Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-12-07
A Child Lost-A Real Incident.

The little village Of c. is situated
eighteen miles from Boston. Quite
q number Of years g there went
through its quiet streets and into the
houses the cry: ga child is lost! lost!
lost" Yes, little Johnny, four years
old, had disappeared from that part of
the face of the earth. There is so much
room and there are so many places:
how children and things will sometimes
vanish from sight! One so young as
the boy Just named could not have
strayed far away. But, ooh! where is
he? where is he?:" was the wall a
from out the hearts of the family.
Now it is to be remembered that no
tramps were ever seen around in that
quarter. Ii so, one such, vagabond
might have caught up a darling, small
fellow when he was out at play a shor.
distance from the door, and clapped
him under his tunic in order to sell him
back to his parents in q few days, if
such q piece of traffic could be effected.
II such a thought was born in the
minds of the afflicted household or of
the neighbors, it was born to die the
same instant. Again, bears and woods
We're no mor in that region. The
wells! the wells! All the people of
c. looked into their holes in the
ground made for holding water. Nobody
was hid away there. 1t was not tho
custom of Johnny to put the cat in the
well, neither had he on this occasion
dropped in there himself.
Sometimes, on board of a ship at sea,
the shout goes up: ga man overboard!"
There he is, plain to be seen, struggling
in the slippery waters and buffeting
with the hungry waves. There is no
doubt where he is. So, as quick as a
flash, or before many flashes could &C.
car, the boat is lowered and pushed to
the tumbling ocean waves where the
nan overheard is. But how different
is the case of the lost baby in the vii
lage OF C! A dreadful uncertainty
o%verhangs his whereabouts. Whittier
shall the runners rum? There is hurry
ing to and fro that ell ends in nothing.
Though scores OF anxious voices call
again and again. no answer comes back,
any than if Johnny were at the
bottom OF a tifty-barrel cistern of water,
or were whisked off by a tornado to
Nova Scotia.
There is Il story in aschool-book, used
my years ago, Ol u lUllc cnllu restored
to her distressed mother by the aid of a
dog. His master, an old Indian, hap
pened along under similar circum-
stances to those connected with this
true incident. The Indian called for
the shoes which the child had last worn.
He then put the leather trotters in con-
tact with the dogs nose. That was
enough. He took the scent and follow I'd
the steps of the little wanderer to tho
other end of the line of pursuit. But
perhaps Johnny had no other shoes than
those then on his feet. So, in that case,
all the dogs and Indians in America
could not help the searchers.
Well, was Johnny eve found in the
land Of the living? Yes, that terrible
commotion in the streets, like every
thing else, came to an end with the hap
Ply discovery of the curly-headed, dim
ple-cheeked fbur-year-old. While fam
lily and friends were looking all about
the neighborhood, in pig-pens, stable.
cistern and well-were peeping into
every corner of his home Especially the
preserve closely, making sure that he
was not curled up in the rocking-chair,
nor on the capacious sofa-Johnny lay
fast aleep mnder the sofa, where he was
found!-C Christian Union.