The New Hampshire Gazette And Republican Union

THE MILLER'S MAID.
A STORY OF FEMALE HEROISM.
"Near the hamlet of Cdorf, on the banks of the
Rhine, not far from Bonn, there yet stands the
mill which was the scene of the following adventure:-
"One Sunday morning, the miller and his family set out as usual to attend divine service, at the
nearest church in the village of Heasel, leaving the
mill, to which the dwelling house was attached, in
charge of his servant maid, Hanchen, a bold-hearted girl, who had been some time in his service.—
The youngest child, who was still too little to go to
church, remained also under her care.
"As Hanchen was busily engaged in preparing
dinner for the family, she was interrupted by a visit from her admirer, Heinrich Botteler: he was an
idle, graceless fellow, and her master, who knew
his character well, had forbidden him the house;
but Hanchen could not believe all the stories she
heard against her lover, and was sincerely attached
to him. On this occasion she greeted him kindly.
and not only got him something to eat at once, but
found time in the midst of her business to sit down
and have a gossip with him, while he did justice to
the fare set before him. As he was eating, he let
fall his knife, which he asked her to pick up for
him; she playfully remonstrated, telling him she
feared, from all she heard, he did little enough
work, and ought at least to wait on himself; in the
end, however, she stooped down to pick up the
knife, when the treacherous villain drew a dagger
from under his coat, and caught her by the nape of
the neck, griping her throat firmly with his fingers
to prevent her screaming; then, with an oath, he
desired her to tell him where her master kept his
money, threatening to kill her if she did not comply with his demand. The surprised and terrified
girl in vain attempted to parley with him; he still
held her tightly in his choking grasp, leaving her
no other choice but to die or betray her master.—
She saw there was no hope of softening him or
changing his purpose, and with the full conviction
of his treachery, all her native courage awoke in
her bosom. Affecting, however, to yield to what
was inevitable, she answered him in a resigned
tone, that what must be, must; only, if he carried
off her master's gold, he must take her with him,
too; for she could never stay to hear their suspicions and reproaches, entreating him, at the same
time, to relax his grasp of her throat, for she could
hardly speak, much less do what he bid her, while
he held her so tight. At length he was induced to
quit his hold, on her reminding him that he must
lose no time, or the family would be returning
from church.' She then led the way to her master's
bed-room, and showed him the coffer where he kept
his money. 'Here,' she said, reaching to him an
axe which lay in a corner of the room, 'you can
open it with this, while I run up stairs to put all
my things together, besides the money I have saved
since I have been here.'
"Completely deceived by her apparent readiness
to enter into his plans, he allowed her to leave the
room, only exhorting her to be as quick as possible,
and was immediately absorbed in his own operations; first opening the box, and then disposing of
the money about his person. In the meanwhile,
Hanchen, instead of going up stairs to her own
room, crept softly along several passages till she
again reached her master's chamber. It was the
work of a moment to shut and bolt the door upon
him; and this done, she rushed out to the outer
door of the mill to give the alarm. The only being
in sight was her master's little boy, a child of five
years old; to him she called with all her might,
'run, run to meet your father as he comes from
church; tell him we shall all be murdered if he
does not come back.' The frightened child did as
she bid him, and set running on the road she pointed out.
"Somewhat relieved by seeing that the child understood her, and would make her case known, she
sank down for a moment on the stone seat before
the door, and full of conflicting emotions of grief
and thankfulness for her escape, she burst into
tears. But at this moment a shrill whistle aroused
her attention; it was from her prisoner, Heinrich,
who opening the grated window above her head,
shouted out to some accomplice without to catch
the child that was running away so fast, and to kill
the girl. Hanchen looked around in great alarm,
but saw no one. The child still continued to run
with all his might, and she hoped that it was but a
false alarm to excite her fear and overcome her
resolution; when just as the child reached a hollow in the next field, (the channel of a natural
drain,) she saw a ruffian start up from the bed of
the drain, and snatching up the child in his arms,
hastened with him towards' the mill, in accordance
with the directions of his accomplice. In a moment
she perceived the full extent of her danger, and
formed a plan for escaping it.
"Retreating into the mill, she double-locked and
bolted the door, the only apparent entrance into the
building, every other means of obvious access being prevented by strong iron gratings fixed up against all the windows, and then took her post at
the upper casement, determined to await patiently
her master's return, and her consequent delivery
from that dangerous position, or her own death, if
indeed inevitable; for she was fully resolved to enter into no terms, and that nothing should induce
her to give up her master's property into the robber' hands. She had hardly had time to secure
herself in her retreat, when the ruffian, holding the
screaming child in his arms, and brandishing a
knife in one hand, came up, and bid her open the
door, or he would break it down, adding many awful oaths and threats; to which her only answer
was, that she put her trust in God. Heinrich, who
from his window was witness of this colloquy, now
called out to cut the child's throat before her eyes
if she still persisted in her refusal. Poor Hanchen's
heart quailed at this horrible threat; for a moment
her resolution failed, but only for a moment. The
d eath of the child could be no gain to them, while
her own death was certain if she admitted the assailant, and her master, too, would be robbed.—
She had no reason either to suppose that her compliance would save the life of the child. It was to
risk all against nothing, and she resolved to hold
out to the last, though the villain from without renewed his threats, saying that if she would not open the door to him he would kill the child, and
then set fire to the mill over her head. 'I put
my trust in God' was still the poor girl's answer.
"In the meanwhile, the ruffian sat down the
child for a moment, to look about for combustibles
to carry out his threat. In this search, he discovered a mode of entering the mill unthought of by
Hanchen. It was a large aperture in the wall,
communicating with the great wheel and other machinery of the mill, and it was a point entirely unprotected, for it had never been contemplated that
any one would seek to enter by so dangerous an
inlet. Triumphant at this discovery, he returned
to tie the hands and feet of the poor child, to prevent its escape, and then stole back to the aperture
by which he intended to effect an entrance. The
situation of the building prevented Hanchen seeing anything of this, but a thought had meanwhile
struck her. It was Sunday when the mill was never at work; if therefore the wheels were set in motion, the whole neighborhood would know that
something was the matter, and her master especially would hasten home, to know the meaning of anything so strange.
"Being all her life accustomed to the machinery
of the mill, it was the work of a moment, to set it all in motion—a brisk breeze, which sprung up at
once, set the sails flying. The arms of the huge
engine whirled round with fearful rapidity; the
great wheel slowly revolved on its axle; the smaller gear turned and creaked and groaned, according as the machinery came into action; the mill
was in full operation. It was at this moment that
the ruffian intruder had succeeded in squeezing
himself through the aperture in the wall, and getting himself safely lodged in the interior of the
great drum wheel.' His dismay, however, was indescribable, when he began to be whirled about
with its rotation, and he found that all his efforts to put a stop to the powerful machinery which set it
in motion, or to extricate himself from his perilous
situation, were fruitless. In his terror, he uttered
shrieks and horrible imprecations. Astonished at
the noise, Hanchen ran to the spot, and saw him
caught like a rat, in his own trap, from which it
was no part of her plan to liberate him. She knew
that he would be more frightened than hurt, if he
kept within his rotary prison, without any rash attempt to escape, and that even if he became insensible he could not fall out.
"In the meantime the wheel went round and
round with its steady, unceasing motion; and round
and round he went with it, while sense remained,
beseeching Hanchen, with entreaties, promises, and
wild impotent threats, which were all equally disregarded, till by degrees feeling and perception
failed him, and he saw and heard no more. He
fell senseless at the bottom of the engine, but even
then his inanimate body continued to be whirled
round as before; for Hanchen did not dare to trust
to appearances in such a villain, and would not
venture to suspend the working of the mill or stop
the mill gear and tackle from running at their fullest speed.
"At length she heard a loud knocking at the
door, and flew to open it. It was her master and
his family accompanied by several of his neighbors all in the utmost excitement and wonder, at seeing the mill sails in full swing on Sunday, and still
more so, when they found the poor child lying
bound upon the grass, who, however, was too terrified to give them any account of what had happened. Hanchen, in a few words told all; and then
her spirit, which had sustained her through such
scenes of terror, gave way under a sense of safety
and relief, and she fell fainting into their arms, and
was with much difficulty recovered. The machinery of the mill was at once stopped, and the inanimate ruffian dragged from his dreadful prison
Heinrich, too, was brought forth from the miller's
chamber, and both were in a short time sent bound
under a strong escort to Bonn, where they soon
after met the reward of their crimes."
The story of this extraordinary act of presence
of mind concludes by telling us that Hanchen, thus
effectually cured of her penchant for her unworthy
suitor, became eventually the wife of the miller's
eldest son, and thus lived all her life in the scene
of her imminent danger and happy deliverance.