Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-01-12
A Night of Alarm.

NY sister Julia was very courageous.
In our youth the country was wilder
than now; but il 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 unfrequented
paths, wondering at my timidity.
There was nothing masculine, how
ever in Julia's appearance; she was
simply sweet, joyous child, with an
absence of fear in her character and a
consequent clearness of perception in
all cases of supposed or actual danger.
When | was sixteen, and Julia was
eighteen, NV 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 de-
serted from his regiment.
He was powerful man, with a heavy,
imbruted countenance, and both Julia
and myself were struck, at the very
first, with an intuitive dread of him.
The feeling in Julia hardly took the
character of fear, but was one rather of
the most intense loathing.
One evening she read of horrible
murder that thrilled our blood, and
upon turning her eyes from the paper,
they encountered those of Hans Schmidt.
There was something terrible in that
glance, and, frcm tnat moment she re-
solved that the villain should be turned
away.
As her wishes and opinions were al
ways of much weight with father, he
took her advice, and gave Hans his dis
charge.
soon after this Julia and / were left
alone in the house, both father and
mother being absent upon a visit until
the following day, and we happened TO
he without a servant at the time (for we
kept more than one.)
At night we went up 10 bed and had
partly disrobed when Julia turned
hastily to the window.
II declare" she said, "the evening is
50 pleasant that it is pity to remain
indoors. / don't feel a bit sleepy; lets
20 down on the lawn"
We descended the stairs. How little
imagined what was i'm Julia's heart,
Harry Irving came up just as we reached
the lawn. He was only casually pass
ing the house.
Julia engaged him in conversation
and he Joined us. MY sister was more
than usually lively.
w anu
VIII ?" she asked.
ooh, replied Harry, ''they are over
to nv uncle's. They will be coming
back soon."
The three young men soon appeared
upon the road; and, 10 my surprise,
Julia arose at their approach and called
us aside from the door
Now, Mary, You need not be ner-
vous." she said. "Keep quiet and do
not speak above your breath. There is
"A man under our bed-there. there :"
and she clasped her hand over my
mouth-ssa man under our bed, and the
Young Iryings are going To secure him"
They all provided themselves with
heavy sticks. and then, guided by Julia,
ascended the stairs
As 10 myself, could not follow them,
but remained trembling and leaned
upon the doorsteps. Never did | eXpe-
rience greater sense of relief than
when the assailing party descended,
looking partly ashamed and partly
amused, having found nothing to JUS
tify their sudden armament.
Julia was in an agony OF mortifica-
ton and wept piteously; for, although
hut half convinced that her apprehen-
sions had been groundless, the idea that
she. who had never till now feared any
thing. had placed herself so ludicrously
I'm the ewes of those men was insup-
portable.
The man. she said, must have taken
the alarm and fled out the back door;
for she could not have been so deceived.
Our young friends, more in pity for
her modification than from any belief
in the reality of the night intruder,
offered to remain in the vicinity TIL
morning; but she would not listen 10
the proposition and they took their de-
parture-
1 was sorry 10 see them go, ana
watched their forms till they We're out
of sight, for the affair of the evening
had almost frightened me into mysteries.
Julia, however, at once rushed 10 the
chamber, and fiinging herself on the
bed. continued bitterly weeping. She
had exhibited herself in character
which she despised; and her man under
the bed would be the talk of the neigh
borbood. | followed her, but neither
OF us could sleep.
The clock on the mantle piece struck
eleven: and then s'tick, tick, tick" it
went on for the next dreary hour. Julia
at length ceased weeping, and lay In
thought, only an occasional sigh oetray-
ing her wakefulness.
Again the clock struck, but it had not
reached the final stroke when julia,
leaning out of bed, flung herself upon
an immense chest at the further end OF
fhe room.
'Oh, Mary" she cried, "quick !
Quick, He f. here, | cannot hold the
iid-he will get Out!'
There was indeed some living thing
inside the chest; for, i'm spite of Julia's
weight. the lid was lifted, and then, as
the instinct of self-preservation over
came nv terror, sprang quickly TO her
assistance.
Whom or what had We caughtg I'm
asine yourself holding down the I'D oi
a showman's box, with a boa-constrictor
writhing beneath; or keeping cage
top in its place by your own weight
alone, with a hyena struggling 10 tear
his way out and devOur you.
But we were not long in suspense.
Horrid execrations, half German, ma,
English, chilled our very hearts, and
we knew that there, in the midnight,
only the lid of an old chest was between
ourselves and Hans Schmidt
Ar Jimes n started nm and once or