Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1873-11-26


by squadron Of troopers armed cap.
a-pie), rides at full gallop past the gate
of Damascus on his errand of destruc-
tloh irs0ls--..t .t4 81. r.. -.s. 90 r,--
'rThe bureau must be q very old one, u
remarked /, tentatively. 'r. ''- .-
81 "It is, indeed but that's not why we
value it." answers the old man, with
kindling eyes. "That bureau is the
most precious thing we have and there
is story attached to it which will never
be forgotten in our family, I'll answer
for it. III tell you, the story one oi
these days. but not tonight. for we
mustn't spoil our pleasant evening by
any sad recollections. And here, in
good time, comes Lieschen to tell us
that teas ready. s .i..4. .s-s-- -i l'
will not tantalize my readers with a
catalogue of the good cheer which
heaped the table; suffice it to say, the
meal was one that would have tempted
the most notorious evil liver" that ever
returned incurable from Calcutta, and
seasoned with heartiness of welcome
which would have made far poorer fare
acceptable. Fresh from "reminiscences
of Hermann and Dorothea," could
almost have imagined myself in the
midst of that finest domestic group of
the great German artist. The hearty
old landlord of the Golden Lion, and
his ''kluge verstandige Hausfrau" were
before me to the life; the blue-eyed
.Madehen, who loaded my plate with
tea-cakes, might, with the addition of
a little dignity, have made a very pas
sable Dorothes while ''brother Viii
helm" had he been there, would have
represented my ideal Hermann quite
fairly. Nor was the '.friendly chat"
wanting to complete the picture. The
old man, warming with the presence of
a new listener, launched into countless
stories of his soldier son. who, young
as he was, had already snlelt powder on
more than one hard fought field, during
the FIRST short fever of the seven weeks
war. Frau Lisbeth, who was sn actual
mine of those quaint old legends which
are nowhere more perfect than in Ger
many, poured forth a series of tales
which would have made the fortune of
any Christmas Number" in Britain !;
while the young lady, though rather
shy at first, shook off her bashfulness
by degrees, and asked thousand ques-
tions respecting the strange regions
which had recently quilted; the sandy
wastes of the Yolga, and the voiceless
solitndes of the Don-relics of former
glory which still cling around ancient
Kazan-wicker-work shanties inhabited
by brawling- Gossacks aud Crimean
caverns tenanted by Tartar peasants
battered Kertch and ruined Sebastopol
Odessa, >witho her. sea- fronting boule-
ward, and sacked Kiev, with her dim
catacombs and diadem of gilded towers
the bsrbaric splendor OF ancient Mos
COW, and the imperial beauty of queenly
Stockholm. 1t was late in the evening
before / departed, which L was not
allowed to do without promising once
and again not to be long of returning
And L kept my word for the quiet
happiness of this little circle, SO simple
and SO open-hearted. was real treat to
a restless CAD. about like myself. Before
the month was at an end had strolled
around the tc wn with Herr Holzmann
a dozen times L had partaken fully as
often of Frau Lisbeth's inexhaustible
tea-cakes; / had presented Fraulein
Margarethe, on the morning of her sigh-
teenth birthday, with pair of Russian
ear-drops, accompanying my gift las
any one In my place might well have
done) by resembling kiss on both
cheeks, which the plump little Madchen
received as frankly rs it was given. But
the relentless divinity of the scythe and
who proverbially waits for
no msn, at length, put q period to my
stay in Berlin; and one evening, few
days before my departure, 1 reminded
Herr Heinrich of his promise to tell me
the history OF the old bureau which had
attracted my attention. The old man,
nothing loath, settled himself snugly in
the ample corner of the sofa, fixed his
eyes upon the quaint old piece of furni-
ture which formed the theme Of his dis
course, and began as follows:
"You must know then, mein Herr,
that in the year 80 business began to
rather fall off with me q was a cabinet
maker, you remember), and from bad
it came to worse, until thought some-
thing should really be done to put
matters to ri ghts. Now Just about this
time all manner of stories were begin
ming to go about of the high wages paid
to foreign workmen in Russia, and the
heaps of money that sundry Germans
who had gone there from Breslau and
and elsewhere were making
in St. Petersburg and Moscow. And 30
I rondered and pondered over all these
tales, and the plight j was in, till at last
l began to think of going and trying my
luck as well as the rest. My wife and /
talked il over, and settled that it should
be done; and we were Just getting ready
70 start, when one night message came
that my obi uncle, Ludwig Holzmann
of the Friedrich-Strasse, (who had taken
offence at my marriage, and never looked
near me- sincel, was dying, and wanted
10 see me Immediately. So away rent
my wife wanted to go, too, but I
thought she had better not-and when
1 got there found the old man lying
in a kind of dose, and nobody with him
but the doctor and the pastor, who lived
close by. SO sat down to wait till he
awoke; and sure enough, in about half
an hour, his eyes opened and fell full
upon me. He raised himself in bed-I
think / see him now, with the lamp light
falling on his old withered face, making
it look just like one of the carvings on
the old bureau, which stood at the foot
ofthe bed-and saidin ahoarse whisper,
Heinrich, my lad, I've not forgotten
thee, although the black cat has been
between US a bit lately. When I'm dead
thoul't have that bureau yonder there's
more in it than thou think'st and he
sank back with sort of choking laugh
that twisted his face horribly. Those
were his last words, for after that he
feflliato kind Of .stupdr and died the
same night. 5t..soD I.sssli
"When his property came to be divi-
ded, every one was surprised, for they
had, all ,tbought him much richer. /
got the bureau, just as he said and,
his words about it, We
all the drawers from end to
end, but found nothing except two or
three old letters and q roll of tobacco
so we made up our minds that he must
have either been wandering little, or