The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-12-18

why did he retain it ?" "That remains
to be explained, " said i, rather gravely,
and read her the account of the trans
actions of congress in reference to it.
Mr.. De Long listened very seriously,
and, when was through, turned to his
wife. "Now, Tiilie," said he, "regard-
less of consequences we must see justice
done. Give Mr.. - exactly the his
tory of the watch so far as you have any
connection with it.
$50 will, said Mrs. De Long, s'but
you must not dream of such thing as
suspectiDg grandpa of wrong doing,
He was the puTest man that ever lived.
He died suddenly in 1847, leaving his
libi airy and desk-all he had to leave
to my poor father, who was lawyer in
Columbia. During the war my father,
who was colonel in Cheatham's divis
ion, was killed in battle-at Atlanta
and poor mamma and me left destitute.
We removed to Jackson and tried to
earn living by sewing, but couldn't.
l started an infant school, but it did
very little more than pay our house-rent.
We sold off our books and furniture
piece by piece, and assure you we were
as poor as people could well be, to live.
At last, in 1868, we had nothing left
besides the school room furniture, two
chairs, one bed, and that secretary
there, which mamma would not part
with because it was papa's and had
been grandpa's.
AT last, when we were half starved,
I persuaded her to sell the secretary,
too, and / was cleaning out the old
papers from the drawers, and brushing
the dust and cobwebs out preparatory
to sending it to the auction room, when
this little spring here" (she had gone
to the desk to show me) ''few back,
thus opening this drawer and disclosing
the old watch snugly nestled away
upon the cotton Ipounced upon it
as a treasure sent from heaven, and
| next day took it to Memphis and pawned
it to old Stampfy. The money gave us
a little start, the school improved, some
money came in from other sources, and
we got along very well afterwards, until
Paul here came after me and insisted
that was not intended for teacher.
An egregious insult |"
But how did your grandfather come
by the watch, do you supposed" asked.
"Was there nothing with 1T to show %
Nothing Till you told me the
acts just now, I always imagined it was
present. But be sure there is nothing
criminal in grandpa's connection with
it."
cit is possible" said Mr.. De Long,
"that Mr.. Garland may have intended
TO explain. He died very suddenly, of
an apoplexy."
" Maybe he did explain, and con-
cealed his statement, just as he did the
watch" said.
"No," answered Mrs. De Long, CATER
found the watch searched closely for
other secret drawers. There are none. !"
" Let me examine the secretary" I
stgg, sted and I carefully and syste-
matically inspected the Anticipated piece
of furniture.
Almost Immediately I called attention
to the fact that the secret drawer, in
which the watch had been concealed,
had false bottom, and this being easily
removed, we found within a draft for
ESQ on London banking house drawn
in favor of Rufus Garland and-the his
tory of the stolen watch in Rev. DR.. Gar
lands handwriting:
NASHVILLE, Dec. IS, 1846.-This
has been a very sad day to me. This
forenoon came to me my old friend and
cOmrade, Benjamin Flurnoy, of Column
me to lock the doors and hear him make
disgracefuI confession. Then he laid
before my astonished eyes The long
missing watch of Lafayette, the loss of
which caused such excitement. 4 stole
it., he said { I stole it, Rufus ; and
hid his face from NE, and wept scaIding
tears. Presently, when hao comforted
him, and he grew more calm, he said
CfFho Doctor. To1lc mo I hovo not Io7,rr 70
live my heart is diseased. [ desire
you to make restitution for me. Here
is all the money needed-take the &C
cursed wedge of Achan from my sight
it has tortured my whole life-restore
it to the heirs-without exposing me. I
have had misery enough And again
he bowed his white head-that head so
honored-and wept. How did this
happen, Benjamin 2 1 asked. Said
he: That night, you remember, we
were all upon guard. You and the rest
were asleep, but Spatch Davis, La
Crosse and were on guard for a spell
OF two hours. We had all been drink
ing heavily-poor Spatch and Hyacinthe
fell asleep on their post, and the devil
was in me. wanted something that
belonged to the marquis. I stole into
his Fl II, past old Pouchon, who was
snoring. So tired and worn out the old
marquis looked [ opened the trunk,
seeking ribbon, a handkerchief, or the
ike. The first thing / saw was the
watch, and without thinking, put it in
my pocket, raised the window gently,
and crept like thief as I was from the
room. AS ] crossed the threshold l
heard the old marquis call out in his
sleep: 'ArreteZ vOus, monsieur No
blesse oblige ! Stung to the quick I
turned back to restore the watch, but
just then PoUchOn reused, and escap-
ed. I have never known a happy min
ute since My poor friend 1 could
look in his haggard foce. and believe
him. told him, however, that I could
not consent to deal with this matter in
a clandestine way. There need be no
publicity about it, brit il communicat-
ing with the marquis heirs must give
his name and the circumstances. He
groaned and begged me to defer the
disclosure until after his death. st
will not be long, he said, pathet-
ically. To this [ assented, and so he
left, after had earnestly eDioined him
to seek comfort and peace of mind by
prostrating himself at the foot of that
throne where mercy, peace, comfort are
never refused to the contrite and hum
bic petitioner. I have drawn this state
menU mp only as a guide for my heirs in
case of my death happening before that
of Flurpoy's."
doctor Garland died just one week
before Major Flurnoy," said Mr.. De
Long, "and that explains all the confu-
sion about this matter"
Mrs. belong SAID nothing, but Wept
alphabetically.
''Thia dead draft must be transmitted
to Major Flurnoy's heirs" added De
Long.
Use of Superphosphates:
The farmers of western New York
are reporting very favorably on their
trials of superphosphates used on wheat,
barley, oats, grass, potatoes anG turn
FPS. Samuel d. Otis, of Sherwood,
who has not only used them for seven |
or eight years on his farm, but bought !
hundreds of tons for his neighbors, in
forms the Country Gentleman that
good superphosphate will carry ont |
three crops well, or one of grain and |
two of grass. He uses it on all crops, |
and finds it to pay largely, often in |
creasiDg the wheat crop ten bushels per
acre, and when the land is poor, much