Year: 1870

In the second year of the late civil
war was married and went to live
with NY husband in small village on
the Hudson, some fifty or sixty miles
from New York. The house we oc-
cupled was u large rambling mansion.
of considerable antiquity for this coun-
try, and stood little apart from the
rest of the village. surrounded by broad
fields, and commanding a glorious
view of the river and the hills of the
Highlands. Ii had been built before
the Revolution, by my husbands great
grandfather, and though destitute of
many modern improvements, was still
comfortable and pleasant residence.


NV husband was 4 lawyer and =
large rcal-estate owner in the neigh
borhood. and at the period of which |
write. was greatly perpleNed, like
many other persons in the North, by
the perilous state of the times, and
especially about the safe investment of
his funds. a. the suspension i'll specie
payment. the great rise III gold. and
the military disasters i'll 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 received what was for US then a
large sum, about ten thousand dollars,
which he brought home and placed in
my care, telling ne at the same time
that he should have to be absent during
the evening, attending TO some busi-
| ness on the other side the river, and
should not be at home till about mid
night.


"iou can place the money in the
safe, DEAR" he said, as he gave it to
me land 10 morrow / will try and find
some way to invest it securely"


Sosaying,he stepped into the buggy,
which was standing at the door, and
drove away, taking with him our hired
man Silas, and leaving me with no one
in the house but Dinah, an old colored
woman, who fulfilled in our modest
household the functions Of cook and
maid of all work, as she had long done
in the family of my own parents, who
on my marriage had yieldld her to me
as a valuable part of my dover.


Dinah was indeed character. She
was tall and very stout, weighing, she
would never tell how much, more than
two hundred pounds. She was very
black, and as lazy as she was black.
do not think any one could move more
deliberately than D;nah did, that is To
move at all. And, by wonderful dis
pensation, she seemed to feel that
Whatever her other faults might be, she
was strong on the point Of locomotion
For, when she had been moving with 8
ponderous slowness, almost maddenine
to person Of ordinary quickness, one
of her favorite expressions was, "well
Miss Lille, what shall l fly onto next
How she accomplished all she did, the
brownies only knew. We used some
times almost tremble when there wal
any special hurry about our domestic
arrangements, and yet Dinah Away
managed to bring affairs 10 a cOnsum
nation just when q minute more wOul(
have ruined everything; and, with al
undisturbed front would slowly enunci
ate. swell, Miss, what shall fly ont
next !"
| 1t was nearly dark when my hus
band departed, and, after giving IN,
orders to Dinah, or rather my sugges
tions, left her, and made the tour o
the house, to see that all was safe AM
properly locked up. This duty att
ed to, l went to my bedroom, intend
ing to pass the time in reading till m.
husband should return.


II was a large room on the ground
floor, with two French windows open
ing on broad yeranda. The window
were draped with long yellow-sil
curtains, between which the moonligh
faintly entered, dimmed by the shade,
Of the roof Of the piazza. and partl
intercepted BY the fringe Of woodbin
which hung from It. Ny bed stood it
foot toward the windows, and with il