Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1892-08-04

building had been burned, with the ex-
ception of one or two ca bins, and Simon,
the faithful old servant in whose charge
the place was left, had died just few
months before the arrival of it's new
mistress. His niece and her husband
were living on the plantation, and do
ing what they could to care for it until
its proper owner should come.
"'Their hearty welcome was the
only reassuring thing we met WITH
Eva wrote, and then went on to say:
'Simon's niece produced, from some
secure hiding-place, an oil painting,
which her uncle had most zealously
guarded, and which he had repeatedly
| told her was to be placed in no other
hands than mine. 1t was of great value
to mc, and on no account must it be
lost or injured. I would understand
the meaning of it, he told her, for his
master had written to me concerning it.
Gas this letter which he mentioned
| had never reached me, OF course was
perfectly at loss to understand the
meaning of the picture, and why this
should have been so carefully guarded,
when SO much else that was more valu-
able was permitted to be destroyed.
My husband and I both examined
it with the closest scrutiny. 1t APP
peared to be a bit of southern scenery
of no great merit, and of no especial
| value as a work of art, so far as we
were capable of judging. If am not
much mistaken, saw it during my
visit to my uncle, and I think he told
me at the time that it was given to him
| by some artist who spent week or two
on his plantation, making a study of
negro character for a picture he was
shortly to begin. My uncle did not then
seem to value it especially.
"A careful examination of the pic
ture revealed portion of the frame
that slid back, and in the cavity thus ex
posed to view nestled key that evil
IDENTIFY belonged to a small safe. This
was at least one step toward a solu-
ton of the mystery; but a further and
closer inspection afforded no other clew,
although the frame was taken apart
and each portion carefully examined.
My husband intends building
modest cottage on the old site, and en-
| tertains some hope that in clearing
away the debris we may come across
buried safe, which may have been hid
den somewhere beneath the house or
| in the cellar. Of course this is very
slender hope, for it is probable that if
such were the case the safe was found
and stolen, or its contents ruined by the
| fire.
I'm Eva's next letter, some months
later, she wrote that she and her hus-
band were in their new home, and af-
fairs were looking less gloomy. When
building on the old site it had been
carefully examined, and an iron rod
driven into the sandy soil wherever
there seemed the least probability of a
safe or box being concealed. The
search was futile, and the mystery of
the picture was as great a one as ever.
Some two or three years later, Eva
insisted OH my making the visit long
promised her, and few weeks after
exchanged the blue grass fields and
outrageous woodlands of my native
state for the white sands and majestic
pine forests of Georgia.
"Our reunion was very delightful
one, and we both had innumerable
things to talk over, so long had we been
separated, and so insufficient had been
the medium Of letter writing. Eva had
one sweet little girl. whom she had
named after me, as had been duly in
formed at the time. I found Mr.. and
Mrs. Evans living comfortab bly,, but
plainly for, despite their industry, the
depressed condition of the country made
success a very slow matter, and Mr.
Evans was greatly in need of capital to
conduct his affairs prosperously.
"'lf our picture could only be made
to disclose its secret Eva would fire.
quently say, as we sat and talked. In a
spirit of fun she had the picture hung in
my room opposite the foot of the bed,
that might unravel at my leisure the
mystery connected with it, as I had
always been noted in my schooldays for
solving riddles and enigmas.
II used to study it the first thing on
awakening each morning, and soon
grew familiar with it's every feature.
The picture seemed rather a hasty study
than anything else. The sketch was a
foreground with fantastic pine
stump and a large white bowlder push
ing up through the sandy soil; in the
middle distance was decayed pine
tree, over which generous wild honey
suckle had thrown its mantle of green
dotted with scarlet blossoms; while in
the background there was deep vista
of dark, somber pines, whose majestic
and tall brown trunks seemed carved
pillars along the aisles of some dim
cathedral.
ut was painted with that absence of
detail, rarer then than now, and diff
fered materially from the ideas of
minutia in work I had gained at
school. Aside from the useful hints on
art that it gave me, it was very
Sphinx; and l began to accept my
friends opinion that the small key
found in it's frame was it's only secret,
and that this was now useless
one, since the safe had been either
stolen or lost in the fire.
81 was extremely fond of morning
and evening strolls, and should have in
dulged in many pleasant walks but for
my great fear of snakes and lizards,
which were numerous in that locality
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