St. Landry democrat., 1884-06-07
NEDDY'S CARELESSNESS.

This is a true story, and his real
name was Neddy. He was generally
good boy; that is, he was not very
bad boy. only sometimes a little care
less. He did not tell naughty stories;
he seldom quarreled with his little
sister; he was not selfish; and rs only
got into the sugar-boX and jan-potonce
in great while. Now, do not mean
that he got into the sugatbox 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 commotion. 1t
was through carelessness; but, dear
met if he had not been careless should
not have this story to write.
Neddy's mamma had gone to pay
some calls, leaving him at 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 and Fanny shoveled
sand into their little cart, and, pretend
inc it was full of coal, took it to Kena,
the cook, to sell. Presently Fanny
wanted a 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 few minutes,
but when they went back into the yard,
Neddv was nowhere to be seen.
Jane called him :Neddy! 0 Ned
cha int
the house to 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 -t'Neddy! Neddy!
Where are your 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 we'll;
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 90 outside of the gate without per-
mission. Perhaps he had fallen into
the well, and was now lying at 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 o
gypsy camp Just below town, and sure
~ they had stolen her Neddy away.
The more she thought of it the more
positive she became about it.
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. Il
CAMS find him anywhere, and I'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 a few minutes nearly
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 and started
for home as fast as he could 60. Pretty
soon he met a policeman and stopped
ito tell him about it so that he could as
'sist in searching for Neddy. He tolG
the policeman how Neddy was dressed
in blue bingham frock and wore nc
that. 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 {
little boy with brown, curly hair, who
wore blue bingham frock and no hat
Neddy's papa was all this time hur
rying home as fast as possible. He
finally got there, all out OF breath frou
walking SO fast, and just as he opened
the gate he happened to look up, ane
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, ant
looked as if she felt like laughing; anc
as for Neddy himself, he looked rather
urestfallen. Where do you suppose hi
had been al this time? | will tell you
When Jane took Fanny in to get
drink Neddy ran to the front gate AMI