Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-01-28
A NIGHT OF ALARM.

A NIGHT OF ALARM.
My sister was very courageous
In our youth the country was wilder
than now; but it might be said of her
that she was not brought up in the
woods to be scared by an owl. She
would traverse the most unfrequent~
ed paths, wondering at my timidiry.
There was nothing masculine, no W
ever, in Julia's appearance; she was
simply a sweet, joyous child, with an
absence of fear in her character, and
consequent clearness of conception
in all cases of supposed or actual dam
ger.
When l was sixteen and Julia was
eighteen, my father hired a laborer
named Hans Schmidt, a Hessian,
who had been in the British service,
and who at the close of the war had
deserted from his regiment.
He was a powerful man, with a
heavy, imbruted oountenance, and
both Julia and myself were struck at
theYery first with an intuitive dreGd
Of him. The feeling in Julia hardly
took the character of fear, but was
one rather of the most intense loath-
ing.
One evening she read of horrible
murder that thrilled, our blood, and
upon turning her eyes from the pa
per they encountered those of Hans
Schmidt. There was something so
terrible in that glance, from that
minute she resolved that the villain
should be turned away.
AS her wishes and opinions were
always of much weight. with father,
he took her advice and gave Hans
his discharge.
Soon after this, Julia and were
left alone in the house, both father
and mother being absent upon Wis
it until the following day, and we
happened to be without a servant. at
the time-for We kept more than
one.
At night we went up to bed, and
had partly disrobed, when Julia
turned hastily to the window.
NJ Declare" she said, ''the evening
ia so pleasant that it is pity to re-
main Indoors. I don't feel a bit
sleepy. let's go down upon the
lawn"
We descended the stairs. How
little 1 imagined what S,as IN Jula,s
heart. Harry Irving came up Just
as we reached the lawn. HeNEaass
only casually passing the house.
Julia engaged him in converse
ton, and he jOined us. My sister
was more than usually lively.
"Where are Tom, and Edgar, and
Will?" she asked.
"0h," replied Harry, "they are
over to my unele's. They will be
coming back soon."
The three young men soon appear
ed upon the road, and to my surprise
Julia arose at their approach and
called us inside the door.
"Now, Mary, you need not be ner-
vous," she said. "Keep quiet, and
do not speak above your BREATH
These is man under our bed
there, ffere!''-and she put her hand
over nly n1otfsh-"a man under our
bed, and the yoG2g Irvings are go.
ing to secure bim."
They all provided thenislSsIyes with
heavy sticks, and guided by SSSIla,
ascended the stairs. -
As to myself, l could net follow
them, but remained TREMBLING and
leaned upon the doorstep. Never
did | experience a greater sense of
relief than when the party descend. |
ed, looking partly ashamed and |
partly amused, having found moth. !
ing to justify their sudden arma-
ment.
Julia was in agony of mortifca-
tlon, and wept piteously; for, al
though but half convinced that her
apprehension was groundless, the |
idea that she, who had never till now
feared anything, had placed herself
in so ludicrous light in the eyes of
the young men was insupportable.
The man, she said, must have
heard the alarm, and fed out of the
back door, for she could not have
been so deceived. Il
Our young friends. more in pity
for her modification than from any
belief in the reality of the night in
1ruder, offered to remain in The vi.
olnlty till morning; but she would
not listen to the proposition, and they
took their departure,
| was sorry to see them 90, and
watched their forms until they were i
Sut Of sight, for the affair of the eve !
ming had almost frightened me into i
hysterics,
Julia, however, at once rushed to i
.he chamber, and flinging herself on !
the bed, continued bitterly weeping. i
She had exhibited herself in a char.
aotar she despised; and her man un-
Ger the bed would be the talk of the +,
/ followed her. but :
ieither of us could sleer. !
The clock on the mantel piece /
truck eleven; aud then tick. tick, J