The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-05-27

were no banks in which to deposit it
or stock companies in which to invest
it, and of landed estate he had all he
cared for. And so his hoard had con
tinued increasing, until Plutus orsom'
other deity, might please to enlighter
him as to a better disposal thereof
Such information must come, if it all
as an af1latus, for necessity didnot com
nnl. and protracteh thouGht on the sub
lect was entirely incompatible with th'
temperament of the proprietor. HI
had enough; his heirs must look after
the proper employment of what he
might leave them. What would you
more?
But matters changed for the worse
when the British ships of war appeared
off the island, threatening invasion and
another kind of occupants. Visions Of
devastation leered from the smoke oI
his pipe and troubled his slumbers. As
he pondered the subject, his anxiety
deepened into chronic detection ;olo
appetite dwindled; his days y roosor
ful, his sleep fitful an Ion,tI, bo
seemed nearly unhin H., =, ooorr
began walkinpy MO 'Ao'P "-
- -, Al at first occasioned some
=, III in the household, and prompted
watch upon his movements. But
when it was found that they resulted
only in harmless peregrinations about
the premises and then return to bed,
close observation was relaxed and the
circumstance settled into a matter of
course affair. He never remembered
these nocturnal rambles, but occasion
ally mentioned dreaming of inspections
of the plantation and the transfer of his
crock to another place of security.
At length news came of the landing
of the enemy. Then followed the bat
tle-a portion of it on his own farm-the
result of which gave the British posses
sion of the island. At its close a body of
the dreaded Hessian cormorants encamp-
edin agrove nota mile from his own door,
and Immediately appropriated one of
his fat beeves for their supper, without
so much as saying; "by your leave"
The crisis had come. Old Hans was
terribly excited that evening, talked
much of his treasure, ate little, and
yielded to the entreaties of his family to
take an anodyne and go early to bed.
AS usual he rose during the night, but
so silently as not to disturb his wife at
his side. His return toward morning,
however, awoke her, and she noticed |
that he seemed wearied as though from
extra exertion. But sound sleep there
after and later rising put him into
more cheerful frame than he had worn |
of late. His daily visit shortly after to
his subteTranean treasury revealed the
fact that the crock, with all |
its precious contents was missing Con-
sternation Immediately pervaded the
household, and Old Hans seemed abso-
lutely stunned. When capable of ex-
pressing an opinion, it was-that some |
Hessian burglar had invaded his deposit |
and that the act was only preliminary
to further operations of the red right |
hand upon his possessions. An | time
verified his surmises.
From that day forward he was a
man. His apprehensions
of the Hessians became sad reality.
They regarded him as rebel at heart,
but too imbecile for harm. His son, to
avoid arrest for completely with his
fathers supposed sympathies, fled and
ultimately joined the patriot army. His
wife and daughter, to escape the con-
slant danger of modification and insult,
took refuge with relatives on the Hud-
son, urging old Hans to accompany
them. But he could not be induced to
do so, and with a few of his elder SER
wants remained to abide the devastation
of his premises, being treated by the
usurpers as moping dotard. Every
thing on the once thrifty manor went to
ruin. Hessian officers were quartered
in his mansion and tenant-houses; his
groves and fences supplied them fuel,
and several of his out.buildings were
pulled down and sent after them. His |
stock was butchered for rations or de-
voted to other service. His furniture
some of it the heir-looms OF generations
was banged and battered like the
fixtures of dram-shop, and all articles
fancied by the rapacious foreigners law
lessly appropriated by them In fine,
at he close of their seven years pos.
session, the buildings Of the once pros
porous old Dutchmen were wreck and
his farm desolation.
At length the war closed with the
acknowledgment of the indie
pendence of the colonies. After the
last red-coat had left the country, those
who had been driven from their homes
for opinions sake began to return and
to gather from the general ruin the
wherewithal to begin anew the struggle