The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1892-06-10
SCENES AT THE CLOSE.
HOW THEY HID VALUABLES IN EX-
CITING TIMES.

To Preserve Their Treasures All Sorts
OF Expedients Were Resorted To
And Many Ingenious Methods for
Comcealmsnt Devised.
David Dodge has contributed paper
to the Atlantic Monthly upon "Home
Scenes at the Fall of the Confederacy,
from which we make this interesting ex-
tract:
With all diligence and secrecy we set
to work to hide not only silverware,
jewelry, and other valuables, but food
also To this end all sorts of expedients
were resorted to. Bags of wheat and of
shelled corn were carried out by night
and hid in hollow logs and trees. Many
cavity, under overhanging rocks, in
the ivyclad bluffs, was converted into
temporary crib or granary, in which
grain was deposited, and covered with
stones to keep off the hogs, bank of
leaves topping and concealing the stones.
Hollow trees were turned into Smoke
houses, where, on nails driven high up
on the inside walls, were hung hams,
sides" and such edibles as hungry,
keen-scented ours would have appropri.
pted, no matter how deeply buried or
well covered. Jars of lard and jugs of
the inevitable sorghum" homemade
molasses) were securely tied up and
buried in the woods, or old fields.
Such microscopic remnants of coffee and
sugar as still remained among US were
usually classed and hid with the valua-
oles. The preservation of the stint of
salt which the energy and foresight of
the idolzed Vance had enabled him to
dole out to us a few months before. SO
many pounds per capita. and at nominal
price, gave us much concern. Some
times it was trusted in bags hung up in
the improvised smoke-houses, but oftener
it was deposited in jars, and buried with
the utmost care and circumspection.
But it was in the concealment of valu-
ables that infinite varieties of ingenuity
were displayed, some worthy of Poe's
pirate (vide The Gold Bug), and some
pathetic in their innocent disregard of
the world and the worlds craft. Rarely
left above ground, these valuables were
buried in all sorts of places. and all sorts
of means were taken to leave no sign
that the earth had been disturbed. Some
persons preferred to dig holes in the
woods, where the spot could be covered
with leaves OF pine needles. A favorite
choice was by the side of the briery
fence-corners in remote, unfrequented
fields, especially if, as was usually the
case in untitled fields, thicket of young
pines shut in the spot. Behind dense
screen Of this kind small packages were
often buried in the daytime; otherwise
all such work had, of course, to be done
under cover of darkness.
Sometimes, to make assurance doubly
sure, small brook would be damned,
the treasure, rendered as near waterproof
rs possible, buried in the bed beneath,
and then the water allowed to resume
its former channel. 1t will be seen at a
glance that, so far as danger Of discov-
cry was concerned, this mode was the
safest of all, provided it could be carried
out unobserved. The concealer did not
make a track on terra firma, either in
approaching or leaving the spot, for he
had before him the Indian path of rum
ming water, while the stream, rolling
down its detritus of sand and gravel,
soon made all parts of its bed alike.
However, only articles Of small bulk
could we'll be hidden in this way. A
near neighbor of ours had several fine
gold watches, one of them, at least, a
valued heirloom, whose safety caused
him much anxiety. After earnestly
considering every possibls mode of con-
cealing them, he finally decided on the
one last mentioned. A fruit-jar was
selected, tested as to being perfectly air
eight, and the watches, after being
wrapped in flannel, were placed therein,
the jar was securely sealed, and the next
day found the current of the spring
branch flowing serenely above the treas
ure.
A few trusted their watches and jew
slry to hollow trees and to clefts in
lonely rocks. though the enterprise of
the ubiquitous negro opossum hunter
rendered this mode somewhat precari-
JUS. Such places being the retreat of
;he opossum, there was danger that he
might lead his pursuers straight to the
selected cleft or hollow, and, in getting
nim out, they could scarcely fail to dis
cover other contents of the lair. In one
instance this really did occur. A gen
tleman, having concealed watch and
some valuable diamonds in a small hol-
low tree, was startled, ON reconnoitring
the place few days later, to find that
the tree had not only been felled, but
actually split open. He had given up
his property for lost, when he happened
to spy it buried in the leaves, where it
had dropped as the trunk was rent asun-
der. Fortunately, the sable hunter had
been too eager after his quarry to have
an eye for anything else.
Names for Babies.