Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-18

sarch was started that night with Ian
terms and KEEP up till mOrnin'. Word was
sent fur and near, and before noon the
next day three townships were on the
hunt. Horns was blowed, bells rung and
the poor baby's name called in hundreds
OF voices. The woods and swamps was
secured, and every brush heap and boiler
log peeked into.
The sarch lasted another night and
another day. till in the afternoon some
begun TO give Out-myseh among the
number. l went home and thrOwed
myself onto my bed with my clothes on,
and slept as I'd never slept before.
About 10 o'clock that evenin' woke up
sudden, just as wide awake s l am this
minute. Ny mind seemed uncommon clear
and quick. That child can't be fur away
thought. Hes been with the rest to the
huckleberry swamp this summer. The
trail leadin' to the swamp leaves the main
road not fur from the shingle-tree stump.
I'd often heard that lost children would
never answer when called, but at night,
when everything was quiet, they'd cry
and make a noise. 1t seemed as though
the hull kentry had been well sarched, but
l still believed he was stickin' sOmeWheres
in that huckleberry marsh.
snow, l don't want anybody TO think 1
was herowine, for l wasn't. l think /
felt more n common sorry for Rachel Nv
fer, because I'd had a dislike to her for
quite spell. 1t growed out Of an egg
trade. | wanted a settin' Of goose eggs:
she had some and said she'd let me have a
dozen for two dozen hens eggs. Well, we
traded and s'posed it was all right, till
one day she come over and said she thought
she orter have about another half-dOZen
eggs; for she'd opened a gOose-egg shell
and then broke two hens eggs into it. aud
it wasn't quite full. 'Tw0uld have held
easy half another egg! I counted out six
eggs and she lugged 'em home: then l
told Miss Luke Wilson and one or two
other women that | was purity thick with,
and we made no end of fun about it when
ever we got together.
81 didn't like the general makeup Of
the woman. She had five purity children,
but she didn't seem to take no kind o.
comfort with 'em, just pushed 'em one
side and druv ahead with her work. She
and Nyfer both seemed to think all the
duty they owed their young ones was to
make 'em mind from the word go, and dig
away like all possess, to make property
for 'em. But l was there that evenin'
when Ben came home without the boy,
and [ saw 'em stand and look in each
others faces, like the end of the world
had come, and neither one could help the
other. Then she went about putin bit
of supper onto the table; but when she
SCI OuL Gam 14lblC I'LL DldtC anu mus al
the mother in her broke loose and she flung
herself down, shudderin' and sobbin' in a
way I'll never torgit. Well, SEEM as how
I'd kinder misjudged the creetur for hav-
in no heart, felt pushed to make one
more try for that poor lost kid o. hern; so
jumped right up and said out loud:
"'With the Lords help, I'll find him
yetv
II lit my lantern and shaded it so it let
just a little light down onto the ground.
Then went over the road, Just as guessed
the boy had done, turnin' off on the trail
at the big red-Oak stump and took right
down to the swamp. There l stopped and
listened, still as death. Sure as there's
mercy for.u all above, L heard him almost
right away.
'''Oh, maj Such pitiful call! Then
he cried and whimpered, very weak, like
his breath was most gone and his heart
most broke. l followed that sound and
found him easy. He was mired to his
arm-pits in mud and water. Icouldn't al
first see how ! was to get to him. There
was the body Of big walnut tree lynn
back on the hard ground and the bark
was loose. l pulled it of in slabs and
thrOWed 'em onto the hummOcks, and so
brldged my way out to that little yaller
head. He struggled wild when l first
pulled him out; then gave up in a kind of
ldluls EdAA4Eu nlAl lADlAlC III Il nAl
There was still a good many people at
MYERS. They made some milk warm and
put a taste of liquor In il, and forced
few drops down his throat, as you've done
to a chilled limb on a winters mOrnin'.
He was bathed and rubbed and wrapped
in soft flannin and laid in the baby's warm
nest afOre the fire. Nyfer and his wife
stood lOOkin' down at him.
'''Raich,' said he, as he looked up, her
hlQpE .Euimmin' and hRr f9pp q III
a-tremble. Then he took her into his
arms and held her clOast; 'Raich, we
hain't loved one another enough, and we
hain't loved our children enough. There's
that that's better'n money and land, and
for the rest of our lives weIl try and
keep holt of it,
"And | believe they did. The little boy
had fever, but he came out all right at
last. Miss Nyfer died about five years
after that, and he took the family and
went back East. Of course, 1 wouldn't
have told this story Just as | have, If any
of 'em had been around"
The people had listened closely. and
when Mrs. Lockery put on her bonnet
and resumed her seat the hush was so
profound that we could hear, high above
our heads, the twittering clamor of nest
Of young tanagers, to whom the mother
bird had brought a worm.
The next to address the assembly was
noble-loOking old man with sllvery-white
hair. 1t was Mr.. Luke Wilson, or Squire
Wilson, as he was generally called. He
had a firm, intellectual head, and when
he spoke his language was correct and
we'll chosen.
''The Widow Lockery." he began, ''has
disclaimed all right to the title of heroine.
Do not let the verdict be rendered till have
finished what l am about to relate. Ny
friend and neighbOr for forty years will, l
know, pardon me if for once lift the veil
from passage OF her experience to which
she seldom alludes, and of which many in
this audience have never heard. Nothing
has been told here to-day, nothing could
be told more strongly illustrative OF the
courage and endurance Of the pioneer
spirit, at least Of the spirit of one brave
pioneer.
"One winter evening, many years ago, a
stranger presented himself at the cabin Of
Thomas and Ruth LOckery, and begged a
nights lodging. He was a Canadian,
completely tired out, and far from we'll.
Neither LOckery nor his wife had it in
them to turn a sick stranger from their
door; so they gave him supper and a bed
The next day he was unable to rise, and
before. night he broke out with small
poX.
''The following morning when 1 went
out to feed my cattle / happened to look
toward LOckery's, and saw on a sharp rise
Of ground about half way between the two
houses, a woman standing and reckoning
to me. 1t was my neighbOr here. l went
toward her, but while | was some dis
lance away she halted me and told me in
a few words about the man with the small
pOX, and charged me to watch the road
and warn the community. She said she
had been inOculated, and would not take
the disease, but she feared for her hus-
band and children. That day / rode
eleven miles to the nearest doctor. His
wife cried, and would not let him go. He
read his books for an hour, while my
horse rested, then he made up package
of medicines for me and l started back. |
left the medicines and stimulants on the
scrub-oak hill, and Tom came and got
them.
GAS Ruth had feared, her husband and
their two children were taken down.
Several out Of the nearer families then
offered to take all risks and help her nurse
her sick, but she firmly refused their
assistance.
"'I can get along alone she would say
from her post on the hill. The Lord gives
me strength for all 1 have to do, and this
horror must not spread Everything she
needed was furnished promptly and
abundantly, and this was all she would
suffer us to do. The stranger had the
disease in its mildest form. but LOckery
and the little boys, Amos and Willy, were
boneIesslv had from the first One MORN