The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1870-08-02
A WOMAN'S ADVENTURE.


Hudson, some fifty or sixty miles from
New York The house we occupied was
a large, rambling mansion, Of consdera
BILE antiquity for this country, and stood
little apart from the rest Of the village,
surrounded by broad fields, and command
ing glorious view Of the river and the
hills of the Highlands. 1t had been
built before the Revolution, by my hus-
bands great-grandfather, and, though
destitute of many "modern improve
ments," was still comfortable and pleas
ant residence.
My husband was lawyer and large
real-estate owner in the neighborhood,
and at the period Of which write, was
greatly perplexed, like many other per-
sons in the North, by the perilous state
of the times, and especially about the
safe investment of his funds, as the sus-
pension of specie payments, the great
rise Of gold, and the military disasters in
Virginia made it almost impossible to
tell where it would be safe to deposit or
to use ones money in any large amount
In the course Of his transactions in
real estate, it happened, one day, that he
received what was for us then large
sum- about ten thousand dollars, which
he brought home and placed in my charge
telling me at the same time that he
should have to be absent during the
evening attending to some business on
the other side Of the river.and should not
be at come till about midnight.
You can place the money in the safe,
DEAR" he said, as he gave it to me- "and
tomorrow | will try and find some way
to invest it securely"
So saying, he stepped into the buggy,
which was standing at the door, and
drove away, taking with hini our hired
man Silas, and leaving me with no one in
the house but Dinah, an old colored wo-
man, who fulfilled in our modest house
hold the functions of cook and maid-of-
all-work, as she had long done in the
family of my own parents, who, on my
marriage, had yielded her to me as a val
liable part Of my dover.
Dinah, was indeed character. She
was tall and very stout, weighing, she
would never tell how much, more than
200 pounds. She was very black, and as
lazy as she was black. do not think
any one could move more deliberately
than Dinah, did, that is to move at all
And, by wonderful dispensation, she
seemed to feel that, whatever her other
faults might be, she was strong on the
point Of locomotion For, when she had
been moving with a ,ponderous slowness
almost maddening to a person of ordina-
ry quickness, one Of her favorite expires
sion was, " Well, Miss Lille, what shal
I fly into nextW How she accomplish
ed all she did, the brownies only know
We used sometimes almost to tremblC
when there was any special hurry about
our domestic arrangements, and yet Di
nah always managed to bring affairs to ;
consummation just when Il minute more
would have ruined everything; and, with
undsturbed front, would slowly enunci
ate, " "Well, miss, what shall fly ontC
next"
1t was nearly dark when my HUSBAND
departed, and, after giving my orders tt
Dinah, or rather my suggestions, | lef
her, and made the tour Of the house, t.
see that all was safe and properly locked
up. This duly attended to, | went t,
my bedroom, intending to pass the tim,
in reading till my husband should return
1t was a large room on the ground
floor, with two French windows openiny
on a broad vcrandah. The window
were draped with long yellow silk cur
tains, between which the moonlight faint
ly entered, dimmed by the shadow of tn
roof Of the piazza, and partly intercepte,
by the fringe Of woodbine, which huns
from it. My bed stood with its foot to
ward the windows, and with its hea,
about half a yard from the wall. 1t wa
an old-fashioned structure, hung wit
yellow silk like the windows, but | slep
with the hangings drawn back and fast
ened to the headboard The bed was S
large that no one ever thought of NOV
ing it, except in those seasons Of house
hold panic called house cleaning, whe
the combined strength of three or fou
was called into reauisition to draw il II