Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-01-25
ICOpuriGhtcd.l
VIOLA:
1hiise Lost in ia a Struggle for a Name,
~ BY MRS. a. d. EDISON.

CHAPTER ".
The hours slipped away, and it was
noon. and. though search had been
made IN every direction by the police,
as we'll as by Mr.. Anderson and Brad
lee. who could not stay in the house
and wait, though they could do little
good. strangers as they were. still not
the slightest trace of the missing girl
could be found. The landlord of the
hotel, MIR. Gordon, had thought at first
there was no cause for serious alarm,
-=as the child might have run into the
street, thinking to meet her adopted
father. and getting .bewildered, had
been unable 10 find her way back to the
house. But as the hours slipped away,
and systematic search of every street
in the city was made, and nothing was
heard of her. he came to the conclusion
that she had got down to the wharf in
her wanderfngs, and, in some way,
sfailen4 into the water and got drowned.
1t was not very probable that child
like that had been abducted in a city
where scores of children swarmed in
the streets unmolested every hour in
the day. "A founding, too. like this,
coming from an Eastern country town
SO far away. perfectly unknown to a
single soul in the city-why. it was the
height of absurdity to fancy she had
been abducted. and so he told the half
distracted Andersons. though his hy-
pOthesis was not particularly comfort
ing, and poor Myra Anderson only
grew whittier and more scare-looking
when he preached it.
4 .'Fiola is accustomed to the water,
and hardly think she would venture
where there was danger" Mr.. Ander-
son said, thoughtfully; s'still it is not
impossible but she might have attempted
crossing the plank to the steamer, and
fallen off, someway.'
> s<But some one would have seen her,
IFS fkely.n interposed Ralph. land
rescued her. 1 don't believe she went
near the water everything is always
laid to, the waterr'
2 lyon like it. 1 reckon, my lad,"
Gordon said, smiling at his earnestness
"You should pillow the sea, instead of
the prairie.''
Il intend to some day, sir,'' was the
quick reply. sudden glow lighting his
face.
Through all the grief and alarm of the
present, IA wild fear for the future struck
a sudden 'deathly chill to Mrs. Apder-.
sons heart. It would kin her to have
Ralph 90 to sea! But he would forget
and outgrow this love for the sea when
he was once fairly away from it, she
comforted herself by saying.
perhaps we had better 90 down to
the Shore" Mr.. Anderson said, 'rhough
have little idea that it will be of any
avail
At that moment Ned Bradlee opened
the door and looked in.
= ANY news?'' asked Anderson, anx-
iously.
wall, no. not ra' ally" he replied,
slowly. '..One of them fresh-water
sailor chaps says he see girl run down
the wharf to the side of the Caspian
that's the name of the boat we come in
Aquite early this mornin'. But he
didn' notice whether she went back, or
not, and in fact he didn't seem to
notice much of anything, and / don't
two year old or TWENTY-FIVE. I don't"
but why didn you 90 on board the
boat? May be she is there, !" interposed
Ralph. -,.-, -
g. D,as't r. Though i knowed afore-
hand that q bright little critter like her
wouldn't be likely to stay there all
this time. = erdii wouldn't she make
lem walk back with her. double quick?''
But what did they say?' asked
Gordon - - '''F 80
30, they. didn't know nothin', of
counsel There wasn't anybody there
only four or five niger gals, and of all
the STUPID cattle I eyer see, they was
the beat. 4 m afraid Knight ha' sworn
s{thelnsifE dstidc there two minutes
haleer 0rldnt say for certain.A /
4a1tS VAS, Nshes added. thought
Ai{ysA 81 ~ * 3. %'.ss
NJ think we had better GO down
there, Mr. Anderson said, putting on
his hat. ..--------
won't do any good, Ben, but
however, / don't blame you for wantin'
Rr,I1oo Poor 1;+tJo