The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-20
A CLEVER wOMAN's RUsE.
Disguised as Man She Worked Her
Way TO the Atlanta Exposition.

From the Philadelphia Press.
Atlanta, Oct. 12-LOuisiana is here in
trOusers-not boomers. She came ten
days ago and leaves tonight. and especial
" delighted that not one among all the
people here guessed for an instant that
the handsome boy" was a 2S-year-oId
woman. She is not what her garb indl-
cates-mannish-far from it. She adopted
boys clothes only for the reason that she
could not attend the exposition dressed as
woman This sounds unreasonable. but
when ii is known that the girl had to work
her way here her situation will he crashed
at once, for that mode of travelling by rail-
road can only be accom- plished by males
or those supposed to be of the masculine
gender-as was her case.
Although the young lady has spent every
day Of her sOjOurn here on the exposition
grounds and has been by far one of THE
most pleasing sights among the many
here, her sex would never have been
known by soul here had she not on this
gay OF her departure opened her heart in
gratitude for small favor rendered ana
told your correspondent all about herself,
mother and home, away down in the Gre
ole state. The girl grew animated at the
JhoughI OF telling how she worked the
railroad, and, pointing a brown finger at
me, said: Now, remember, you are not to
give, me away by mentioning my name
or the name Of my town. To begin with
We have had a pretty hard time Of IT most
OF our lives, but the hardest was in 81
during the terrible flood. We lived far
out IN the country, miles away from any
one. Papa, or the three of us for mann
ma and always helped him, worked a
Iarm, and was successful, especially with
the rice and potatoes.
The grea test trouble with us then was
that the farm was bought on time from
so hard master that it was necessary
10 not only stint ourselves, but we were
denied the necessaries of life in order
to make the payments at the appointed
time. In 1882, in the early spring, our
with the thought that we would be able
TO make two payments in the fall, in
stead of one. Just when our hopes We're
highest and our hearts lightest we were
doomed to suffer the greatest grief ana
loss We had ever known. In March of that
teartul year the water began to rise.
and by the LIST of April our crop was
under water. The three of us went out
and began to save a part, at least, of
what we had in our field and garden. Of
course, we were wet all day. Couldn't be
otherwise doing this work. All took cold,
but papa's took the form of pneumonia,
and he died.
"On the day papa died there was not
a foot of dry land to be seen, and no.
a soul in sight to help US. Mamma and
! fell into each others arms and wept
together. We did not know what to do.
We waited until next day, keeping on the
watch all the while, hoping to see some
one who could help us. But not a soul
came i'll sight. Two or three planks had
fioated in and lodged against the porch.
We looked at these, looked at each other
and knew what had to be done. With
Ratchet. hammer, saw and nails we began
our sad work making the box in which
poor papa was to be buried. Every nail
driven was a nail in our hearts. But II
had TO be, so we sobbed and worked until
our awful task was finished-or the first
part of it. Then, after all was ready, we
put the rude box, which then held papa,
In our skiff, and then we rowed against
wind and tiue for twenty miles before
We found dry spot of ground in which 10
dig a grave.
"Once there we found people 10 help us
men to dig the grave and to do all that
was to be done. But we had gone through
an awful ordeal and were Frustrated after
the funeral. But the next morning we
went back home, where we lived with lit
tie to do until the water subsidized enough
to allow work on our farm. Those were
days never to be forgotten. But we lived
through them, mamma and 1; made our
garden, run the table, and made our faSm
pay for itself But it has been work and
self-denial right along. have never been
into a city before. 1 was wild to go to
Chicago during the fair, but it was impos-
sible.
I'm the early spring 1 began to plan this
trip. Then We began to pay off old debts,
and when those were settled there was not
money enough to defray my expenses l
was sorely disappointed, and like most
women, took a cry, after which l felt
worse, and all the more determined to
come. But how? That was the question.
l lay awake at nights thinking it over.
Then an idea came to me. Perhaps l
could work my my way. I went to a friend
and borrowed S. bought this suit and
cap, got friend to get me the position of
porter on a special to the fair and reached
here with money enough to last the ten
days.
Il have had a glorious time, have fiirt-
ed with the girls, many of whom have
given me flowers and paid me marked at
tention. 1 never knew before there was
so much in the world to make life worth
living. L am going away tonight and l
do hate to leave, too, but must before l
am broke. Remember, now, you can say
l am Louisiana, but that's all"
nT1f els ann TAa CgY,aff1 y, ~
was known here's plump and pretty, has
expressive brown eyes. a head of dark
hair, full, well-tinted cheeks brown skin,
lip, such as is seen on many brunettes
and on boys in their teens. The wonder
is that she managed to disguise her sex,
with her full form,t but she did, for not
a soul suspects that Joe Smith" is a
woman.