Page:Pieces People Ask For.djvu/117

Rh Mrs. Mervin. Can you bring me a certificate of good character from the lady who last employed you?

Joanna. A stifkit ! What's that, shure?

Mrs. Mervin. A paper, stating what character you bear.

Joanna. Indade, ma'am, I niver carries my charactercher round in a dirty piece of paper, that's liable to be torn up any day. I thinks more of meself than that.

Mrs. Mervin. Very well; I cannot take you, unless you can bring me such a paper.

Joanna. Faith, ye won't have the chance ; and I'm thinkin' it'll be a long time before ye gets suited. Ye'll find no dacent girl will carry her charactercher loose in her hand.

Emma. Another verdant specimen. These interviews grow interesting. I'm beginning to enjoy them. I wonder who will come next? (Bell rings.)

Mrs. Mervin. We shall soon see who has given the bell such a gentle pull.

Enter.

Angelina. Are you the lady who manifested her desire to secure an assistant in her family, by inserting an advertisement in "The Gazette" of last evening?

Mrs. Mervin. Yes; I advertised for a servant-girl. Do you wish such a situation?

Angelina. I might be induced, madam, to accept a position in your family for a sufficient consideration.

Mrs. Mervin. Are you familiar with housework?

Angelina. Yes, in a certain way. I am in the habit of idealizing and etherealizing every thing which I undertake. I think I have discovered the method of extracting the poetry from housework; and instead of regarding it as a wearisome drudgery, I make it a grand poem.

Emma. I think you must be an inventive genius if you can find any poetry in washing greasy dishes, or scrubbing kitchen floors.

Angelina. Ah, miss, there is poetry in every thing. I revel in it, morning, noon, and night. Its glorious beams brighten my pathway at every step of my earthly progress. I have written a volume of sweet verses ; and if they can only be properly brought before the public, my name will be immortalized, and the poet's laurels forever crown my brow. It is to gain a sufficient sum to publish this gem among