The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-10-16

| by our door What should we do? A lock
was no protection against burglar.
Suppose" said Bell, "that we open tht
door and tell him that we are all alone, ant
that there is no man in the house to protec
us; and then, surely, if We throw ourselve:
so completely on his mercy, he will have gen
erosity enough not to harm u.s."
was toe much excited, at the time, to b,
amused with my sweet sister for so innocent
ly expecting to find such an amount of chiv
airy in man of that description but re-
allied that the course which she proposed
would not be wise one.
"Let us all arm ourselves" suggested one
Of my guests, "and put on an appearance o.
bravery, and we may succeed in frightening
him away"
This seemed to all Of US the bes, thing
that could be done.
Bell caught up the revolver, having been
first assured that It was not loaded, and
placed her hand on the trigger as though she
were about to shoot. One Of our visitors
carried poker heated red.hot, and the 9TH
er, in the excitement Of the moment. possess
ed herself of pin.cushion what use size in
tended to make Of it am unable to say.
took the candle, thinking we shonld need
some light on the subject, and Brddy follow
ed, afftctionately clinging to her molasses
candy kettle The two children, dreading
equally to come to the door or to be separa.
ted from us, finally stood in the middle of
the floor and began to cry.
We approached the door and drew back
trembling: no one was willing to be the first
There was that fearful sound Of feet outside
our enemy appeared to be careerng up
and down the hall Would he shoot US on
the spot as soon as he shoull see us? The
suspense was insolerable, "He could but
kill u.s." l argued with mvself, and with one
desperate effort, and feeling Of despair.
turned the key and opened the door For
one moment I stood, not daring to glance
around in the dark. mysterious hall. But
there was no report of a pi~tol--no dagger
was plunged into our hearts--all of us were
still living. This knowledge gave me cour-
age to look around; but sawno one. The
tramping Of feet became more distinct; I
raised my candle to throw more light into
that fearful darkness, and discovered "a
rat! the most enormous one that had ever
seen, which seemed to be making desper-
ate effort to get out Of our way.
A heavy weight was suddenly lifted from
my heart. turned to communicate the re-
suit of my investigations to the small body
guard, which stood directly behind me and
then, as | felt myself safe from danger, the
ludicrousness of the scene burst upon me.
Bell stood, with lips compressed and her fin-
gers clasped tightly upon the trigger of
her revolver. One Of my guests had her
poker elevated high in the air, while the 9th.
er was embracing her pin-cushion with a
most determined expression and Biddy was
holding her kettle, upside down, above her,
while the remains of her molasses candy
were slowly dripping over her head and
shoulders. And the children were standing
in the middle of the floor, looking piteouslv
at us through their tears. They all stood
there. perfectly stationary in their respective
positions, as if they were waiting to have
their portraits taken. But when announc
ed to what species of the animal kingdom
our enemy belonged, there was general
drawing ofbreaths, putting down of weap-
ons, and, finally, a hearty laugh.
Of course, there was but little sleeping
done that night; our nerves had been too
much excited to allow of it.
When Mr.. Jones returned, the next day, |
related the story Of our nights campaign to
him, and he appeared to be supremely anus
ed at our fears.
"fou must move into the city," said !;
"for another such night as that would kill
me-"
"I'll get you rat-trap," said he, "to pro.
tect You"
! tried to talk to him seriously, hut my
words were wasted; he had such an incom.
prehensible affection for that house, that it
seemed impossible to persuade him to leave
il. AT length burst into tears. This is
woman's refuge, and seldom fails in pleading
her cause. It succeeded in my case; l Sc
cured his promise and was contented.
Not long afterward I became the mistress
ola pleasant residence in the city. When
my husband is asked. by his friends, how
he came TO give up his home on the river,
he usually reDlies that ''his wife and the
country rats couldn't agree together"
stockings and BInnISets Tor the
Soldiers.
Miss Dix. who has charge Of the hospitals
at Washington established to receive sick
and wounded soldiers expresses the desire
that the ladies throughout the country will
show their patriotism by knitting wollen
Sfn IN for tho .n1I;c~x. ...A:~l