Year: 1879




Mary Ann was hired girl.


She vas called Ahired," chiefly be-
cause she always objected to having her
wages lowered.


Mary Ann was Of foreigE extraction.
and she SAID she vas descended from =
line Of kings. Bot nobody ever saw
her descend, allhough they admitted
that there must have been = great de-
scent from hing 10 Mary Ann.


And Mary Ann never had any father
and mother. AS lar as il could be as
certained, she was spontaneously born
in an intelligence of5ce. 1t was called
an intelligence olEce because there was
no iniellieencss about Il, exreptingan in-
telligent way they bad Of eEiiseling you
out Of two dollar bills.


The early youth Of Mary Ann was
passed in advertising for q place. and
in sitting on hard bench. dressed IN =
bonnet and speckled shawl and three
ply carpeting. sucking the end Of her
parasol.


Her nose began well, and had evi-
IDENTIFY been conceived in an artistic
spirit. but there seemed not to have
been stuff enough, as it was left half
finished, and knocked upwards at the
end.


She said she would never live any
where where they didn't have Brussels
carpet in the kitchen, and a family
that would take her to the sea-shore iu
summer. And as she knew absolutely
nothing, she said she must have Eve
dollars a week as q slight compensa-
ton 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 irock.


Her brother was brIckiayer, and he
used 10 send her letters sealed up with
a dab of mortar, and it was thus. per-
haps, she conceived the idea that hair
was a good thing TO mix IN to hold
things together, and so she always in
troduced some oi her own into the bis
cult.


But Mary Ann was fond-yes, pas
sionaiely fond-of work. So much did
she love it that she dilly-dallied with IT,
and seemed to hate to get il done
She was often very much absorbed IN
her work. In fact, she was an absorb
ing person, and many other things were
absorbed besides Mary Ann. Butter.
beef, and eggs, were all absorbed, and
nobody ever knew where they went
to.


And whenever Mary Ann had to
make boned turkey she used TO bone
the turkey so effectually that nobody
could tell what had become OF 1t.


And if she so much as land her little
finger on a saucer. that identical saucer
would Immediately fall on the floor and
be shattered TO atoms.
But Mary Ann would merely say
that il the attraction OF gravitation was
very powerful in that spot she was not
to blame for ID, for she had no control
over the laws Of nature.


Uncles seem 10 have been one ol
Mary AIMS weaknesses; for she had
some twenty or thirty cousins, all males,
who came to see her every night, and
there was q mysterious and inexplica.
bic connection between their visits and
the condition OF the pantry, which no.
body could explain. There was some
thing shadowy and obscure about it,
for whenever Mary AIMS cousins
came, there was always fading away
in the sugar-5ox, and low tide in
the Aour-barrel. II was strange-but
true.


Mary Ann was troubled with absence
of mind, but this was not as strong a
suit with her as absence Of nobody, for
her Sunday out used to come twice Q
week, and sometimes three times a
week.


But she always went to church, she
said, and she thought it was right &c
neglect her work for her faith, for she
believed that faith was better than
works.


But il the begining of Mary Ann wa.
strange, how extraordinary was her
endIngl She never died-Mary Anr
was not one of your perishable kind
But she suddenly disappeared. One
day she was there full OF life and spir.
its and hope, and cooking wine and
the next day she wasn't, and the
place that once knew her knew her nc
more.


Where she went 10, how she went
by what means she went, no one could
tell; but it was regarded as singular
coincidence that eight napkins, soup
lsdle, FIVE silver spoons, bonnet, tw'
dresses, two earrings. and lot ofvalua
bic green-backs melted away atthe same
time. and il is supposed that the persor
who stole Mary Ann away mGst have
captured these also.