code: private static Properties load(String configFilePath)
  	{
  		Properties props = new Properties();
  		BufferedInputStream fis = null;
  		try {
  			File configFile = new File(configFilePath);
  	        fis = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(configFile));
  	        props.load(fis);
          }
          catch(IOException e){
          	System.err.println("Could not load configuration file "+configFilePath);
          }
          finally{
  			if(fis!=null){
  			    try {
  					fis.close();
  				}
  				catch (IOException e) {
  		        	System.err.println("Error closing file stream of configuration file "+configFilePath);
  				}
  			}
          }
          return props;
  	}
docs: Load a properties file from the classpath
  
  @param propsName
  path to the configuration file
  @return Properties the properties object containing the configuration
  data
  @throws IOException
  if an error occurs while accessing the configuration file