Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-06-21
HUNT AFTER THE BABY.

I and the moment SLeF peu lueo lhe oAe'AuS
room | saw the baby was missing.
The baby was one that had been left with
ug-gister Bell and melville the GEAR
mamma went to see the dear papa, sick IN a
far away hospital. 1t was plump, peachy
little thing, nearly year old, named Maude
familiarity called Madge and more famll-
iarly called Midget. She was as fuil OF
mischief as she could hold, crept all about
| the house, throwing things out OF doors or
| into the fire, as came handiest; thrust her
/ hands behind her and screeched ike hye-
ma, if any one approached to interfere with
her operations, and slept about five minutes
| twice day. Her usual time to be crawl
| ing around under foot was in the early part
of the day when the kitchen work was In
progress in the aftern DON, when the WORK
was all done, and we ready for frolic with
/ her ladyship, tn slittle nuisance might gen.
1 orally be found sequestered in q corner,
| hugging a bosom full Of matches, or stick
| ing postage clamps all over her chubby
4 arms. 1"s' '-'&.,s 1870 ~
/ This time had left her asleep. She must
! have been asleep for she didn't wink, and
| when the little deceiver was coaxing me
| she always winked desperately. l laid her
on a rug in a cool corner, and, leaving the
door open, walked down to the cornield
and back agail in about seven n,lnutes, as
nearly ash could judge.
r. The baby was missingt There was the
print of little moist head on the pillow,
there were the little blue hints Of shoes, just
as she had kicked them off in her play.
Hurriedly Invent through room after room,
searching and calling. Not glimpse OF
the little white frock, not lisp from the
| pratuing tongue. 49,.
Baby! baby! where are your cried.
o dear, Mr.. T. B. Aldrich 1t wasn't our
baby you had in mind, was it, when you
wrote those lines:- .............. d.
ooh where is our dainty, our darlin
The dantiest darling of ALL si 9au
@~6s- 60 Little Maude 2"
Rushing to the foot of the stairs, go
Bell" l shouted, have you seen baby?'
"NO, haven't; guess not. Why"
\ knew by the way Bell spoke that she
was not half awake, but her GOODNESS an
noyed me.
"You guess not; well, she's lost; went
to the lot after roasting ears, and when
A fretful exclamation from Bell inter-
rupted me. WA
so dear me have you looked in the par
lar? I've no doubt but she's there poking
over my photograph album. Do look,
please, SIS" : ..-...-
, Terror overmastered my strong desire to
fling back a snappish answer to this aggra-
waiting remark. Down stairs again.
threw the parlor door, which having been
tightly closed, had not before tried. All
undisturbed and quiet. How thankful
should have been just then to have seen ev-
erything topsy-turvy, the phantom and
grass bouquets in ruins, and Bells album in
the smutty fingers Of the little culprit.
With q groan shut the door and COM
menced the seach anew opened all the
closets and presses that had opened before,
looking under bureaus and sofas, shook the
ironing basket fshed in the swill barrel
All vain vain No baby-no Midget.
Then l ran out to the currant bushes,
where few tempting red punches were
still hanging. Bell saw and hailed me from
the chamber window.
looked up to see the provoking girl sit
ting by the open blind, brading her tangled
hair, and told her to come down ard help
me find this child.
"Have you looked in the ash hole, and the
bandboxes, and the big churn ?" asked this
trying sister Of mine but saw her eyes
opening very wide, and in two minutes
with her unfastened braids hang about her
shoulders in avery original-style of ''water-
fall"
Her movements were peculiar and char
acterstic She took the door mat, jerked
the pump handle, examined the bread tray
and the -four barrel. Then her eyes fell
upon the sink drain.
"She couldn't have got in there, now,
could she p questioned Bell, with terror in
every feature. :. The horrid sewer, you
knew r. And she looked whole chapter
Of Victor Hugo at me in an instant. ~
"Of course not through four inch spout !!
+ and put the strainer in after her! What q
preposterous notion !''eian lg lilafe tee q se
And Bell does not know to this very day
that not five minutes before she came, down
was working the broom handle down that
verysspout with an might and main 1 a1om
Out of doors we went, examined the out
houses and clumps of elder, looked over the
fence, up street, down street, and finally re-
turned disconsolate to the Kitchen -
Midget Midget! dear, precious little
angel, where are your" moaned Bell, drop
| ding down upon the settee. I did not say,
humph, pestiferous little ANGEL for Bells
/ distress was too genuine to be Knocked So,
/ 40 w cdo WIN OAI EOuuu 6dCu Otu6f,
crying, we heard very slight noise in the
/ direction of the little kitchen which CON
tanned no furniture but a stove and a table,
i We had. glanced round this room once or
twice but as there seemed to; be no hiding
places the thought Of searching had never
occurred to US. . = t7sso1. 70 y8 5s7il sl .a1'
Ess7Thestov was a large sized Stewart, with
an oven, occupying the. lower part. Well,
to cut the story short, the baby was in the
oven! We knew it, Bell and |, as soon as
it was repeated, and simultaneously rushed
for the cook room. There she sat-the mis-
chief-bolt upright in the oven, with her
head IN the high part and her feet in the
low, treating herself to the contents Of a
blackberry pie which had been left in from
the mornings baking. She had taken off
I the upper crust whole, spreading it on her
bosom like napkin, and was employed in
picking out the blackberrles one by one and
conveying them to her mouth. She looked
up at US, and oh, such face What with
cunning, fright and blackberry juice, Ihave
never seen such face before or since.
4 Bell caught her out, kissed her compare
lively clean, seolding her all the time Then
she carried her to the sink and pumped
water on her without the least fear of wash
ing her down the spout. As soon as the
| little lady recovered her breath she screamed
furiously and pointed to the oven with de-
I cided demonstrations of plan to return to
her repast. Bell begged the privilege OF
putting her back to finish the pie but ]
steadily set my face against such an indul-
! eenee, and when she and Midget both in
sisted, | set the matter at rest by kindling a
I huge fire in the stove, and making vigorous