More than anyone else in Maycomb, Miss Stephanie has been responsible for constructing the urban legend of Boo Radley as some kind of strange, scary monster. The town's resident gossipmonger loves nothing more than hearing the sound of her own voice, especially when she's rabbiting on about the man she's turned into a crazed, scissor-wielding maniac.
Yet it's hard to take her seriously. For one thing, it's telling that the children just automatically assume that what she says about Boo must be true. Miss Stephanie's gossip has provided a constant supply of fuel to their childish, overactive imaginations, acting as a catalyst for the Boo Radley game. The subtly humorous implication of all this is that you'd have to be a child—or have the mentality of a child—to believe the kind of crazy stories that Miss Stephanie regularly concocts about the town boogeyman. Essentially, Miss Stephanie's at the same level...
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as the children. The only difference is that they have their immaturity as an excuse for believing in all these legends about Boo. As an adult, however, Miss Stephanie really ought to know better.
Miss Stephanie represents the type of person most people have experienced at least one time in their life but wish they didn't. You know the type, the one you try to avoid because their only agenda is to gossip about situations they no nothing about but claim to have 'all' the correct information. Harper Lee's purpose in Stephanie's character is to confirm to the reader just how ridiculous her assumptions are towards those who are different from the accepted 'status-quo'. Lee's humor is best recognized in the conversation between Stephanie and Miss Maudie. In short, according to Stephanie, Boo's strange behavior is confirmed by her belief that he is watching her in her bedroom. Miss Maudie's response to Stephanie suggests how ridiculous her statements are simply because of their ignorant pretense. When Miss Maudie responds to Stephanie suggesting that if her story is true, she should make room for him in her bed. Harper Lee combines the quickness of truth with just the right dose of wit to see that Miss Maudie's humor equaled 'checkmate'.