Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1871-05-03
THE GUARDED TREASURE.

In the second year of the late civil wa.
/ was married. and went to live with nv
husband in a small village on the Hud
son, some fifty or sixty miles from New
York. The house We occupied was &
large, rambling mansion of considerable
antiquity for this country, and stood &
little apart from the rest of the village
surrounded by broad fields, and com
mandiDg a glorious view of the river
and the hills of the Highlands. 1t had
been built before the Revolution by nv
husbands great grandfather, and though
destitute of any mOderC improvements,
was still comfortable and pleasant resi-.
dence.
My husband was lawyer, and large
real estate owner in the neighborhood,
and at the period at which l write was
greatly perplexed, like a great many 9th
er persons in the North, by the periIous
state OF the times, and especially about
the safe investment Of his funds, as the
suspension Of specie payments. the great
rise IN gold, and military disasters in Vir-
ginia, made 1t almost impossible to tell
where 1t would be safe to deposit it, or
10 use ones money in any large amount.
In the course of bis transactions in real
estate, it happened. Que day. that be re
ceiyed, what was for US then large SUN,
about zen thousand dollars, which he
brought home and left in nv charge, tell
ing me at the same that lie should have
to be absent during the evening, attend
ing to some business on the other side of
the river, aud should not be at home un
til midnight
Z" You can place the money in the safe.
DEAR" be said, rs be gave it to me, 'and
to morrow | will Try and find some way
TO inves! it securely"
So saying, he stepped into the buggy,
which WAS standing at the door way, tax
ing with hin our hired man, S.Ias, and
leaving me with no one IN the house but
DiDah, an old cOlored woman, who ful
filled in our modest household the func
tons Of cook and maid.of al-work, as she
had done in the family of my own par
ents, who, on my marriage, had yielded
her up to me as valuable par! of my
dover.
Dinah was indeed a character. She
was tall and very stout, weighing she
never would tell how much more than
two hundred 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 dis
pensation, she seemed to feel that what
ever her other faults might be. she was
strong on the point of loeomotion. For
when she had been moving with a pom
deTous slowness, almost maddeniDg to a
person of ordinary quickness, one of her
iavOrite expressions was, "WelI, Miss Lii
lie, what shall | fly into next?" How
she accomplished all she did, the bownies
only knew. We used sometimes almost
10 tremble when there was sny special
hurry about our domestic arrangements,
and yet Dinah always managed to bring
affairs to contamination just wher a
minute more would have ruined every
ching, and with undisturbed front would
slowly enunciate. "Well, Miss Lille, what
shall ] fly at nextl"
1t was nearly dark when my husband
departed, aud, after giving my orders to
Dinah, OF rather my suggestions, l left
Der and made the tour of the house, tc
see that all was safe sn6 properly locked
up. This duty attended to l went to
my bed room, intending to pass the time
IN reading until my husband should re-
turn.
1t was large room on the ground
floor, with two French windows opening
on a broad yeranda. The windows were
draped with long yellow silk curtains, be-
tween which the moonlight family enter.
ed, dimmed by the shadows of the ROOT
on the piazza, aud partly intercepted by
the fringe of wocdbine which hung from
it. NY bed stood with its foot toward
the windows. and with its head about
half a yard from the wall. 1t was an
ola fashioned structure, hung with yellow
silk, like the windows. but l slept with
the hangings drawn back and fastened to
the had board. The bed was so large
that no one ever thought of moving il,
except 10 those seasons Of household panic