Mary Rose of Mifflin

E-text prepared by Al Haines


It's there in every lease, plain as print, Larry Donovan insisted. No childern, no dogs an' no cats. It's in every lease.
I don't care if it is! Kate Donovan's face was as red as a poppy and she spoke with a determination that exactly matched her husband's. You needn't think I'm goin' to turn away my own sister's only child? Who should take care of her if I don't? Tell me that, Larry Donovan, an' be ashamed of yourself for askin' me to send her away!
Sure, an' I'd like the little thing here as much as you, Kate, dear, Larry said soothingly, and in her heart Mrs. Donovan knew that he meant it. But it isn't every day that a man picks up a job like this, janitor of a swell apartmen' buildin', an' if we take in a kid when the lease says plain as can be, no childern, no dogs an' no cats, I'll lose the job an' then how'll I put a roof over your heads an' bread in your stomachs? That's why I'm again' it.
A clever man like you'll find a way. Mrs. Donovan's confidence was both flattering and stimulating. If a woman expects her husband to do things he just has to do them. He has no choice. Don't you worry. You haven't been out of work since we were married 'cept the three months you was laid up with inflamm't'ry rheumatiz. The way I look at it is this: the good Lord must have meant us to have Mary Rose or he wouldn't have taken her mother an' her father an' all her relations but us. Seems if he didn't send us any of our own so we'd have plenty of room in our hearts an' home for her. She's a present to us straight from the Lord.
That may be, Kate, Larry scratched his puzzled head. But will the agents, will Brown an' Lawson look at it that way? The lease says——
Bother the lease! Mrs. Donovan interrupted him impatiently. What's the lease got to do with a slip of a girl who's been left an orphan down in Mifflin?
That's just what I'm tryin' to tell you. Larry clung to his temper with all of his ten fingers, for it was irritating to have her refuse to understand. If we took Mary Rose in here to live don't you s'pose all those up above, he jerked his thumb significantly toward the ceiling, 'd know it an' make trouble? God knows they make enough as it is. They're a queer lot of folks under this roof, Kate, and that's no lie. Folks—they're cranks! explosively. When one isn't findin' fault another is. When I've heat enough for ol' Mrs. Johnson it's too hot for Mrs. Bracken. Mrs. Schuneman on the first floor has too much hot water an' Miss Adams on the third too little. Mrs. Rawson won't stand for Mrs. Matchan's piano an' Mrs. Matchan kicks on Mrs. Rawson's sewin' machine. Mr. Jarvis never gets his newspaper an' Mrs. Lewis al'ys gets two. Mrs. Willoughby jumps on me if a pin drops in the hall. She can't stand no noise since her mother died. She don't do nothin' but cry. I don't blame her man for stayin' away. I'd as soon be married to a fountain. When they can't find anythin' else to jaw me about they take the laundries. An' selfish! There isn't one can see beyond the reach of his fingers. I used to think that folks were put into the world to be friendly an' helpful to each other but I've learned different. He sighed and shook his head helplessly. Mrs. Bracken on the first floor has lived here as long as we have, two years nex' October, an' I've yet to hear her give a friendly word to anyone in the house. When little Miss Smith up on the third was sick las' winter did her nex' door neighbor lend a hand? She did not. She was just worried stiff for fear she'd catch somethin'. She gave me no peace till Miss Smith was out of the house an' into a hospital. Peace! I've forgot there was such a word. They won't stand for any kid in the house when the lease says no childern, no dogs an' no cats.