St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-02-03
for the Children.
If0r .J0hitHy UdS Lost
\ STORY FOR TIE CHILDREN.


Johnny lived in one of the little cities
Of the far Wcst,with crowd of brothers
and sisters, only one Of whom was younger
than himself, and he was five years and
a half old. One Sunday last August,
his father, being at liberty from his work
got team to carry his mother and the
baby 10 ride, and Johnny went too.
They rolc out in the country Il few miles
to the house OF 4 friend, who treated
them TO watcrmeluns. Johnny gnawcd
out the sweet juicy inside OF his slice,
ard locking at the lind, thought what Il
nice little boat it would make. ''Im 70
ing down TO thc spring to sal my boat"
lie said, and oil he ran, barchcaded Is he
was.
The spring was some distance from the
house, but there WAS Il good path all the
way, and johnny had been down to it
once when lie was there before. But
there were other paths branching oil, and
somehow johnny struck into one of these
and kept running on, expecting every
moment to come to the spring. But the
path dwindIcd away and finally diSap-
pcarcd entirely, and then johnny, in wall
dcring on and trying TO find it AGAIN, got
completely bcwildcred, for the house was
out of sight; and what was he to do
Any one who has never seen the west
crn prairics can hardly imagine the tire
some lengths in which they stretch out,
with the most tedious Samcncss. This
WAS not level prairie, but ROLLING swell,
then 4 ravine, another swell, and another
ravinc, and so ON, all looking much alike
Among these johnny wandered till lie
was tired, trying TO find the house anil
calling for father and mother.
When a long time passed and he did
not come back 10 the house, his parent,
crew uneasy, and fearing he had fallen
into the >I,ring, his father went down to
look for him, but found neither johnny
IOr his boat. They went out To hunt
for him, and called in every direction,
but he WAS 10y this time too far away TO
hear them.
Poor lutte fellow The sun beat down
So hot ON his head, and the coarse prairie
grass hurt his bare feet, but still he wan
dcrcl ON, AL swcaty and dusty and tear
stained, until the sun set and darkness
came ON, for i'll those prairie countries
the two events are very near together.
He was very hungry and fired, but there
was neither supper nor bed for him, 50
lie lay down among some bushes in Il dry
ravinc and ate the watermelon rind, which
la. Iu1 ,.nrr;,,l IL, l,,,,I al a. L.
and lie was SO hungry that the rind tast-
ed better even than the inside did in the
afternoon. lie sat up and stared about i'll
the darkness and felt afraid. ''Falhcr
mother he called as loud is lie could
III lls terror but there was no one to
answer, and, the big tears rolling down
his checks, lie lay down again and cried
till he fell asleep. But he did not sleep
very well, for the night dews wet through
his thin cotton clothes and made him so
Chilly that time and again through the
long night lie woke up shivcring land see
ing the stars shining over his head, re-
membered where he was, and lay tremb-
ling as much with fear as with cold.
When his parents could not find him,
lis father rode quickly back to town and
spread the alarm. The men and boys
started out with dogs and guns and
torches and horns and all that night,
and Monday and Monday nigh: land part
OF tuesday they kept up the search.
And how do you suppose Johnny
Jared all this while? lie was glad when
daylight came Monday morning, for then
he was not afraid, and lie thought he
might find his way home before night,
but he was hungry enough and kept a
Sharp lookout for something to cat All
he could find was an occasional bunch of
the little sour grapes, and sometimes on
a wild gooseberry bush he would find
ripe gooscberry, half dried up. As the
sun grew hot, he became swcaty, which
maze MN very thirsty, but lie could sell
uolil illiu any water, for it had been such
dry season. When he did find any he
had nothing to drink from, so he would
lie down fiat, and putting his mouth TO
the water, drink as well as he could
Just before night on Monday, lie saw
boy on horseback away in the distance
johnny forgot how tired he was and ran
toward him with all his might, calling
as loud as he could, ''Wait for me wall
for me ~ But the boy was too far away.
and neither saw nor heard lin, but kept
riding on. Johnny ran the faster, and