Introduction
the wood showed. Peering into this, I found a scrap of paper so long and closely folded that it fell apart when opened; but the writing was still distinct. It was as follows: "It is his Excellency's, Genl. Howe's express order, that no person shall injure Silas Crabtree in his person or property." It was duly signed, countersigned, and dated Dec'r 9, 1776. So Silas, the great-grandfather, had been a Tory! I was prepared now for revelations of any kind. To look quietly over papers, one at a time, was too prosy an occupation, and the suggestion that there might be more secret drawers was followed until every nook and cranny had been laid bare,—and there were many of them.
The next day, as the place could not be left unguarded, I moved the old desk to my own home, and placed a tenant in the cottage; and now, there is not a scrap of paper among all that the desk contained that I have not read, and my comment is: colonial days were not so very unlike those of the present time. It is true, our ancestors' surroundings were very different, and
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