The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-03-21
CLARENCE SHAEKS ADVEN-

A story for the Boys,

"Come, Clarie, it is almost dinner
time, and want you to run to the depot
and get me timetable of the Erie rail
road" said Mrs. Abram Shank to her
son Clarence, ON the 5th day of January,
1872.
Give my old clothes on, mother. "
said Clarence. WHO had been working
in coal that morning.
"Never mind, Clarie put your over
coat on, and run along"
Clarence obeyed, and went out from
his fathers house. on his way to the
railroad station, in the city of Bingham
ton. Dinner-tlme came, but Clarence
had not retured
"I don't see where the boy can be, -
said his father, a. he arose from the
dinner-table.
80, he'll be here before I got the
table cleared off" said his mother,
anxious to shield her boy. "'I dare say
the ticket-master was busy, or some
thing has kept him"
Mr.. Shank went away to his work.
Mrs. Shank left Clarence's dinner upon
the table, but it had grown cold, aud 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 be
came n horror. He might have been
injured by passing train. A messen-
ger was hastily sent to the railroad
station. He soon returned, saying that
no accident had happened there, and
Clarence had not asked the ticket-master
for a 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, "and he
had had no dinner eithor Tn sure he
would not run off "
Then the father aud the older brother
were sent fory-and family council was
held. One SD ''he might have been
carried off on ssome train. This sur-
geslion seemed very plausible.
.."Then we 1nUst send the telegraph
after him." said Shank and he went
up to the Office, and messages We're sent
east, west, north and south over the
railroads that center at Binghampt0n
The answer came speeding back over
the lonely miles al wire, and each one
said. I" No boy carried off on my train.
When every conductor had been heard
from, the father went home Friends
were at his house irving to suggest some
new possibility. The coal-pits were
searched. Cellars were examined. All
night men went up aud down mill
race. They carried lights and thrust
the long poles into the dark water, but
no one of them stirred the body of
Clarence Shank. Saturday morning
came, not ray OF hope came with it,
to tell where the lost one might be.
No child in all the beautifulcitv of
Bmghamton was loved so much that
day as was the lost Clarence Shank.
OF all the mothers boys in all the world,
there never was Cne like her lost dar-
ling, thought the tear-laden heart of
Clarence's mother; but neither search
ing nor lameutftiOn nor tears availed to
bring the faintsst thread of news.
Saturday night came Then it was
that somebody said, "Don't you re-
member, the gypsies passed through
Binghamton on Friday? Can it be that
they carried Clarence off with them ?''
The very romance of the thought lent
its charm to tho new direction of search,
and the men eagerly offered to start
with the dawn of Sunday. The gypsy
band was encamped 20 miles away.
They might offer stout resistance there
fore, as Saturday night was intensely
cold, all the plans were made with re-
ference to daylight.
CLARENCE's STORY.
Clarence was hungry when he started
for the railroad station, Friday noon,
but that was of little moment He
would come back, he thought, IN few
minutes, and dinner was All ready,
waiting for his father and brother to
return from their labor As he looked
into the passeneer-room, the ticket
agent was usy selling tickets for an
outgoing brain, so Clarence went upon
the platform to wa until he could pes
a chance to task for timetable. A
number of grain-ca's were standing upon
a track near by. One of them had been
used to carry corn, and its floor was
strewn with the long, thin kernels that
had grown in the fur, fertile West
~ What a waste that is - thought
Clarence, having IL mind the horses at
home, and remembering how much they
would like to taste The corn. 1T won't
take me but minutetO fill my pockets,
he said to himself and with a dexter
Gus leap, he was inside the freight car.
In a farther corner of it he stopped
down to draw the corn into a little pile,
and was filling his pockets, when he
suddenly found himself in total dark
ness. The car was shut, and the fasten-
ing-pin was in, and, in spite of cries and
knocks that no one heard, Clarence
Shank'w prisoner in an empty grain
car that was bound for the great West
In vain he shouted, in vain he thrust
his stout boots aCaint the doors. The
old locomotive eErine, putting away in
front, may have Ialt the thrill in its
stsam-chest, but no ones heart was