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 OUR TWENTY HELPS 
 
 AND 
 
 WHY WE PARTED, 
 
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OUR TWENTY HELPS 
 
 AND 
 
 WHY WE PARTED 
 
 GLORVINA FORT. 
 
 3^7 'TtJ 
 
 PHILADELPHIA! 
 1881. 
 

 Copyrighted by Glorvina Fort. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mitty A — (American) 5 
 
 Mitty B — (American) 11 
 
 Mitty C — (American) , 15 
 
 Mitty D — (American) 22 
 
 Mitty E— (American) 24 
 
 Mitty F — (American) 26 
 
 Mitty G — (American) 27 
 
 Mitty H— (African) 32 
 
 Mitty I— (American) 33 
 
 Mitty J— (Irish) 34 
 
 Mitty K — (African) 35 
 
 Mitty L— (American) 38 
 
 Mitty M— (African) 42 
 
 Mitty N— (Irish) 43 
 
 Mitty O — (Irish) 48 
 
 Mitty P— (African) 49 
 
 Mitty Q— (Irish) 50 
 
 Mitty R— (African) 51 
 
 Mitty S — (African) 52 
 
 Mitty T — (African) 53 
 
 Conclusion 56 
 
OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 WHY WE PARTED. 
 
 WE intend on this occasion, to give the name 
 of Mitty to all the chief actors in this 
 sketch of domestic life, because we admire it for 
 its simplicity and suitability. 
 
 MITTY A— {American.) 
 
 Our first help was a half-grown girl. She was 
 the oldest child of a very numerous family. 
 The fact is, that during our walks and rides 
 near the place she called home, there were 
 always in and around it, more little children 
 than we could ever count. 
 
 Her father was a hard drinker, and did very 
 little towards the support of his family. By 
 
6 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 occupation he was a day laborer. If he had 
 not spent the greater part of his earnings for 
 liquor, he would probably have kept them 
 supplied with the common necessaries of life; 
 but as he did, they were very often obliged to 
 go supperless to bed. 
 
 His wife worked hard by taking in washing. 
 She thus " kept the wolf from the door," in 
 sufficient degree to save them from actual star- 
 vation. One sad day came in which they were 
 unable to pay their rent. Consequently they 
 were deprived of their home, by having their 
 household goods and chattels set out on the 
 curb-stone, their door locked and the key carried 
 away. Pitying their forlorn condition, a certain 
 benevolent neighbor gave them permission to 
 move into an old shanty, that stood on one of 
 his lots, and to live there rent-free. 
 
 Under such circumstances, the mother was 
 too nearly heart-broken to be a model house- 
 keeper. But the poor woman did the best she 
 could, and meanwhile, Mr. A. continued the too 
 frequent "crooking his elbow," in a way that 
 did not improve his habits. 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. ' 
 
 It was soon after their removal to that miser- 
 able old shanty, that we became inclined to 
 bring a new help into our household. 
 
 Mrs. A. having heard of our intention, came 
 forward, and offered us the services of her blue- 
 eyed daughter, Mitty A. As often happens, 
 we had not much of a choice, and we consented 
 to take her on trial for a few weeks. 
 
 During the first week or two after entering 
 our service, she performed her duties tolerably 
 well. After that she became very careless, and 
 inattentive. We were frequently almost tempted 
 to wish we were rid of her. Yet knowing as 
 we did, the miseries of her home life, we 
 refrained from dismissing her, and hoped perhaps, 
 in time, she would learn to do better. 
 
 Thus we worried along with her, during 
 several months. Then one morning we were 
 favored with a call from her mother, who 
 complained to us in a very aggravating manner, 
 that we put too much work on her daughter. 
 More than she had strength to stand. While 
 the fact was, that her share of domestic labor in 
 our house, was very light when compared to 
 
8 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 what she had been accustomed to perform in her 
 own home. We knew that Mrs. A. the mother's 
 object was to try to extort more money from us, 
 by our offering to raise the girl's wages. 
 
 Under the circumstances, we were not at all 
 inclined to make any such offer. Consequently 
 Mitty A. and we parted-without tears of sorrow 
 being shed on either side, by the separation. 
 ' No doubt the poor girl felt more contented 
 among her own people, — even if she did some- 
 times miss a meal, or make it on dry bread, and 
 have to work harder, than she did while in our 
 house. Therefore she was better disposed to 
 work with a good will. 
 
 This habit of changing situations so often, as 
 they do, is a great misfortune to hired girls in 
 America. We once had a friend whose waiting- 
 maid lived with her thirty years. Sustaining 
 all these years, the be^t of characters, of course 
 she was paid very good wages. She was all 
 that long period without making any waste of 
 time, which others spend in roving from one 
 place to another. By this means her money 
 accumulated. With a part of it, she bought a 
 
AND WHY WE PAKTED. 9 
 
 comfortable, moderately-sized, brick house. The 
 balance was safely invested on good security, 
 and at a profitable interest. 
 
 Then when our good friend, her employer, 
 paid the "debt of Nature," her long-time and 
 faithful help, moved into her own house. She 
 took a few quiet, and respectable boarders, and 
 then, without having to work very hard, was 
 blessed during the rest of her life, with peace 
 and plenty. 
 
 Such a good management of her opportunities 
 is open to every healthy and able-bodied 3 oung 
 woman in our fortunate and happy land. But 
 alas, how few there are among us, who will be 
 willing to follow this most excellent example. 
 
 Probably not one in a thousand would be so 
 wise and prudent. They lose too much time in 
 running about seeking new situations. Again, 
 generally, they waste far too much money in 
 trying to dress as Avell as other people, who do 
 not have to work for their living- 
 
 But to return to Mitty A. She left our house, 
 and returned to the miserable abode of her 
 parents. A few months after that event, Mrs. 
 
10 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 A. was taken sick. She was fairly worn out 
 with sorrow, hard work, and poor living. She 
 very soon became bed-fast, and was never again 
 restored to the use of her hands and feet. Then 
 the entire labor and care of the household fell 
 upon the head and shoulders of poor young 
 Mitty A. She took in such washing as neigh- 
 bors were disposed to trust to her inexperienced 
 skill. The mother remained ill a whole year. 
 It was a sad and melancholy year to Mitty. At 
 last Mrs. A. died, — and was buried. 
 
 Soon after that afflicting bereavement, Mitty 
 A's father distributed his children as best he 
 could among strangers. He then followed 
 permanently the unprofitable business of a 
 tramp, roving from one town to another, in 
 quest of his victuals and drink. Mitty fortu- 
 nately fell into good hands, and grew up a good 
 and skillful domestic worker. The last time we 
 heard of her, she was doing well, and was very 
 much liked wherever she went. 
 
 No doubt her early misfortunes made her 
 strong in both mind and body, to endure the 
 common ills of human life, from which there is 
 not often found much of a reprieve. 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 11 
 
 What ever became of her father and her 
 numerous brothers and sisters we never heard. 
 
 MITTY B— (American.) 
 
 Our poor Mitty B. who soon filled the vacancy 
 in our domestic circle, was not the brightest 
 young woman that ever lived. But she was 
 (we believed) perfectly honest. She attended 
 to her work in a quiet, unostentatious way. She 
 was very nice, and tidy in her habits. When 
 she had been living with us nearly a year, we 
 concluded we were perfectly suited, and could 
 now live without soon making any change in 
 our household. She seemed happy and con- 
 tented., which in our estimation are very 
 desirable qualities. A discontented person in a 
 family, can and often does, produce a vast 
 amount of mischief. We and Mitty B. lived in 
 happy concord, without any jarring, or uncom- 
 fortable event transpiring, to disturb our perfect 
 peace and harmony. 
 
 But one evening a messenger came from her 
 home, with the information that there was in it 
 a bad case of sickness, and her services were 
 
12 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 needed to help attend it. Of course we had to 
 let her go. Every thing else must yield to the 
 comfort of the sick and needy. We mutually 
 believed our separation would be only temporary, 
 and that she would soon return to us. 
 
 But time passed away and she did not make 
 her appearance, until the greater part of a year 
 had expired, and her place still remained vacant. 
 We indulged the hope that she surely would 
 come back some day. 
 
 We could not go to inquire after her, because 
 we did not know of a certainty, the address of 
 the relations to whom she had gone. We had 
 no time, we thought, to throw away in what 
 would be most probably, an unsuccessful search. 
 One evening she walked in with a bundle on her 
 arm, and made the request that we would 
 receive her on our former terms. 
 
 Of course we were very glad to see her, and 
 we gave her a warm welcome. She declared it 
 made her very happy to be once more in our 
 midst, where she had always been so pleased 
 and contented to live. 
 
 She immediately set herself to work, and 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 13 
 
 seemed as familiar with her surroundings as if 
 she had not been absent more than a day, 
 instead of over a half year. 
 
 Early the next morning she attended promptly 
 to cleaning our front door step and pavement. 
 
 While she was still thus occupied, we were 
 called on by a near neighbor, with whom we 
 were on terms of social intimacy. This neighbor 
 hurriedly exclaimed, "Oh! do you not know 
 where Mitty B. has spent her time during the 
 last three months?" 
 
 " We do not. Where has she been?" 
 
 •'She has been in prison. In one, where there 
 is prevailing a dangerous and contagious 
 epidemic." 
 
 " Oh ! horrible," we exclaimed, " are you sure 
 it is true ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, I am perfectly sure; I do not know 
 when I was so much surprised as on my way to 
 market, I saw her here working for you. I 
 concluded you could not know it, and felt it my 
 duty to come in at once and tell you. Now 
 good-bye, I must hurry off and attend to my 
 own business. 
 
14 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 We immediately appealed to Mitty B. and 
 asked her where she had been living since she 
 left us. She then looked very angry at the 
 question, and would not answer it by one single 
 word of any kind. 
 
 " Now Mitty," we finally said, " if you do not 
 tell us plainly and truly, all about where you 
 have been living since we parted, we cannot 
 keep you here one single day." 
 
 She then quietly went up stairs, brought 
 down her bundle and departed. 
 
 In the afternoon of that same day, we saw 
 her neatly dressed, sitting on the front door 
 steps of our opposite neighbor's house, with her, 
 (the neighbor's) youngest infant on her lap. 
 This same opposite neighbor had moved near us 
 quite recently, and was a total stranger to us, as 
 well as she was, to the friend who had called on 
 us early in the morning. Mitty B. and the 
 people who employed her remained living in 
 the same house a long time. We were well 
 assured by what we daily witnessed among them, 
 that Mitty B. had not carried jail fever or any 
 other contagious contamination into their abode. 
 
AND WHY WE PASTED. 15 
 
 Finally they moved away, and took Mitty 
 with them, apparently well satisfied with her 
 and her character. We never again had any 
 news about her, — good, bad, or indifferent. 
 
 MITTY C— (American.) 
 
 We now lived some considerable time without 
 hiring any regular domestic help. 
 
 But at last, as women generally do, who are 
 not compelled by necessity, to be their own 
 domestic workers, we became weary of our sell- 
 imposed labors, and began to inquire where we 
 could find a new assistant in our household. 
 
 We now formed the resolution, that we would 
 obtain a middle-aged woman, who would be 
 capable of relieving us entirely from our culinary 
 duties. 
 
 With this object in view, we called at the 
 nearest intelligence office. 
 
 Dear reader, did you ever enter one? 
 
 Did you ever notice, how day after day, and 
 hour after hour, twenty or thirty women, of all 
 sizes, colors, and ages, will spend weary long 
 periods, waiting therein to be suited with situ- 
 
16 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 ations? We have often thought while passing 
 them, if they would take half the trouble to 
 keep a good place, when they have one, they 
 would not so often be daily attendants, like so 
 many disappointed ball-room wall-flowers in 
 these offices. 
 
 On our first entrance in the place, we cast a 
 searching glance around the large circle of 
 expecting candidates for situations. 
 
 We saw among them no one that we thought 
 would suit us. Some of them were too old, 
 while the majority were too young. A few were 
 too untidy in their appearance, while a large 
 number were too much over-dressed in coarse, 
 cheap, and tawdry finery. Some displayed such 
 a ridiculous imitation of all the fashionable 
 follies of the day, in their dress and trimmings, 
 that we soon concluded no one in the present 
 circle met our requirements in a household 
 assistant. 
 
 Then we privately informed the office- keeper, 
 exactly what kind of a woman we were seeking. 
 
 He politely smiled and told us if we would 
 call again on the following morning at an early 
 
AND WHY WE PAKTED. 17 
 
 hour, he thought, he would have there, ready to 
 meet us, precisely the right woman. 
 
 Being new beginners at the business of help- 
 hunting, we trusted him implicitly, and waited 
 upon him the following day, at the appointed 
 hour. He met us with his accustomed polite 
 smile, and many professed regrets, that the right 
 person had not yet come, but he expected she 
 would in a few moments; then he added, 
 
 "Please have the goodness to be seated and 
 wait a very little while." 
 
 We complied with his polite request and 
 waited there two long tedious hours; but Mrs. 
 Right failed to come, and reward our patience. 
 
 We went there the following day, and again 
 the day after that, with precisely the same 
 result. She was always "sure to come to- 
 morrow." 
 
 Finally, on the fourth day of our attendance, 
 we were introduced to the long expected Mrs. 
 Right. We presume she was right in his 
 opinion, but certainly not in our own. She was 
 so stately and dignified that we actually almost 
 felt afraid to speak to her. But then we were 
 
18 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 wearied out of all patience, at having to go to 
 that dusty office so often, and finding that she 
 was tidily and sensibly dressed, that we forced 
 ourselves to take her at least on trial. 
 
 Upon her first entrance into our neat and 
 warm kitchen, she cast a disappointed look at 
 our cooking stove, in which there was burning 
 a bright anthracite coal fire. She then hesitated 
 in the act of removing her bonnet and exclaimed, 
 
 " Oh, do you cook with stone coal ? " 
 
 We assured her we did, and liked it much 
 better than wood for kitchen use. She answered, 
 " That may all be very true, but I do not under- 
 stand how to use stones for wood, they will 
 never burn for we." 
 
 "0 well," we answered cheerfully, "we know 
 how to manage it perfectly, and will make the 
 fires for you until you learn how." 
 
 She then finished removing her out-door gear, 
 and appeared to be resigned to the dismal fate 
 of having to burn stones. It was not long 
 before we were forced to the conclusion, that 
 she would be very backward at learning to burn 
 stones, simply because she did not want to. She 
 
AND WHY WE PAKTED. 19 
 
 was either too old, or too conservative, (we 
 could not decide which) to conform to any such 
 nonsense, as to make stones burn. Consequently 
 we had to make and attend to our fires, just as 
 fully as if we had no help at all in the house. 
 Yet notwithstanding this great inconvenience, 
 we determined to bear it, because in every other 
 respect, she suited us completely. She was an 
 excellent cook, and a splendid washer and 
 ironer. Moreover, we firmly believed that in 
 the course of time, she would surely learn how 
 to use stone coal, as well for our benefit, as for 
 her own. 
 
 Thus we worried along with her, until she 
 had lived with us several weeks. 
 
 Then there came a crisis. 
 
 We were visited one day by two lady friends 
 who lived in the country. They came to spend 
 the day with us. Spending the day with 
 intimate friends, of course included their eating 
 dinner and supper with us. They intended to 
 return after supper by steamer to their home up 
 the river. Our usual dinner hour was three 
 o'clock; this they knew as well as we did. Now 
 
20 OUK TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 it so happened that these two intimate friends 
 and we, had not met in more than a year. 
 Consequently, we had many communications to 
 make to each other, and many interesting 
 accounts of events to talk over, so that time 
 slipped away very rapidly without our taking 
 notice of its fleeting flight, until a neighboring 
 public clock struck the hour of three. 
 
 Then we hurried into the kitchen to inquire 
 why we had not been called to dinner. 
 
 To our consternation we found the kitchen 
 fire dead out, and the dinner in the oven and 
 on the top of the stove, was as cold and uncooked 
 as it had been when first brought home from 
 market. 
 
 We went to work, made up the fire, saw it 
 perfectly ignited, told Mrs. Mitty C. exactly 
 how to treat it, then returned to our company 
 and resumed our pleasant conversation with 
 them. 
 
 We talked with them what we thought a 
 short time. Which short time proved to be a 
 whole hour. We then went to the stove to see 
 how the cooking was progressing, alas, only to 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 21 
 
 find the fire again out, and the dinner still cold 
 and uncooked. This happened no less than 
 three times in that one short day. 
 
 Finally our supply of kindling wood was 
 nearly exhausted. It was before the blessed 
 days of patent kindling, which now, can be 
 bought at every shop in the city (almost). The 
 man on whom we depended to split ours, we 
 knew would not come to us until the next 
 morning, therefore what we possessed, had to be 
 used with economy. Consequently, it would 
 not do to leave the fire another time to the care 
 of Mitty C. 
 
 It was by this time almost five o'clock, and 
 our friends had to be at the wharf before seven. 
 
 We considered and keenly felt how very 
 hungry they must be. There was urgent neces- 
 sity to hurry up our fire, and give them their 
 dinner and supper in one meal, and that too, as 
 speedily as possible, or we would have to send 
 our friends on their home-going, in a state of 
 starvation. 
 
 How worried and ashamed we were of this 
 breach of hospitality, no one but ourselves can 
 
22 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 ever imagine. Meanwhile, we of course were 
 not a shining example of angelic patience and 
 amiability towards our delinquent cook. The 
 next morning she formally told us that as soon 
 as her week was up she was resolved to depart 
 to some other place, where she would not be 
 expected to cook victuals with stones. 
 
 We tried hard to persuade her that she had 
 better stay and learn how to burn coal, as very 
 soon there would be no other fuel used for 
 cooking. 
 
 She obstinately declared, she would never try 
 to learn to burn stones, whatever other people 
 might choose to do about it. We had to let her 
 go, and carry all her other good qualities to 
 some other more congenial kitchen. 
 
 MITTY D— {American) 
 
 This was our fourth Mitty. She was a 
 robust, cherry-cheeked damsel, aged about 
 twenty-five years. She was sent to us, highly 
 recommended by our friends in the country, 
 who had recently spent a day with us, who 
 thought we had been shamefully imposed upon 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 23 
 
 by Mitty C, by having to make and attend our 
 own fires. Our household and kitchen labor 
 seemed to be mere play in her strong hands and 
 brawny arms. This girl gave us no trouble 
 about the fire making. On the contrary, she 
 always kept splendid fires, not only in the 
 kitchen, but also in every other part of the house, 
 when and where they were needed. What a 
 relief it was to resign into her stronger, and willing 
 hands, the shovel, the scuttle and the poker! 
 
 The only obstacle to our being perfectly satis- 
 fied with her, was that she did not appear to be 
 as happy and contented as we desired. We 
 liked to see our girls happy and cheerful over 
 their work, but this Mitty D. never was. When 
 she had lived with us five weeks, she gave us 
 notice, that at the end of the following week, 
 she intended to return to the place which 
 she had left to come to us. We were quite 
 surprised at this communication, and questioned 
 her very closely why she wished to go away 
 from us so soon; to all of which she would 
 make no other answer than that she was lone- 
 some, and did not like to live in the city. 
 
24 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 This was quite news to us, as we never before 
 had any body about, who complained of being 
 lonesome in our house. But that did not make 
 any difference. When the next week came to 
 a close, she took her departure to her former 
 place, and we never saw her again, But before 
 we had time to forget her entirely, we had 
 another visit from our country friends, by whom 
 she had been recommended to us. From them 
 we learned that she was not satisfied to live 
 with us, because we kept two tables, and 
 expected her to wait on us while we ate our 
 meals, instead of having her sit at the table, 
 and wait on ourselves. 
 
 This keeping two tables, in a small private 
 family, is a debatable subject, and we do not 
 wish to meddle with it. We think all house- 
 holders should be perfectly at liberty, to do as 
 they please upon the subject. 
 
 MITTY E— {American.) 
 
 Mitty E. was the daughter of an acquain- 
 tance. She of her own accord offered to fill the 
 vacancy which she had somehow discovered. 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 25 
 
 We were not very much flattered by the appli- 
 cation. We did not particularly admire the 
 domestic habits of her parents. But we knew 
 she had lived out a good deal, and always with 
 very nice people, therefore we hoped she had 
 learned from them their ways and habits, and 
 had long ago been weaned from the customs of 
 her early home training. 
 
 Sustained by this natural hope, we consented 
 to an engagement with our Mitty E. She 
 began her new duties in a very flourishing 
 manner. Did her work well, and was as neat 
 about it as a new pin during the first three or 
 four weeks of her sojourn in our midst. She 
 was, during this time, a great source of comfort 
 to us, because she seemed to require no watching 
 or looking after. But at the end of that time 
 we made the annoying discovery that she was 
 very far from what she seemed to be, and was 
 not at all reliable when our backs were turned 
 on her. 
 
 She would then leave undone certain parts 
 of iier work, wherever she thought we would 
 not notice the neglect. We were also informed 
 
26 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 by some of our neighbors that she was in the 
 habit of putting on our best and most expensive 
 garments, and in them attired, would go out 
 promenading, while the house was left alone to 
 take care of itself, and our things were abused 
 in a manner they never would be in our own 
 use. For these "high crimes and misdemeanors" 
 we ventured to reprove her, which act on our 
 part so offended her dignity that she would not 
 submit to it, and consequently abruptly deserted 
 our employment, and went out on the quest of 
 more indulgent mistresses. 
 
 MITTY F— [American.) 
 
 Then when we had been several weeks with- 
 out any help, we were favored with the presence 
 of another robust lassie from over the river — 
 but she, and her habits were so very contrary 
 to what we liked and wished them to be, that 
 we suppose we found more fault with her than 
 she thought we had any right to do, that she 
 soon pleaded the excuse of home-sickness, and 
 in a few weeks, she returned to her own people 
 beyond the limits of the city. 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 27 
 
 Notwithstanding her many faults, she had 
 some good qualities, and we would have been 
 quite willing to have given her a longer trial, in 
 the hope that she would improve, and become 
 more inclined to do her work according to our 
 ideas of right and wrong about it. 
 
 We very much disliked to make so many 
 changes. But she was so unhappy and discon- 
 tented, that we had to let her depart in peace, 
 and re-fill her place as soon as we could. 
 
 Perhaps she too pined after the one table privi- 
 leges, to which it may be, she was accustomed. 
 
 MITTY G— (American.) 
 
 This our seventh Mitty was a splendid 
 worker, and in every respect a perfect house- 
 keeper. 
 
 She had been several times employed by 
 some of our most intimate friends, who all 
 joined in praising her good qualities in the very 
 highest terms. She told us she was at that 
 time out of a situation, because her last employer 
 had broken up housekeeping, and gone to 
 boarding. This same Mitty G. was a very 
 
28 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 superior cook. She frequently produced by her 
 skill for our enjoyment, rare and delicious marvels 
 of appetizing flavor, that were wont to surprise 
 us and to please us. They were too, all this, 
 without being unwholesome by their richness. 
 Her bread and plain cakes were also faultless. 
 Then too, she was a superior washer and ironer. 
 All her other household duties were just as 
 forcibly well performed. She was by no manner 
 of means an eye server. 
 
 We could go away from home, and stay away 
 as long as we pleased in perfect confidence, that 
 our domestic affairs would be conducted fully in 
 as good order as if we were present. This was 
 a great comfort and convenience. 
 
 She had been accustomed to eat at a second 
 table, and therefore our two tables did not 
 incommode her in the least. She lived with us 
 about a year and suited us so well, that we 
 began to consider her a permanent fixture in 
 our establishment. We comforted ourselves with 
 the flattering hope, that we were done with the 
 necessity of ever again having to make a change 
 of help. But alas! this brilliant and flattering 
 
AND WHY WE PAKTED. 29 
 
 hope was doomed to meet a bitter disappoint- 
 ment, for about this time, our highly-prized 
 Mitty began to show her true colors of character 
 and disposition. To our most utter astonishment, 
 she proved herself to be the possessor of a 
 temper, that fairly frightened us. The strangest 
 part of the manifestations of its violence, was 
 that they occurred when there was no apparent 
 cause to excite them . Then too, they always broke 
 out at the most inconvenient times and seasons. 
 Though we suppose for that matter, the indul- 
 gence of angry passions will ever be unseasonable 
 to the people who are obliged to suffer from them. 
 
 We remember one day when the weather was 
 bright and clear, but very cold, with just wind 
 enough to make it what is emphatically a good 
 drying day. 
 
 Mitty had an unusually large wash in the tubs. 
 
 When suddenly she fell into a violent passion. 
 She banged to and fro, the doors of the almost 
 red-hot stove, in such a way, that we expected 
 the whole iron construction, grate, oven, and all 
 would fall in pieces to the floor, set the house 
 on fire and burn us all. 
 
30 OUK TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 She threw the tubs, buckets, brooms, and 
 brushes and other available articles, hither and 
 thither, in all directions. Then she excitedly 
 declared she was sick, and would not work 
 another stroke until she felt better. Then she 
 retired to her own room, and we saw no more of 
 her during that day and evening. 
 
 The ground at the time was under a hard fro- 
 zen snow, twelve inches deep. We were afflicted 
 with a heavy cold, and very unwilling to undergo 
 the exposure of hanging out that large wash. 
 Fortunately a woman lived in an alley behind 
 our house, who sometimes worked out. She on 
 that day happened to be at home, and at once 
 came to our relief. We know not what we 
 could have done without her ready and willing 
 assistance. 
 
 Mitty G. remained in her own room until 
 those clothes were dried, ironed, and put away. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Alley neighbor, took all her 
 meals up to her, and the way in which they 
 were eaten, clearly proved that she could not 
 possibly be an invalid. On another day we 
 expected company to dinner. The invited 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 31 
 
 party was larger than we were often accustomed 
 to invite, and in it there were some persons 
 whom we wished to treat with more than 
 common ceremony and attention. 
 
 Naturally we under these circumstances, 
 desired our dinner to be a grand success in all 
 its appointments. The turkey was not half 
 roasted in the stove oven. The eggs for an 
 intended most excellent dessert, were broken, 
 but no further progress in the sumptuous meal 
 was made, when Mitty precipitately retired to 
 the shelter of her own room, where she declared 
 she was too sick to work any more that day. 
 
 Of course in our dismay we sought the 
 assistance of our neighbor in the alley, but on 
 that day she was not to be allied to our relief, 
 as she was away from home to stay until night. 
 We had to cook and serve our dinner, at the 
 same time, to try to entertain our guests, in the 
 best way we could. 
 
 When Mitty G. had reduced us to similar 
 predicaments, about a half dozen times, we 
 concluded she had done so quite often enough, 
 and that she would have to seek a situation in 
 
32 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 some other quarters, with people who were 
 blessed with more patience than we could boast 
 of possessing. 
 
 MITTY H— [African.) 
 
 Our eighth Mitty was a thoroughly well- 
 trained servant from one of the Southern states. 
 When she first came to us, she knew nothing at 
 all about making or attending a stone-coal fire. 
 But " where there is a will, there is a way," 
 always. She had a very good and strong will, 
 to learn how to do any thing which we wished 
 her to do. Consequently in a very short time, 
 she became a very good fire- maker, as well as a 
 good and economical fire-tender. 
 
 She was tidy in all her habits, as well as quick 
 and willing with her work, and we were perfectly 
 satisfied with her. She appeared happy and 
 contented to live with us, and serve us. In her 
 mind, there was no objection to her being called 
 a servant. She rather seemed to be pleased 
 with the title, instead of considering it offensive, 
 as is sometimes done by hired helps at domestic 
 employment. 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 33 
 
 She lived with us nearly a year, and we were 
 again flattered by the hope, that we were 
 permanently suited. But she was taken ill with 
 chills and fever, of a lingering and debilitating 
 character. She was finally forced to take refuge 
 in a hospital, where she painfully languished 
 several months. When she was at last restored 
 to health, she concluded our climate did not 
 agree with her, wherefore she sought and found 
 a home in a more southern latitude, and there 
 we soon lost all sight of her. 
 
 MITTY I— {American.) 
 
 This youthful maiden was wild and un- 
 manageable in all her ways, so that from the 
 very first of her living with us, we had not much 
 patience with her, and we dismissed her from 
 our service when she had lived with us only 
 two weeks. 
 
 Her whole mind's attention was given to run 
 the streets, at all hours of the day and evening. 
 
 As we had hired her to work in our house, 
 and not to gad the streets of the city, night and 
 day, of course we did not suit her fancy, any 
 
34 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 better than she did ours. She was apparently as 
 glad to bid us a final adieu, as we were to see 
 her take her peaceful departure from our dwelling. 
 In what direction she steered her course we 
 never knew. 
 
 MITTY J— (Irish) 
 
 came to us very soon after Mitty I. had left a 
 vacancy with us to be filled. We were not long 
 in making the troublesome discovery, that she 
 suited us quite as little as any one we had ever 
 employed. 
 
 Almost immediately after she first entered 
 our kitchen, she shocked our ideas of the fitness 
 of things, by washing the potatoes for our dinner 
 in the wash-basin, and her feet in the dish-pan. 
 By wiping off the table with the house-cloth, 
 and the floor with the dish-cloth. She dried the 
 dishes with the hand-towel, and her face with 
 the cup-wiper! She was determined not to 
 learn the proper use of different things. Of 
 course, such an amalgamation of the uses of our 
 kitchen utensils, was far beyond our endurance, 
 and when she had been with us only one week, 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 35 
 
 we paid her the wages due her for that one 
 week and dismissed her. 
 
 There was no use at all in trying to teach 
 her to do better, for she was one of those 
 women (alas, there are too many of them,) who 
 think they know everything better than every- 
 body else in the wide, wide world. Consequently 
 they in their conceit, scorn to be taught or 
 instructed by their superiors in knowledge and 
 experience. 
 
 MITTY K— (African) 
 came to us in the form of a colored woman of 
 middle age. Upon her first appearance, she 
 pleased us exceedingly. She began her new 
 duties with a cheerfulness and an active dispatch 
 that quite charmed us. She worked so well 
 and steadily, that we were at once soothed 
 into the delusive hope, that we had at last met 
 with a domestic treasure beyond all price. But 
 alas, for all human hopes! 
 
 On the morning of the day on which was 
 concluded her first week spent in our employ- 
 ment, she came to us apparently in great mental 
 excitement. She had just been out sweeping 
 
36 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 off our front pavement. As soon as she entered 
 our door she exclaimed, 
 
 " Miss — , is it true you have a skeleton in 
 this house?" 
 
 " Who said we had ? " 
 
 " Fanny told me so." 
 
 "Who is Fanny?" 
 
 " She is the girl that works next door. Oh, 
 please tell me is it true ? " 
 
 " Yes, Mitty, it is true, and we have a box 
 also full of bones, will you go up stairs with 
 me, and take a good look at them ? " 
 
 " No indeed ! not I ! I would not look at 
 them for all the world ! What makes you have 
 them here ? " 
 
 " They belong to my brother. He is a doctor; 
 doctors often have bones in their houses. Why 
 will you not look at them aud the skeleton ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am dreadfully afraid of them ! " 
 
 "How can you be so childish, Mitty? They 
 are dead dry bones, they cannot hurt you." 
 
 "Oh! I know better; I know the spirits of 
 the people they used to belong to, will come 
 here after them some dark night, and scare me 
 
AND WHY WE PAKTED. 37 
 
 to death. I am sorry you have them in the 
 house, for I cannot live under the same roof 
 with them ! " 
 
 " Nonsense Mitty — if you will not live with 
 bones, you cannot live anywhere. Your own 
 flesh is filled up with bones, and you carry 
 them with you wherever you go. Do you not 
 know that, Mitty ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, I know I have my own bones, 
 but they are mine, and do not belong to dead 
 people, and never did ! The ones you have up 
 stairs are dead people's bones ! " 
 
 " Well what of it if they are ? " 
 
 " Their ghosts will come after them, and may 
 be bewitch me ! " 
 
 " Mitty ! you surely cannot believe what you 
 are saying. Those old bones have been in this 
 house three or four years without hurting or 
 disturbing anybody in it; why would they now 
 attack or try to hurt you ? " 
 
 " Oh indeed ma'am I don't know — but I do 
 know their ghosts will come after them." 
 
 "Now Mitty, we have never seen a ghost; 
 why should one come now to scare you ? " 
 
38 OUK TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 " I don't know why, but indeed I cannot and 
 will not stay another night in this house. I 
 must go away before the sun sets. I am sorry 
 to leave you — but I cannot help it, I must go." 
 
 Neither reason nor persuasion would prevail 
 
 on the fears of the foolish woman, and she took 
 
 her departure as soon as she had eaten her 
 
 dinner. 
 
 MITTY L— (American.) 
 
 This young woman suited us exactly; she was 
 all we could reasonably expect her to be. She 
 had but one fault, and that was of such a trifling 
 nature, that we concluded to overlook it, and be 
 thankful it was no worse. 
 
 But as trifling faults will sometimes do, it led 
 to the suspicion of her being guilty of a much 
 greater one. In all probability, had we not 
 been sure of her possessing the smaller one, we 
 would never have thought of suspecting her of 
 being capable of committing the greater fault 
 that amounted to a crime. 
 
 She had lived with us near two years. In 
 all that time she was faithful and active in the 
 discharge of her domestic duties. But occasion- 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 39 
 
 ally, — at rare intervals we would miss a spool 
 of cotton, a pair of valueless old scissors, or 
 some trifle of a picture, all of which on making 
 a search for them, we would invariably find 
 stowed away in her trunk. They were trifles 
 that we would most willingly have given her, if 
 she had asked. But she never asked for any- 
 thing. Then when we would tell her we had 
 found them in her trunk, she would put on her 
 face an expression of the most good-natured 
 surprise, then with apparent innocence and 
 sincerity, she would declare she must have put 
 them there in a mistake. 
 
 At last we were forced to the conclusion that 
 she was honest, but strangely absent-minded. 
 
 One summer the heat in our city was unu- 
 sually severe, and we concluded it would be wise " 
 and prudent to pay a long visit to the seashore. 
 We had a relative living there, who was in the 
 habit of receiving summer boarders. When we 
 applied to her for rooms, we were informed that 
 she had but one vacant in the whole house. 
 It was a very large apartment on the first floor. 
 She asked us if we would be willing to take it, 
 
40 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 and have our Mitty also sleep in it on a cot. As 
 she had lived with us so long, we thought it 
 would be better to take her with us, than to 
 either dismiss her, or leave her at home alone. 
 Before we had sojourned there three days, our 
 pocket-book that contained all our ready funds 
 — enough to support us all summer — was lost. 
 There had been nobody in the room but our 
 ownselves, and one lady visitor, who was a 
 permanent boarder in the house, and also a 
 well-known and intimate friend of our landlady. 
 As her character for honor was of the very best 
 and highest among all who thought they knew 
 her well, of course we could not suspect her 
 of committing such a criminal act as to steal 
 our pocket-book. We watched our Mitty's 
 actions very closely while she was awake, and 
 searched her baggage and clothes while she 
 slept, but thereby made no discovery of our lost 
 money that could aid us in proving that she 
 had taken it. She could have no accomplice 
 who could have received and concealed it. The 
 idea of there existing such a possibility, seemed 
 to us preposterous, for we knew she had no 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 41 
 
 acquaintances in the house or neighborhood. 
 She ate her meals in our own room as well as 
 slept in it. She never went out of the house at 
 the seashore, except in our company. While 
 she was in-doors, she was always fully occupied. 
 
 Poor Mitty ! it was cruel in us, yet what 
 could we do? 
 
 The robbery certainly had been committed 
 either by her, or that very trust-worthy lady, 
 who apparently had plenty of her own money. 
 How could we suspect her of dishonesty ? But 
 on the contrary, our maiden Mitty had frequently 
 proved to us, that she was not perfectly honest, 
 or else she really was what she had often 
 professed to be, the victim of a most singular 
 and unaccountable absent-mindedness. We 
 thought we never were in greater difficulty, to 
 decide what we ought to do about it. We could 
 not accuse Mitty of having taken the money, 
 because we could find no proof of her having 
 done so. At last we resolved we had better 
 dismiss her. We did so, greatly to our own 
 regret and her immense sorrow. 
 
 A few years passed away, and then we found 
 
42 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 Mitty L. comfortably married, and settled in 
 her own cozy little home. She was greatly 
 respected by all who knew her, while there was 
 never a whisper heard against her good and 
 honest character. 
 
 Meanwhile that lady of such high repute, 
 who used to make social calls on us in our room 
 at the seashore, had met with pecuniary losses, 
 and had hired herself out as a governess in a 
 rich family of our acquaintance. While she 
 was thus engaged by them, she had by her 
 actions, openly proved herself to be, one of the 
 most artful and successful robbers that ever 
 existed. 
 
 No doubt she had committed the theft of cash 
 for which Mitty L. and ourselves suffered so 
 much. Poor Mitty ! But poorer and far more 
 to be pitied was the real robber of our money. 
 
 MITTY M—(Africar ) 
 
 was a comely young widow of a coppery com- 
 plexion. She was engaged to be married to an 
 industrious young man, a few years her senior, 
 and many shades of a darker skin than her 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 43 
 
 own. She candidly informed us at the first, 
 that her stay with us could not be permanent, 
 because she expected to get married and go to 
 housekeeping on her own account, in a few 
 months. Then after that important event, she 
 would be glad to work for us by the day, at 
 washing, ironing and house-cleaning, whenever 
 we might happen to be in want of help, at these 
 useful branches of household labor. Accordingly 
 she was married at the appointed time, and we 
 were once more in search of some one to be her 
 successor. 
 
 MITTY N—{/rish) 
 
 came to us from the Emerald Island of potatoes 
 and buttermilk. She had but recently arrived 
 from the "blissed auld coonthry," her heart 
 had long yearned to come to this "land of 
 promise," to make her permanent home with a 
 married son, who had many years ago left her, 
 to come here to seek his fortune by the labor of 
 his hands, without much of a head to inspire 
 him with the knowledge of where, and how to 
 work to good advantage. 
 
44 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 He had been for a long weary time promising 
 to send her the money she required to pay her 
 passage over the Atlantic, but had never kept 
 his word to this effect, until a few months before 
 it was our fortune to have her fall into our 
 hands. 
 
 While she was still in Ireland, she had enter- 
 tained very brilliant ideas of the wealth and 
 prosperity prevailing in every station of life in 
 this " land of the free." 
 
 She really appeared to have believed that our 
 streets were paved with loose silver dollars, and 
 that meat ready cooked, and bread ready baked, 
 were found growing on trees and bushes. 
 
 Poor Mitty N ! Very bitter indeed was her 
 disappointment when at last she came and found 
 her son had to work very hard for all the money 
 he ever received, by carrying a hod full of bricks 
 or mortar up a steep, high, and dangerous- 
 looking ladder. Worse yet, she discovered she 
 could not even enjoy the comfort of being the 
 mistress of her son's house; for his wife was 
 tyrannical in disposition, and in many ways 
 was very annoying to the newly arrived mother. 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 45 
 
 This was the reason why she soon made up her 
 mind to go to a place, and try to earn her own 
 living. She was entirely ignorant of our 
 manners and customs, and gave us a great deal 
 of trouble, by doing her work in a strange and 
 unexpected manner. Yet we bore with her 
 imperfections as patiently as we could, because 
 we thought if we dismissed her, she would be 
 under the necessity of returning to live with 
 her uncongenial daughter-in-law, where we were 
 assured she never would be contented. We 
 hoped she would in time, acquire accurate 
 knowledge of the way in which we wished her 
 to work. She very readily learned the proper 
 management of our fires, and made no objection 
 at burning stone-coal. 
 
 One day, we concluded to have stewed 
 chickens for dinner, and asked her if she knew 
 how to prepare them for the purpose. She 
 responded, " I know the way they do them in 
 the auld coonthry." 
 
 Poor old soul ! The sigh and suppressed sob 
 with which she always pronounced the words, 
 <; the auld coonthry;" for there were in them 
 
46 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 the sounds of woe and bitter disappointment, 
 that made us sad at heart. 
 
 We too, had lived in a foreign land, and well 
 we knew the feelings of having to live among 
 strangers. 
 
 On this occasion, we supposed all countries 
 could have but one way of preparing chickens 
 for the stew-pan, we left our chickens in her 
 care, and went out to make a few near social 
 calls. 
 
 Fortunately we returned home just before 
 it was quite time to put our intended dinner 
 over the fire. Great was our surprise and 
 discomfort when we found our chickens accur- 
 ately dissected, and soaking in a deep pan of 
 cold water — with not one single hair singed off! 
 She had not singed them at all ! She had not 
 even pretended to ! 
 
 Perhaps she thought she would surprise us by 
 a dish of stewed hairs, as well as one of 
 chickens. 
 
 We had rather a late dinner on that day. 
 
 Fortunately we had no invited guests waiting 
 hungrily to share it with us. To wipe, dry and 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 47 
 
 singe apart each piece of the cut- up chickens 
 was not a trifling undertaking. 
 
 Thus our worthy Mitty N. was almost daily 
 in the habit of making some such blunders. Yet 
 we bore with her patiently, because we knew so 
 well she made them ignorantly and uninten- 
 tionally. 
 
 At last there came to us — as it must come, 
 sooner or later — the season of Spring house- 
 cleaning. In examining the fence of our back 
 yard, we found it could not be properly white- 
 washed, without first being scraped, to remove 
 the remaining rough crusts, of former coats of lime. 
 
 On this account, one day when Mitty's 
 diurnal work was all finished, we set her at 
 scraping the old lime from the fence. She 
 scraped away very steadily a few minutes, then 
 threw the scraper on the ground, and exclaimed 
 in burning indignation, " Faith and if ye want 
 that done, ye may get a nigger to do it — I will 
 not ! " 
 
 Then she went to her room, packed up her 
 bag and baggage, and walked off to some other 
 place. 
 
48 OUR TWENTY HELPS. 
 
 " Oh ! " we exclaimed joyfully, " if we had 
 known fence-scraping would rid us of her, we 
 would have set her at it long ago." We never 
 saw her again. We were glad to be no longer 
 forced to hear whined so sadly in our sympa- 
 thetic ears, the " doleful sound," of the " auld 
 coonthry," in that dismal manner in which she 
 was in the almost constant habit of grinding it 
 out. 
 
 MITTY O— (Irish.) 
 
 Mitty 0. was a white woman, quite advanced 
 in years, who had been a long time employed 
 as a night-nurse in a hospital. She was strong 
 and robust in frame and limbs as a man, and no 
 doubt, handled and lifted her patients as easily 
 as could have been done by the male nurses. 
 She had not been more than three days in our 
 service, when one morning, as she was passing 
 through one of our rooms which we did not 
 often use, she stopped suddenly before a portrait 
 which hung on the wall; gazed at it intently a 
 few minutes; then exclaimed, " That is the 
 picture of Mr. , where did you get it ? 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 49 
 
 We informed her we had inherited it, as he 
 was one of our ancestors. Then we asked, 
 
 " Did you ever see him while he lived ? " 
 
 "Indeed, I often did! My husband was his 
 head book-keeper. Oh! yes, I have seen him. 
 But they are both dead long ago ! " 
 
 Notwithstanding this singular coincidence, 
 Mitty 0. was far from proving to be to us, a 
 congenial or useful help in our household. She 
 did her work in a careless, harum-scarum and 
 untidy manner. Evidently, her long vocation 
 of night-nurse in the hospital, had not improved 
 her habits as a housekeeper. She loitered lazily 
 over her neglected duties, in a way that was far 
 from agreeable to our wishes. It was manifest 
 to our minds that she had no desire to secure a 
 permanent home in our employment. Probably 
 she came to it solely, to obtain a transient 
 vacation from her labors at the hospital, free of 
 cost to herself. At the end of six weeks she 
 bade us adieu, and walked back to her place 
 therein. 
 
 MITTY P— (African). 
 
 Mitty 0. was very soon succeeded by Mitty 
 
50 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 P., who was to our extreme satisfaction, a 
 remarkably nice, tidy and active woman of 
 African descent. She did her work well, and 
 we were perfectly satisfied with her. She lived 
 with us a year, and then some lady put the idea 
 into her head, that she could earn much better 
 wages in the city of New York. She left us 
 and went to work in that city. When she had 
 lived there six months, she was attacked by 
 typhoid fever, and died in two weeks. 
 
 MITTY Q— (Irish) 
 
 was another faultless prize, and gave us very 
 great satisfaction. She was very attentive to 
 our wishes in every respect. She lived with us 
 a year. 
 
 At the end of that time, people in our city 
 first began using gum elastic hose for the 
 purpose of washing pavements. As we were 
 always anxious to lighten the labor of our 
 household help, as much as we comfortably 
 could, we bought a pavement-washing hose, and 
 had our front hydrant fixed, ready to have it 
 used. 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 51 
 
 But to our great surprise, Mitty Q. was 
 unwilling to second our motion in her favor, by 
 making use of our pavement-hose. As we had 
 paid our money for it, of course we did not wish 
 to see it idly rot on our hands. Perceiving we 
 wished her to use it, she obtained another 
 situation, where she was promised she would 
 not be required to wash pavements at all, in 
 any way. Then she departed. 
 
 MITTY R— (African.) 
 
 Mitty R. was another lady of color who did 
 not fascinate us by any amount of extra good 
 qualities. 
 
 But as usual, we did not want to dismiss her 
 until we could not help it. We hoped she would 
 improve, and change in a way to suit us better. 
 
 But when she had lived with us only a short 
 time, she discovered the skeleton we harbored in 
 our house, and that objection sent her promptly 
 away on the hunt alter another place, on the 
 double quick, without either shot or music. She 
 was not willing to live under the same roof that 
 sheltered dead people's bones. 
 
52 OUR TWENTY HELPS. 
 
 We then decided that we would not hire any 
 more persons of African descent, while we were 
 in possession of our brother's skeleton, without 
 first telling them we had it, and then they could 
 do as they preferred about going or staying. 
 
 MITTY S— {African.) 
 
 But our very next offer of a highly recom- 
 mended woman, came to us in the shape of a 
 middle-aged female, who was an excellent cook, 
 as well as a very superior worker in all the 
 other branches of a good housekeeper's duties. 
 
 Before we closed our bargain with her, we 
 took her up stairs, and introduced to her notice, 
 our skeleton in the closet, as well as its company 
 of dry bones in the box near it. We then 
 asked her if she would be afraid to live in the 
 same house with them. She looked at them we 
 thought admiringly, and passed her hand 
 caressingly over the arm bones of the skeleton, 
 and exclaimed, 
 
 "Afraid of them? certainly not? why should 
 I be afraid of such harmless things?" 
 
 This gave us a very high respect for her good 
 
AND WHY WE PARTED. 53 
 
 common sense, and we therefore hired her at 
 once. 
 
 She lived with us a year, and through it all, 
 she proved herself to be a woman of remarkably 
 cool, and clear judgment. 
 
 In cases of sickness, or any other domestic 
 trouble, we always consulted her opinion, and 
 never failed to find it well worth the trouble. 
 We became very much attached to her, and 
 hoped we might never part. Unfortunately, 
 she was smitten by a painful and lingering 
 disease, that compelled her to take refuge in the 
 home of her relatives, and submit to a long 
 siege of rest and careful nursing. 
 
 MITTY T— {African.) 
 
 Mitty T. our twentieth, was another colored 
 damsel, who had no fear of dead bones, nor of 
 living ones either, as her conduct fully proved 
 in a very short time. 
 
 We have traveled a little in the Southern 
 States of North America, and have lived seven 
 years on the coast of Africa, but never in all 
 
54 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 our experience did we ever see a human skin as 
 black as was that of Mitty T. We named her, 
 (among ourselves,) for grace and beauty, our 
 " coal black rose." She was slim and tall, and 
 full of grace in form, limbs and actions. Her 
 features were remarkably handsome and deli- 
 cate. She had no mark about her of being an 
 African, except her intensely black skin and 
 curly hair. If there is any virtue in blood to 
 be manifested by signs, then her blood must 
 indeed have been of the most regal and 
 superior. 
 
 She was majestic, refined, and lady-like in all 
 her movements. She would wear a dress a 
 whole week — do all her work in it — washing 
 and scrubbing included — and at the end of that 
 time, it would be as clean, as spotless, and as 
 un wrinkled as if it had just come fresh from 
 the ironing-board. Whatever work she did, 
 passed through her hands in the same degree of 
 remarkable perfection. Her cooking was so 
 delicious, that every dish she prepared was a 
 decided feast. When we had discovered all 
 these excellent qualities in our precious Mitty 
 
AND WHY WE PAKTED. 55 
 
 T., we began to congratulate ourselves on having 
 at last found the most perfect being we had 
 ever seen. But, alas for all human perfection, 
 her oge was about twenty years. On the third 
 evening of her sojourn with us, she had a 
 visitor! He was a white-headed white man, 
 who was full fifty years old. He remained 
 sitting with her in our kitchen, until two o'clock 
 in the morning. This was only the beginning ! 
 After that, he came every evening, and always 
 remained until the same hour of the next 
 morning. Exactly this he did two whole weeks. 
 Meanwhile, we had given him several scruti- 
 nizing looks, and had concluded from the 
 expression of his face, that he was of a very 
 villanous character, who would probably take 
 pleasure in committing murder. Finally we 
 became so much afraid of him, that we could 
 not think of sleeping while he was in the 
 house. At last we resolved that his visits to 
 our kitchen must cease, or we would have 
 to dismiss our precious Mitty T. When we 
 told her of our determination, she departed 
 at once. 
 
56 OUR TWENTY HELPS, 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Soon after the departure of Mitty T., our 
 brother returned from Europe, where he had 
 been living a long time. To our great surprise, 
 he brought with him, a new young wife. She 
 had not been with us many days before we 
 concluded that she and we, could not possibly 
 live together as housekeepers. 
 
 Consequently we went to boarding, and had 
 no more to do with hiring help. This move- 
 ment on our part, brought the present subject 
 of our pen-picturing to 
 
 THE END. 
 
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