, made no effort to in.
sinuate herself into their good graccs.
Why should shc2 What did it signify,
one way or the other whether Deborah
Smart and Keziah Hayes and Abby Jane
Clark liked her Or not, as long as Mrs
Leeds was pleased with herr
But the village girls made one error in
their calculations. They had not inten-
ded, as the time crcpt on, to emphasize
their antipathy to Mrs. Leeds Eliza so
strongly as to awake partisan feeling in
Mr.. Villar'' breast; but they did so, un,
consciously to themselves.
"Why do they neglect that girl so9'
the young clergyman asked himself.
Scan they not see how infinitely superior
she is to them9 It's shame!"
And so Abby Jane Clark and Deborah
Smart and Keziah Hayes sealed their own
doom, so far as Mr.. Villars was con-
cerned.
There was not one of them but would
have been delighted to win smile, a
glance, pleasant word from the young
man who was summering at the Leeds
farmhouse.
But, alas like the priest and the LIE.
vito, he passed by on the other side; and
when the village girls, in their afternoon
muslins and ribbons, sat at their windows
and wondered why che came not" he
was, in nine cases out Of ten, helping
Eliza to gather peaches for tea; standing
beside the brook, while she spread out
towels and pocket haldkerchiefs to
bleach, or even explaining to her the
difference between the notes of the thrush
and the woodlark, the spcckled eggs of
the robin and the pearl-gray treasure of
the whip-poor-will.
"He seems to be taking q notion to
her." said Mrs. Leeds to herself, as she
eyed the pair shrewdly from her milk
room window. "Well, why shouldn't
he2 It's true he's a minister, and my
own nephew; but in my mind Eliza is
good enough for any man. My sakes!
won't Abby Jane Clark be mad2 If ever
q girl wanted TO be aparson's wife, Abby
Jane doesH
Thus things were progressing, when
ono day q smart young tradcsman from
an adjoining town came to board out his
fortnights vacation at Deacon Clark's,