Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-01-31
CLARENCE SHANK'S ADVENTURE.
BY s. r. PRICHARD.

"COme, Clarie, it is almost dinner-time,
and l want you to run to the depot and
get me time table of the Erie Railroad /"
said Mrs. Abram Shank to her son Clar
ence, on the fifth day of January, 1872
'Ive my old clothes on, mother" said
Clarence, who had been working in coal
that morning. .-
Never mind, Clarie; put your over
coat or, and ran along"
Clarence obeyed, and went out from
his fathers house, on his way to the rail
road station, in the city of Binghamton
Dlnner-time came, but Clarence had not
returned.
Il don't see where the boy can be"
said his father, as he arose from the din
ner-table. @"f
!, 80, he'll be here before I get the table
cleared off," said his mother, anxious to
master was busy, or something has kept
him"
Mr.. Shank went away to his work
Mrs. Shank left Clarences 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 g
horror. He might have been injured by
passing train.
A messenger was hastily sent to the
railroad station. He soon returned, say
ing that no accident had happened there,
and that Clarence had not asked the
ticket master for q timetable. He could
find no person who had seen the lad about
the place.
"What can it mean? Clarence would
not 60 away anywhere, for he had old
clothes on, said his mother, "and he had
no dinner either. I'm sure he would not
1ran, off,
Then the father and the older brothers
, were sent for, and family council was
held. One said che 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 Binghamton. The answers
came speeding back over the lonely miles
of wire, and each one said, "No boy car
fried off on my train"
When every conductor had been heard
from, the father went home. Friends
We're at his house trying to suggest some
new possibility. The coal pits were
searched Cellars were examined All
might men went up and down mill-race.
. 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 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
Gho, oil
= the mothers boys in all the world, there
necer was one like her lost darling, thought
the tear-laden heart of Clarences 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-
.ber, 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
it's charm to the new direction of
y search, and men eagerly offered to start
with the dawn of Sunday. The Gypsy
8 band was encamped twenty miles away.
They might offer stout resistance; there
lore, as Saturday night was intensely
cclu, all the plans were made with refer
ence to daylight. ~
- CLARENCE 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 brothers to return from their
labor. AS he looked into the passenger.
room, the ticketagent, was busy selling
tickets for an outgoing train, so Clar.
ence went upon the platform to wait un-
til hc~could geta chance to ask for time.
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
WestassA
'What q waste thatis" thought Clar
ence, having in mind the horses at home
Understanding how. much they woulc
: -Ake-to- taste the corn. 4"It won't take.me
but minute to fill my pockets, he saio
to himself; and, with dextereus leap, hs