have to give you a trial."

"But don't you know anything of a housemaid's duties?" inquired Aunt
Alice, who was a little dubious in the face of such absolute ignorance.
"For instance, if the door-bell should ring, what would you do?"

"I would have asked Miss Patty beforehand, ma'am, and I would do whatever
she had told me to."

"Good enough!" exclaimed Mr. Fairfield. "I think you'll do, Pansy; at any
rate, you'll have nothing to unlearn, and that's a great deal."

So the waitress was engaged, and it was not long after this that a cook
"dropped from the skies," as Patty expressed it.

One afternoon a large and amiable-looking coloured woman appeared at Mrs.
Elliott's house, with a note from Mrs. Stevens recommending her as a cook
for Patty. As soon as Patty saw her she liked her, but, remembering
previous experiences, she said:

"Do you understand that you are to work for me? I'm a very young
housekeeper, you know."

"Laws, missy, dat's all right. Til do de housekeepin' and you can do de
bossin'. I reckon we'll get along mos' beautiful."

"That sounds attractive, I'm sure," said Patty, laughing. "What is
your name?"

"Emancipation Proclamation Jackson," announced the owner of the