The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1870-07-21
A SAFE INVESTMENT.

In the second year Of the late civil
war. | was married. and went to live
with my husband in u small village
on the Hudson, some fifty or sixty
miles from New York. The house
we occupied was large, rambling
mansion, of considerable antiquity for
this country, and stood n little apar,
from the rest of the village. surround.
cd by broad fields, and commanding n
glorious view Of the river, and the hill
of the Highlands 1t had been bull.
before the Revolution, bv my hus-
bands great-grandiather, and, though
destitute of many "Alodern improve.
meuts,r was still a comfortable aud
pleasant residence.
My husband was n lawyer and n
large real estate owner in the neigh.
borhood, and, at the period of which |
write, was greatly perplexed, like
many other persons in the North. By
the perilous state of the times, and cs.
pecially about the safe investment OF
his funds, as the suspension OF specie
payments, the great rise in 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,
Iu the course of his transactions in
real-estate, it happened one day that
be received what was for US then q
large sum, about ten thousand dollars,
which be 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 home till about
midnight.
"You can place the money 10 the
safe, dear" he said as he gave 1t to
me, land Tomorrow l will try aud
find some way to invest it securely,
So saying. he stepped into the bug.
gy, which was standing at the door,
taking with him our hired man Silas,
aud leaving mo 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
ot-all-work, as she had long done in
the family Of my own parents, who, on
my marriage, had yielded her to NE
as a valuable part Of my dover.
Dinah was indeed character. She
was tall and very stout, weighing, she
would never tell how much, more than
two hundred pounds. She was very
black, and as lazy as she was black
l do not think any one could move
moro deliberately than Dinah did, thai
is, to move at oil. Aud, by wonder
full dispensation, she seemed to fee
that whatever her other faults nigh
be, she was strong on the point Of 10
comotion. For when she had beer
moving with pouderous slowness, al
most maddening TO person Of ordina
ry quickness, one Of her favorite ex'
pressions was, "Wsll, Miss Lille
what shall l fly onto next p Hov
she accomplished oil she did, tn,
brownies only know. We used some
times almost tIsmble when there wa
any special hurry about our domestic
arrangements, and yet Dinah Away
managed to bring affairs to a consum
nation, just when u minute NOR,
would have ruined everything I; ant
with undisturbed front, would slowl!
enunciate, well, miss, what shall
fly onto next ?"
1t was nearly dark when my hus
band departed, aud, after giving m,
orders to Dinah, or rather my sugges
tions, left her, and made the tour o
the house, TO see that oil was safe M,
properly locked up.. This duty attend
cd to, I went TO my bedroom, idtend
ing 10 pass the time 10 reading till NJ,
hasband should rstura.
II wss q largo room on tho groun,
G0ofz zHiIh tse {5eeeh YiaaasAanAa