“Two little girls make an old wooden spout which empties into a village street their trysting place, and imagine the spout to be the home of the quaint ‘Little Woman’ who helps them out of their childish troubles and shares their joys. They take a little bond-girl into the secret and befriend her when wrongly accused of stealing.”
The Publisher’s Weekly – September 1902
“‘It was all happily brought about by the dear Little Woman in the Spout’
Who was the ‘Little Woman in the Spout’? It was a wooden spout from which the water poured into an ideal gutter with cobble stones. The little girls discovered it one day and called it ‘The Little Woman’s House.’ Of course, they never saw the ‘Little Woman’ herself, but when they placed any prize article inside her house – a doll, or toy – would be missing on their next visit, and of course the Little Woman was there and had taken it in. Children will enjoy this little girl’s story with pleasant times spiced with adventure that all comes out happily in the end”
Primary Education – March 1903
“The mythical being that two little girls imagined a ‘Little Woman’ who had her home in a wooden spout that discharged its contents into a rain barrel is the central figure of the story called: ‘The Little Woman in the Spout’, by Mary Agnes Byrne. They played around the spout and said the Little Woman did various things but could not prove it, for they never saw her. By and by they were joined by another little girl, one who had been taken out of ‘Home’ and who lived across the way. She was known as a ‘Bound Girl’, but that made no difference to her little playmates. Lottie, for that was her name, had much drudgery to perform, could not go to school regularly, and did not have the pleasures other children had. The daughter of her mistress tyrannized over her. Finally she made good friends with a neighboring family and all ended well for Lottie and her playmates.”
The School Journal – December 1902
