Year: 1870







In the second year of the late civil war, ]
was married, and went to live with my
husband in q small village on the Hudson,
some fifty or sixty miles from New York.
The house we occupied was a large, ramb-
ling mansion, of considerable antiquity for
this country, AID stood little apart from
the rest of the village, surrounded by
broad fields, and commanding q glorious
view of the river and the hills of the High
lands. 1t had been built before the Revo-
luton, by my husband g great-grandfather,
and though destitute of many modern i'm
provements, was still a comfortable and
pleasant residence.


My husband was a lawyer, and large
real estate owner in the neighborhood, and,
st the period of which write, was greatly
perplexed, like many persons in the North,
by the perilous state Of the times, and es-
pecially about the safe investment of his
funds, as the suspension of specie pay
ments, the great rise in gold, and the mill
tary disasters In Virginia, made it almost
impossible to tell where it would be safe
to deposit or to use ones money in any
Large amount.


In the course of his transactions in real
estate, it happened. one day, that he re.
ceiysd what was for us then large sum,
about ten thousand dollars, which he had
brought home and placed in my charge,
telling me at the same time he should have
to be absent during the evening, attending
% some business on the other side of the
river, and should not be at home till about
midnight.


''You can place the money in the safe,
dear, he said, as he gave it to me, 'tand
tomorrow Twill try and find some way to
invest it securely"


So saying, he stepped into the buggy,
which was standing at the door, and drove
away, taking with him our hired man Eilas,
and leaving me with no one in the house
but Dinah, an old colored woman, who full.
filed In our modest household the func-
tions of maid-of-all-work, as she had long
done In the family of my parents, who on
my marriage, had yielded her to me as q
valuable part of my dover.


Dinah was indeed character. She was
tai and very stout, weighing she never
would tell how much, more than two hun
dred pounds. She was very black, and as
Lazy as she was black. I do not think any
one could move more deliberately than Di-
nah did, that is. to move at al. And, by
q wonderful dispensation, she seemed TO
feel that, whatever her faults might be, she
was strong on the point Of locomotion. For
when she had been moving with ponder
ous slowness, almost maddening to per-
son of ordinary quickness, one of her faY-
orite expressions was, swell, Miss Lille,
what shall fly ento nsxt2" How she &C.
complished all she did, the brownies only
know. We used sometimes almost to
tremble when there was any special hurry
about our domestic arrangements, and yet
Dlnah always managed to bring affairs to a
consummatiop just when 8 minute more
would have ruined everything; and with
undisturbed front, would slowly enunciate,
well, misses, what shall f1y onto next?"


1t was nearly dark when my husband
departed, and. after giving my order to
D1nah, or rath my suggestions. left her
and made the tour of the house, to see
that all WAS safe and properly locked up.
This duty attended to, / went to my bed
room. intrnding to pass the time in read
ing TILL my husband should return.


1t Was very large room on the ground
floor, with two French windows opening
on VerandA. The windows were drsped
with long. yellow silk curtains, between
which the moonlight family entered, dim.
med by the RdoW of the roof of the
piazza, and partly intercepted by the
fringe of wOOdbIne which hung from ii.
Ny bed stood with it's foot toward the win
dows, and with Its head about half q yard
from the wall. Ii was an old-fashioned
structure, hung with yellow silk like the
windows, but slept with the hangings
drawn back, and fastened to the head
board. The bed was 80 large that no one
ever thought OF moving it, except in those
seasons of household panic called house
cleanings, when the combined strength of
four men was called into requisition to
draw it into the middle of the room. So
elaborately carved was it that it went by
the name of Westminster Abbey in the
family. At one end of the room, at no
great distance from the bed, was large
safe. built in the huge chimney of the
mansion, with door high enough for q
person to enter standing upright. Here
was accustomed to place, every evening,
our silver plate, on shelves which extend
ed around the sides, on which were also
were placed boxes containing papers and
other valuables. Opposite the foot of the
bedstead, between the windows, was
e mirror, running from the
floor almost to the ceiling. Like all
the other furniture in the room, it was old
and handsome. How many happy scenes
it had reflected in the hundred wears il had
stood there


The night was exceedingly hot, and I
therefore, left the windows open, though l
drew the curtains before seated myself at
the table In the centre of the room, light
ed with candles, and began to read, in Or
der to pass the heavy time before the re-
turn Of my husband:


After awhile, heard the clock strike 8,
at which hour Dinah always went to bed.
Her chamber was in the attic, the third
story of the house. Remembering some
household matter about which wished to
speak to her, started hurriedly up, and
went into the entry to intercept her, before
she got mp stairs. ! had to wait about q
minute before she came, and our colloquy
continued three or four minutes more.


When ! returned to my bedroom, / was
somewhat tired, / resolved to 60 to bed,
as, at that late hour in the country, it was
quite certain that no visitors would call,
and my husband could let himself in with
the latch-key, which he always carried. /
thought. however, 1 would try to keep
awake by reading, and accordingly placed
light stand and the candles at the head of
my bed. then closed and fastened the
windows, undressed, and got into bed. The
key of the safe, placed, as usual, under
my pillow.


After reading perhaps half an hour. /
grew weary Of the book, and quietly laying
II down, remained for some minutes medi.
tating with my eyes fixed on the mirror
opposite the foot of the bed, in which I
could see myself reflected, together with
the yellow curtains behind nv head. II
was thinking, not unnaturally, how pretty