The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-02-09
The sun and the Rose.
Lost.
Baby was lost :

Up and down, high and low, every
where about the house and barn and
wOodshed, in the garden and down the
road by the bridge, the search was car
ried on with anxious hearts and eager
steps. Every nook and corner where
even a mouse could hide was examined
over and over again; but no Babyl The
brook was low, so low that Baby might
have tOddled over it without hardly wet
ting her feet. There was no danger there;
and vet for half mile either side of the
bridge the bed of the little stream was
thoroughly scanned, so there could be no
doubt left.
Baby's mother, bareheaded, with pale
face and trembling limbs, distractedly
hurried from place to place, carrying i'm
her hand the little white sunbonnet she
had picked up near the doorstep, the
only thing that could be found belonging
TO the missing.
Not half an hour before, Baby had
been playing i'm the yard, cooling and
talking to herself, as she nursed her rag
doll, and watched the pigeons on the
roof of the barn. There were the prints
of her tiny shoes in the moist soil by
the gate, the marks Of dirty little fingers
upon the white palings-and that was
all
AAAN AADA -AAlE urA sun " IL allllOEl at lAH
setting, and the shadows of the NAPLES
were fast lengthening. What if night
should come, and Baby not found q?
What if she were wandering further and
further away, while they were seeking
her? What if she had been stolen, and
was even then calling upon her mother
TO save her?
"Baby -
No answer; and the mothers face grew
whittier and her limbs weaker.
~ shall never see her again ~ she
cried, sinking down upon the steps of
the porch. "Never, never, neveri And
scolded her this morning. ., my little,
little lamb ~
1--WE shall find her yet said old Mrs.
Bailey, sOothingly. "Sheis got tired and
cuddled down to sleep somewhere. Or
perhaps she's off with some of the
neigbOrs' children"
Babys mother shook her head. She
knew that was only said to comfort her
All the children i'm the neighborhOOd had
been for the last hour engaged in the
search. She could see them securing the
field beyond the house, looking behind
the StOne-heaps and among the black
berry bushes that skirted the fence.
Baby could not have been stolen. No
suspicious character had been lurking
about, and nobody could have got away
with her without being seen. There
had been no one near the house all the
morning, except old Deacon Pettengill,
who left his wagon opposite the gate
long enough to look at a yoke of fat
steers in the barn-yard
The sun went down at last, and one by
one the neighbors slowly came in from
the search and gathered around the
stricken mother, in the yard. All had
words of comfort; but they sounded false
and hollow.
Il can't give her up so ~ she mOaned.
'She must be somewhere near Helm
me look a little lOnger-just little
longer ~
81 don't believe she's been outside the
gate,n said one. ave can't find any
trace Of her anywhere. Seems to me
she would have dropped her doll or
something, if she'd gone far"
"We've looked everywhere, said one
of the boys. "We've poked open every
bunch of bushes on both sides Of the
road, and she couldn't have got any fur
ther than that. If she was i'm the mowin'
lot, we should see her certainly, or i'm
the back pasture, because there ain'tan
bushes or wOOds.n
Have you looked in the well %
asked old Mrs. Tompkins sNOw it's
just as like as not she's fell i'm there.
The curbin amt none too safe.u
she amt there-we've looked" said
one of the boys, quickly, noting the
spasm OF pain that passed over the face
OF Baby's mother at the words.
There's team coming ~ suddenly
shouted one of little knot of boys out
side the gate. "NOw we can send word
down to the village, and raise 'em To
help hunt"
"Its Deacon Pettengilrs horse" said
another, who had hastily climbed the
1ence for better lookout, Hand the
Deacon's drivin', too. Something's the
matter, hes putting on the lick"
w NAT he got in his lap ?n asked one
woman, pcering through the dusk.
Why, do believe it's Babyr'
Ihere was rush through the gate as
the Old Deacon stopped his horse with 4
loud "whOa -
lost anything" lie inquired, AS he
stepped ont over the wheel, with a little
bundle in his arms.
ment the little cause of all the trouble
and pain was tightly clasped in its
mothers arms.
"IOu see" said the Deacon, in answer
TO the multitudinous inquiries as to how,
when, and where he had come across
Baby, "after | left here, early this after
noon, thought felt something under
the wagOn-seat; but / didn't pay any
Particular attention to il, and forgot all
about ii before ! got home. ] turned out
the mare and run the wagon under the
shed, for it began to look like rain.
Long about five o'clock Joel he went TO
take out bag of rye meal that brought
up from Pipers and all at once, as he
was liitln it onto his back, he dropped ii
anu hollered right out: Come here,
1DJeaeoh'' says he. Where Oh earth did
inns come from - I was orindin, a
IiS out at the east end of the shed.
Iy ISiU uIo iped IL pretty quick. and started
ne was holdln up the buffalo fro,,, a.
hlho END OF the wagon; and fbora a a.
you believe II, was that cunni,'i i;.tio ~
ereaturi with her rag doll endJiod -, 'te te
her, lynn on some meal bags undart ~ ~ ~
seat, last asleep. She must have cro,,.I-'I III
into the wagon and laid down ,,I,;in le9
was lookin' at the steers, and tIe ioIt;r,
got her TO sleep. / tell YOU wasNft in. ~
hltchlm up again; and never dro,,' ~ -
like all-pOssessed but once before i, ,,,., ~
life, and that was when Hiram broi-a I,;s
leg fallin' of the hoss-barn.D Ms
so Baby was found, and the Nyhoio
neighborhOOd as one great heart briDae
med over with joy while the mother
close TO whose breast the tired little head
was tightly clasped, poured out her souI
in fearful gratitude TO Him who had
through that brief bitter lesson taught
her more of the divine nature of love
than she had before learned in all the
days Of4er Observation-Disclosures.