The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1884-10-31
HOW NEDDY ALARMED THE NEIGH.
BORHOOD.

Il
good boy, that is, he was not very
bad boy. only sometimes little care
| less. He did not tell naughty stories;
he seldom quarreled with his little
sister; he was not selfish; and he only
got into the sugar-box and jam-pot once
in q great while. Now, do not mean
that he got into the sugar-box and jam
pot, but his fingers sometimes found
their way to the sugar Jumps and jam.
Neddy was five years old, had brown,
curly hair, blue eyes. and wore blue
gingham dress the day he not only
alarmed the neighborhood but aroused
the whole town into q commotion. 1t
was through carelessness; but, dear
me! il he had not been careless should
not have this story to write.
Neddy's mamma had gone to pay
some calls, leaving him ut home with
his sister Fanny, baby brother, and Jane
the nurse. At first they all were in the
yard. Jane swung baby in the ham
mock while Neddy aud Fanny shovcIed
sand into their little cart, and, pretend
ing it was full of coal, took it to Kena,
the cook, TO sell. Presently Fanny
wanted drink of water, so Jane took
baby in her arms and went with Fanny
into the dining-room to get the drink
for her.
They were only gone a few minutes
but when they went back into the yard,
Neddy was nowhere to be seen. +.
Jane called him '.Neddy, q Ned
dyr' No answer. Then she went into
the house 10 look for him. She looked
in the parlors, library, upstairs in the
bedrooms, and down in the kitchen.
but he was not in any of them. Then
she called him again-"Neddy. Neddy!
Where are you?" Still no answer. BY
this time Jane began to be frightened,
and. giving the baby to Kena, she ran
out into the yard, searching every
where. She looked into the coal and
wood bins; she peeped down the well;
and even looked under all the currant
and gooseberry bushes; but no Teddy.
Then she ran into the neighbours
houses on either side of them, and
gazed up and down the street every
where. Not vestige of little boy of
his description be seen anywhere.
Then poor Jane was at her wits end,
What should she do next? What had
become of her darling Neddy! Certain
ly some dreadful thing had happened
to him, for he had never been known
to go outside of the gate without per-
mission. Perhaps he had fallen into
the well, and was now lying Mt the bot
tom of it. white and cold! Or, perhaps
dreadful thought!-he had been
stolen by some gypsies, and they were
beating him TO stop his crying. She had
heard the day before that there was q
gypsy camp just below town, aud sure
ly they had stolen her Neddy away.
The more she thought of it the more
positive she became about 1t.
Then she happened to remember the
telephone, and ran Immediately to IN
form Neddy's papa of what had oc-
CURED. '.Neddy is lost" she said,
talking through the queer little box II
can't find him anywhere, and T m afraid
the gypsies have stolen him. He had on
a blue bingham dress. and wore no
hat" Then she ran out ON the sidewalk
again and found Kena rushing frantic
ally up and down with baby in her
arms, crying wildly and alarming all
the passers-by. Nearly everybody on
the street stopped to inquire what was
the matter, and in few minutes nearly
q dozen people had started on the
search for lost Neddy. Mrs. Brown ran
in one direction, Mr.. Smith in another,
and Mr.. Jones jumped into his buggy
and started towards the part of the
town where the gypsy encampment was
said to be.
You can imagine how frightened and
unhappy Neddy's papa WAS when he
heard through the telephone that Neddy
was lost. He put or his hat aud started
for homo as fast as he could 60. Pretty
soon be met q policeman and stopped
to tell him about it so that he could as
sist in searching for Neddy. He told
the policeman how Nedd1Mas dresBed
in blue gingham frock and wore no
hat. and the policeman telephoned the
description to his chief, SO that before
long it was known all over town. Each
police officer kept on the lookout for q
little boy with brown. curly hair, who
wore blue gingham frock and no hat
Neddy's papa was all this time hur-
.rying home rs fast as possible. He
finally got there. all out of breath from
walking SO fast, and just as he opened
the gate he happened to look up, and
there stood Neddy on the front porch.
Jane and Kena and half dozen neigh
bors were crying over him and kissing
him. His mamma was there. too, and
locked as if she felt like laughing; and
as for Neddy himself. he looked rather
crestfallen. Where do you suppose he
had been all this time? L will tell you.
When Jane took Fanny in to get
drink Neddy ran to the front gate and
looked out. just as he popped his head
out Of the gate he saw his mamma go
ing into . neighbours house about half
block or The lady whose house it was
lay quite i'll; and his mamma was going
to sit with her little while. Neddy,
seeing his mamma going in there, ram
after her, forgetting all the while that
Jane would not know where he had
gone. His mamma saw him come in
the neighbor's gate. bu: surprising that
Jane had given him permission to come.
thought no more about it, and sent him
into the back yard to play with the
neieAboIs little boy while she talked to
the ick ladY. Thus he WAS unawarU