Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1896-01-30
MISCELLANEOUS.
Written expressly for tho Greenbrier Inde
pendent.
Mrs. Browns Hired Girl.
BY MARIE l.. G..

| hio' olOWu WAS u ulOu6l mousse
keeper. Her home was the very es
sence of order and comfort.
The Browns owned a pretty cot.
tage home on a nice farm. They
had no children, but their home was
not lonely one, for Mr.. Brown
and his wife were as attractive as
genial fire, and people gathered
about them as naturally as about a
warm fire on cold winter day.
They were no longer young, but
they were happy-hearted, and kept
their sunny side turned to the world
Mrs. Brown was sunny to every one,
but to her hired help" and to her
"help," it must be confessed, she
was at times somewhat cross, and
she found it rather difficult to keep
help at all.
Mrs. Brown was too good house
keeper, if such thing is possible.
She did her work perfectly, and
wished her help to do likewise, but
this she could not teach her to do.
One girl came who wiped the
stove with her snowy dish towel :;
another, who in spite Of all remon-
STRANGE, swept dust and ashes behind
the coal hod. Then Mrs. Brown
"raged" at them, and the conse-
quence was they packed up, left, and
declared that it "was impossible to
please Mrs. Brown" while Mrs.
Brown declared that "Job could not
be patient with such help"
One morning she came into the
sitting-room the picture of despair.
Her nephew, Tom Mason, was
there on visit. WHAT'S the mat.
ter, Aunt Ruth" said Tom, "you
look distressed?"
Tom looked so sympathetic that
she sat down and related her trials.
81 did my own work for years af-
ter l was married." she said, land
took pleasure in doing 1t, but now I
am getting old and I must keep
help, and have my life aggravated
out of me-"
Tom was amused AS she told him
of this girls faults and that girls
faults.
The next day Tom Mason went
home. He lived about fifty miles
from Mr.. Brown, but his visits there
were quite frequent.
In the same town where Tom
lived, Mr.. Browns only sister, Mrs.
Ashworth also resided.
One could hardly believe that 80
pleasant man as Mr.. Brown could
be so unforgiving, but he had not
spoken to this sister since her mar
riage.
Years ago, he and Ashworth had
quarreled, and when his pretty sis
ter ran away and married the man
that he hated, he never forgave her.
He had heard that Ashworth had
been fairly successful; had given
his four daughters good education (;
then success took flight, and his
family found 1t hard to get along.
Tom had communicated this intel
ligence to the Browns, and Mr..
Brown felt almost angry at him for
mentioning their names.
After Toms return home he called
to see the Ashworths. He told bits
of news about the Browns, and
ended by telling his Aunt's trials
with her hired help"
When he finished, Blanche Ash
worth surprised them by saying ex-
citedly, "Oh, mamma, please let
me go and be Aunt's hired help all
summer. They do not know me, of
course, for Uncle Brown would not
let me come inside the yard If he knew
me, but I'll get Tom to write that
there is right good girl here who
wants home In the country this
summer. l shall give only part OF
my name, Blanche johnson. That
will be the very thingp
Tom entered into this scheme with
enthusiasm. "I'll write to Aunt,
If your father and mother will allo "
Won tn make the expariment- hnt T,ll