1 66 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



as often as not. Yea, the Impossible Person 

 herself owns to distinctions. 



4 I was the adopted child of a minister,' 

 she says. ' And when I up and married Bill, 

 my folks said as I were stoopin' to take up 

 with a locomotive engineer ; and they kind o' 

 turned against me. Then me and Bill we 

 didn't have no children, so we took a girl and 

 'dopted her' 



4 What's become of her ?' 



4 Oh, she's married too. But Bill he 

 weren't pleased with her marryin' no better 

 than a brakeman, so we ain't seen nothin' of 

 her much. But now Bill's gone, and Bob 

 he's a conductor, and a-doin' well, so I guess 

 I'll go on and see my daughter when I gets 

 away from this place.' 



You continue to sustain her her and her 

 successors. You, the invalid, do, or have 

 done for her, the work she is paid to perform. 

 She sets down on you metaphorically ; she 

 sets and lays, by-the-by ; she is a burden 

 heavy to be borne. Dominated by that 

 tremendous ego, that has not a thought or 

 hope or wish unconnected with itself, and 

 your own spirit fainting beneath bodily 



