John and Marinda, 1856

“The Lost One Found, or How a Girl Fooled the Boys,” by M. A. H. North Carolinian [Fayetteville, North Carolina] 9 August 1856; p. 2.

Some eighteen months ago, the quiet village of Rockfish—a manufacturing place in the old North state—was one morning thrown into a whirl of excitement, by the announcement that a beautiful, interesting, virtuous young female, one of the operatives of the factory, had suddenly disappeared, and it was rumored that some one had made way [sic]with her. Old men and women, young men and maidens, congregated in groups and discussed the probabilities, and finally came to the conclusion, that the unfortunate Marinda had been drowned.

She had left her boarding house some time during the previous night without taking any of her clothing, and without communicating her intentions to a single soul. She was tracked to a beautiful sand-beach near the head of the pond, and there all further trace of her was lost. After many fruitless efforts to recover from the dark waters, one supposed to be beneath its surface, all further exertion was abandoned, and the fair one left to repose in its deep bosom.

Months passed away and nothing was heard of the lost one; busy-bodies had noised around that Marinda had been murdered by one to whom, it was said, she had loaned money, and there were many who were too ready to believe their slanderous gossip, although the person charged, was of high standing, and too honorable to think of, much less do a deed of such atrocity; yet, as I have said, there were some who shook their heads with a knowing shake, and said, “men will do almost anything for money.”

A year and a half has passed by. The occurrence of Marinda’s fate began to be obliterated from the mind those friends who mourned for her had laid aside their weeds, and had resigned her as lost forever.

It appears she became dissatisfied with her condition, from some cause unnecessary to detail, and left her boarding house while all beneath its roof were buried in profound slumber; and for fear of being seen by some one in the village, she took the path leading up the margin of the pond, passing by the beach near its head, and thence through the woods to the main road. She found herself at daylight some distance off, and determined, in order to conceal her identity, to doff the attire of a woman, and assume that of the sterner sex. An opportunity soon offered, for seeing at a farm-house near by, a pair of pantaloons and some shirts hanging on the fence, she managed to secure them, and at once appropriated them to her own use. In this disguise she travelled on to Bennettsville, S. C., where she procured work as a boy, and di[l]igently applied herself for several months without exciting the least suspicion as to her sex. Her associates were with the males of the village, and though she frequently went with the boys to the river to wash, she never could be induced to go in herself, always volunteering to watch their clothes while they were bathing.

Work becoming a little scarce, John (for that was her assumed name) left Bennettsville and went to Cheraw, where she labored for two or three months, until she procured funds enough to carry her to Charleston. In that city she was taken sick with fever, and though under skillful medical attendance, she managed to preserve her incognito.

John finally, like the moth to the candle, ventured too near her old range, and was discovered, first, as one of the operatives in a factory in Fayetteville by some of those who had known Marinda at Rockfish. Finding herself suspected, she left, and hired herself to an old bachelor some miles from town, doing faithful man service in the farm and about the house, sleeping with the crusty old fellow at night without his suspecting what kind of a bed-fellow he had, until curiosity brought her to town to hear the discussion between Bragg and Gilmer, when she was again met by some of her old acquaintances, and fully recognized as Marinda, the lost maiden of Rockfish village.

Marinda has promised to assume the appropriate costume of her sex, though she says that the men have much more fun than woman—that it will be hard for her hereafter to sit and listen to the everlasting gossip of the girls, since she has mingled with the men, attended the election and tax-gatherings—become interested in politics—heard the candidates and been hugged and treated so well by them.

She has promised, at the earliest opportunity, to give me a summary of her romantic wanderings, which she says will make me sacrifice all the buttons on my vest and waistband; when she does, you, Mr. Editor, shall hear from me. It must be rich!