In the narrative nonfiction The Other Wes Moore , the character Mary is described in a vulnerable moment as she "wiped her still-damp face" while recalibrating her life ambitions after having to drop out of school.

In historical contexts, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, children were often "farmed out" to a .

In family histories such as This Side the Gully , a woman named Mary is described as a cautious, home-loving lass who delayed her marriage during the Irish Potato Famine until conditions improved.