Adeline Noble:
I came to Boston from San Francisco by way of the Trans Continental. Travelling alone, I considered myself quite the adventuresome lady. How silly of me. The impetus for my relocation was my mother's death. Her last wish was that I find her family, inform them of her death and throw myself on their mercy. For although I am a bastard by birth, my mother had gone to extraordinary measures to ensure I was raised with all the education and decorum of a proper young lady. It was her greatest desire that I should marry well, though her own marriage had not proved to be particularly beneficial. She did see that my education included some arts by which I could make my way in genteel poverty, should my husband die as inopportunely as hers did.
Her family, however, took the news of her death indifferently and saw me only as a shameful embarrassment, best ignored.
With few resources, I still felt Boston presented better opportunities for a single woman than San Francisco, so I bought a copy of the Advocate and a candle to read it by. An ad seeking an "adventurer free to travel" caught my eye, and though it was undoubtedly intended to draw male applicants, I mailed a polite letter of application, signing it A. E. Noble.
How I became employed, I am still not certain, for my idea of adventuresome proved to be wholly inadequate. Compared to the other agents I met during my training, I felt hopelessly unqualified.
Her family, however, took the news of her death indifferently and saw me only as a shameful embarrassment, best ignored.
With few resources, I still felt Boston presented better opportunities for a single woman than San Francisco, so I bought a copy of the Advocate and a candle to read it by. An ad seeking an "adventurer free to travel" caught my eye, and though it was undoubtedly intended to draw male applicants, I mailed a polite letter of application, signing it A. E. Noble.
How I became employed, I am still not certain, for my idea of adventuresome proved to be wholly inadequate. Compared to the other agents I met during my training, I felt hopelessly unqualified.
Copyright 2013 Sydney Blackburn