The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-10-13
lFrom Sartsin's Magazine.l
THE TR EASU RE- S EEK E T;
OR, The ADVENTURES OF
CHRISTOPHER RICHsTRIN.
BY MRS. \. S. SWIFT.

What is herei
TINS much Of THIS will make black, white; foul, fair;
Wrong, nghti base noble; Old, young; coward, valiant
Shakspea'e.
Bonner and bitzenI woman, will you hold
your tonguei A man cannot take & walk Of
nights without your silly gable, DINING his cans
forever about it.
'Yes-hut Christophe, the nelghbors say you
are after no good IN that lonesome place down
the river, night after night
Il don't care a silver what the neighbors say,
Frau Richsteiu. They will open Their eyes and
their mouths too, some day, wide enough. II
you eOUli keep a secret, might tell you some
thing that would make you dance like little Gin
ds, when she peeped into her Christmas stock
ing
30. indeed, Christophe, good husband, will
be as still as DEATH indeed, indeed WILL
Yes, yes, Fran, until some of your gossips
come in. But this secret you will be fool 10
tell any one for it concerns yourself and our lit
tie ones too. Hsrken, mistress; do you see Squire
Rollins big house youierl Well, before this
month is out, hope TO have money enough Ia
build square Of such houses; aye, and keep
more horses than Joe Bennett has in all his sta
But mind-one word Of all this from your lips 10
any Of our neighbors would ruin everything; so
be still, Cathrena Richsteln, and be a prudent
wife, and wait for what you will see
ChHstophe took from peg his old plaid cloak
and hat, and bidding her go to bed betimes, for
he would not be back very soon, opened the
street door and was soon out of sight.
Frau Richstein sat for a quarter of an hour
where her husband had lefthe her knitting had
fallen from her hands in her entire sstonishment
at his mysterious words; her eyes were dilated 10
their utmost extension-her mouth pursed up, as
if she was afraid to open her lips, lest the won-
derful secret might make its escape. And so we
will leave her, reader, and follow Christophe.
Christophe Richstien was a German, who had
emigTated 10 the United States with several OF
his brothers, during the war that devastated the
Faiherlsnd, in 1918. His father had been a
teacher in the Lutheran school, in Nierstein, on
the river Rhine, near oppenheim. Chrstophe
had received good education at enc of the free
schools, but he had imbibed with his learning all
the superstitions so prevalent at that period in
the provinces. He was a firm believer in de-.
mons, fsiries, and gooi and bad influences de-
pending upon the conjunction Of certain planets.
He wore constantly upon his person a charmed
amulet, gwen TO him in his boyhood by decrepid
and sunburn woman, an Alrune, or gipsey pro-
phetess. He had been the means of saving her
from being dragged through the college pond, by
some mischievous wags of the school. The old
crone assured him, that as long IS he possessed
ice and power of the bad spirits that abide on the
earth to influence the destinies Of men. That
as this earth was filed with light and darkness,
so also, 1t was the kingdom Of good and evil be-
ings, who, clio he'd in air, were invisible to NOR
tails, unless their sight had been purified by deep
Affections or religious abstinence. She also
drew the boys horoscope, and foretold that in a
distant land, among a strange people, in his for
ty-second year, he would become rich and great.
Christophe kept these prophecies to himself;
but the influence they had upon his life, was
fatal to his industry and usefulness. His trade
was a good one, and constant employment was
at his option. But though his wife and children
were objects to HIM of the deepest affection, he
neglected his business, and consequently their
comfortable support, for long and solitary ram.
bles in out-of-the-wsyp places. oneday he would
be seen on the top of a mountain, peering about
Is if in search OF something he had lost; the next
smergIng from some tangled wood or wild "a
vine; his head bent, and his eyes always seeking
The ground. OF course he became an object Of
curiosity and suspicion to many, and his imme-
date neighbors and acqusintances would say,
Christophe was a queer, visionary man, that
would come to no good yet
Always taciturn, he evaded the questions of
he inquistive and :meddIing, by monosyllables;
and would speak on any other subject but the
'ne which occupied his thoughts day and night.
In Neirstien, Christophe had been cantor to
The Lutheran church. His voice was fine
.enor, and when first he came to the village, he
would frequently sing the solemn old psalm tunes,
earned in the FatheIland-but of late years his
aste for music had undergone singular change
ShoSNuoc VI WIN couFo VI OoCCouctiS anu p-
,stes; ballads like Eugene Aram,' descriptive
If awful murder and guilt, had become his favor
ties. One song, said to have been written by
he celebrated pirate 'Blackbeard,' he sang so
that all the children in his neighbor-
hood knew it as well as their alphabet
Twilight has deepened into night, aud the
moon is silvering the tops Of the dark pines on |
he jersey shore. Chnstophe is seated on the
runk Of fallen tree, on the Pennsylvania side |
If the river. It's dead branches fret and plunge
With the uplifting waves, breaking the waters in.
% a thousand dimples, thai skinner in the moon |
beams like priceless gems. Christophe is abb
orbed in deep thought, his eyes fixed upon one
pot Is he calculating the great age of the per-
shing monarch Of the forest, whose moss grown
Tunk Affords him such quiet resting placer Is
'e In fancy. calling up the dim shapes Of. past
gee, when this road was a wilderness, when
he STAN looked down upon the dusky Tribes who
made this beautiful land their homo, and saw no
Init 70 thsir tsuitopi Or in the calm stiffness