The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-05-18
WHAT CAME OF ADREaM.

/ lldliS NttNNtl wis al hN.tIt4iN CAtt
Dutchman, whose broad acres OF
field, woodland and meadow are now
partly covered by the compact
blocks of Brooklyn OF the village
lots of Flatbush, l.. !. They had
descended to him, lin the third or
fourth remove, from the ancestor
who first cleared and titled them,
and there he was living in all the
rude and sumptuous plenty of the
thrifty Hollanders in and around
New York and along the Hudson,
whom Irving has so pleasantly i'm
mortalized. His numerous barns
were bursting with the products of
his golden harvest his shed-ranges
and stalls housed the choicest breeds
of cattle, sheep and horses then
known; while his house, broad like
its master, rather than lofty, was
stuffed from atticto cellar with every
commodity that could contribute to
the comfort and respectability OF
the portly and ease-loving proprie-
tor. Servants, stewards and help
ers he had in abundance, so that his
personal participation in the man
agement of his affairs was mostly
confined to their general supervision
and the care of his income This
afforded him abundant leisure for
the indulgence of his pipe and that
dreamy inaction which is the para
disc of all fat Dutchmen. Besides
his wife-a fair, rotund, fresh look
ing woman-two children, a son
and a daughter, both adults, aided
in the business of farm and house
hold while their position and pros
poets thrust them into prominence
as specimens of the rustic nobility
ofthe times. In the squat old man
sion, with its broad verandas, hos
pitality reigned supreme all the
festivals and holidays of the old
country were duly observed the
dominic and the school-master were
often and ever welcome guests and
during the autumn and winter
months. at the haryesthome and
husking-bees, the premises were the
focus of luxurient cheer and good
times generally.
Our story takes us to the opening
of the American Revolution. Bunk
er Hill had been fought, and the
British driven from, Boston, were
concentrating their forces to capture
and occupy New York and It's vicin-
ity. As the quarrel with the mother
country progressed, men were COM
PEELED TO avow partiality for one
party or the other with more pro-
nounced distinctnoss. Hans Get
ter's leaning, during the prelimina-
ry troubles, had been toward the
colonial side; but being constitu-
tionally sluggish and timid, he would
have greatly preferred to remain q
non-combatant and to have his ter
ritorv considered neutral ground,
supplying either belligerant, or both,
for a proper consideration. The
prospect of trouble which threatened
his quiet annoyed him extremely,
and as the cloud of war neared his
own locality, the incident confusion
made chaos of his restful ideas
and threw him into condition no.
ticeable in some persons over a bum
ing dwelling. Compelled to think
and act rapidly, he became bewil-
dered, lost all presence of mind, and
finally tottered on the verge of
insanity. But we are anticipating
little.
While the Continental army lay
in his neighborhood, and in partial
occupancy of his farm, Hans, though
sorely grieved at the unavoidable
disturbance OF his ease, had passed
as a sympathizer with the colonial
cause and had contributed to the
commissary stores not so much for
the love of the paper currency ten
dered in exchange, as because he
could not help it. No military rules
could prevent countless petty yexa-
tons by an armed host encamped on
and around him. But he was not
treated as an enemy, nor was the
sanctity of his household openly
violated. His paramount concern
was for the safety of certain earth
ern crock-the treasury of his an
nual revenues when turned into
cold coin-which had always been
kept in secret nook in his cellar,
accessible only to himself. There
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 continued increasing, until Plu-
tus, or some other deity, might please
10 enlighten him as to a better dis
posal thereof. Such information
must come, if it all, as an afilatus;
for necessity did not compel, and
protracted thought on the subject
was entirely Incompatible with the
temperament of the proprietor. lie
had enough; his heirs must look af-
ter the proper employment of what
ba ,,,trbf laava them W6at would