Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1873-01-30

Who thus had proved what love might be;
'sAs have loved, even SO do ye.''
Christian Union.
CLARENCE SHANK'S ADVENTURE.
syssTa By s. p. PRICHARD.
"Come, Clarie, it is almost dinner.time,
and l want you to run to the depot and
get me q timetable of the Erie Railroad. +"
said Mrs. Abram Shank to her son Clar-
ence, on the fifth day of January, 1872.
GIVE my old clothes on, mother" said
Clarence, who had been working in coal
that morning.
s'Neyer mind, Clarie put your over
coat on, and run along"
Clarence obeyed, and went out from
his fathers house, on his way to the rail-
road station, in the city of Binghamton.
Dinner-time came, but Clarence had not
returned.
'tIdon't see where the boy can be"
said his father, as he arose from the din
ner-table.
80, he'll be here before I get the table
cleared of" said his mother, anxious to
shield her boy. 81 dare say the ticket
master was busy, or something has kept
him."
Mr.. Shank went away to his work.
Mrs. Shank left Clarence's dinner upon
the table, but it had grown cold, and he
was not come. Two o'clock, and still
the loving face of Clarence was not seen
in his home. As the mother worked and
waited, the fear that some accident had
come to her son, grew until it become q
horror. He might have been injured by
a passing train.
A messenger was hastily sent to the
railroad station. He soon returned, say
inrp hot 1cI ho- =
and that Clarence had not asked the
ticket-master for timetable. He could
find no person who had seen the lad about
the place.
"What can it mean? Clarence would
not go away anywhere, for he had old
clothes on, said his mother, land he had
NO dinner either. I'm sure he would not
run of. IS se
Then the father and the older brothers
were sent for, and family council was
held. One said she might have been car.
ried off on some train" This suggestion
seemed very plausible.
Then we must send the telegraph after
him." said Mr.. Shank; and he went up to
the office, and messages were sent east,
west, north, and south over the railroads
that center at Biaghamton. The answers
came speeding back over the lonely miles
of wire, and each one said, "No boy car
ried off on my train"
When every conductor had been heard
from, the father went home. Friends
were at his house trying to suggest some
new possibility. The coal-pits were
searched. Cellars were examined. All
night men went up and down mill trace.
They carried lights and thrust their long
poles into the dark water, but no one Of
them stirred the body of Clarence Shank.
Saturday morning came, but not a ray
of hope came with it, to tell where the
lost one might be.
No child in all the beautiful city of
Binghamton was loved so much that day
as was the lost Clarence Shank. Of all
the mothers boys in all the world, there
necer was one like her lost darling, thought
the tear-laden heart of Clarence's mother;
but neither searching, nor lamentation
nor tears availed to bring the faintest
thread of news.
Saturday night came. Then it was
that somebody said, Don't you remem.
Der, the Gypsies passed through Bing.
hamton on Friday /? Can it be that they
carried Clarence off with them ?"
The very romance of the thought lent
its charm to the new direction of
search, and men eagerly offered to start
with the dawn of Sunday. The Gypsy
band was encamped- twenty miles away.
They might offer stout resistance there.
fore, as Saturday night was intensely
cold, all the plans were made with refer.
ence to daylight.
CLARENCE's STORY.
Clarence was hungry when he started
for therailroad station Friday noon, but
that was OF. little moment. He would
come back he thought in few minutes,
and dinnpr all roodu for he
father and brothers to return from thei1
labor. As he looked into the passenger
room, the ticket-agent was busy selling
tickets for an outgoing train, SO Clar
ence went upon the platform to wait un
til he could get chance to ask for atime
table. A number of grain cars were
standing upon track near by. One OF
them had been used to carry corn, and its
floor was strewn with the long, thin ker
nels that had grown in the far fertile
West.
what waste that isl" thought Clar
ence, having in mind the horses at home
and remembering how much they woult
like to taste the corn. at won't take m,
but minute to fill my pockets, +" he sale
to himself; and, with dexterous leap, b,
was inside the freight car. In farthe1
corner of it he stopped down to draw tn,
corn into little pile, and was filling hi
pockets, when he suddenly found himsel
In total darkness. The car was shut. an,
the fastening-pin was in, and, in spite O
cries and knpcks that no one heard, Cla1
ence Shank was prisoner in an empt
grain-car that was bound for the Grea
West.
In vain he shouted, in vain he thrus
his stout boots against the doors. Th
old locomotive engine, putting away il
front, may have felt the thrill in its steam
chest, but no ones heart was touched tt
open the doors and let Clarence out. s.
the wheels began to roll, and they role,
faster ana faster, and the journey began
The boy did not know whether he wa
going east or west. All that he could tel
was, that the road was rough and the ca
jolted terribly. He stood up and cluns
fast to it's sides to keep from being throw
about
''What will mother think at homer
gasped5 Clarence, trying in vain to find
creVice out of which he could peep a
the surrounding country. His countr
was blackness and darkness just then
The time seemed days, the way endles.
and then the thudding rumble grew les
and less The car was standin,
still. He . renewed his knock
and shouts and kicks. but n
one cams, and after few moments tn
old motion begun again. He held fas
until his hands were sore from the frie
ton. The tears came and rolled dow
his c1epkn for he could NOT lot rr,, fr, x.,; =