id almost as much work,
with twice as much anxiety, as when there was nobody there; and yet
every thing went wrong besides. The young gentlemen complained of the
patches of starch grimed to their collars, and the streaks of black coal
ironed into their dickies, while one week every pocket handkerchief in
the house was starched so stiff that you might as well have carried an
earthen plate in your pocket; the tumblers looked muddy; the plates were
never washed clean or wiped dry unless I attended to each one; and as to
eating and drinking, we experienced a variety that we had not before
considered possible.

At length the old woman vanished from the stage, and was succeeded by a
knowing, active, capable damsel, with a temper like a steel-trap, who
remained with me just one week, and then went off in a fit of spite. To
her succeeded a rosy, good-natured, merry lass, who broke the crockery,
burned the dinner, tore the clothes in ironing, and knocked down every
thing that stood in her way about the house, without at all discomposing
herself about the matter. One night she took the stopper from a barrel
of molasses, and came singing off up stairs, while the molasses ran
soberly out into the cellar bottom all night, till by morning it was in
a state of universal emancipation. Having done this, and also despatched
an entire set of tea things by letting the waiter fall, she one day made
her disappearance.

Then, for a wonder, there fell to my lot a tidy, efficient-trained
English girl; pretty, and genteel, and neat, and knowing how to do every
thing, and with the sweetest temper in the world. "Now," said I to
myself, "I shall _rest_ from my labors." Every thing about the house
began to go right, and looked as clean and genteel as Mary's own pretty
self. But, alas! this period of repose was interrupted by the vision of
a clever, trim-looking young man, who for some weeks could be heard
scraping his boots at the kitchen door every Sunday night; and at last
Miss Mary, with some smiling and blushing, gave me to understand that
she must leave in two weeks.

"Why, Mary," said I, feeling a little mischievous, "don't you like the
place?"

"O, yes, ma'am."

"Then why do you look for another?"

"I am not going to another place."

"What, Mary, are you going to learn a trade?"

"No, ma'am."

"Why, then, what do you mean to do?"

"I expect to keep house _myself_, ma'am," said she, laughing and
blushing.

"O ho!" said I, "that