code: public static Serializable loadConfig (InputStream source)
          throws IOException
      {
          try {
              ObjectInputStream oin = new ObjectInputStream(source);
              return (Serializable)oin.readObject();
          } catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe) {
              String errmsg = "Unknown config class";
              throw (IOException) new IOException(errmsg).initCause(cnfe);
          }
      }
docs: Unserializes a configuration object from the supplied input stream.