Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-08-26
Ten Daysiiathe WOODS
A Seven-Year.Old Boys Re-
markabIe Experience.
LOST IN THE WISCONSIN FORESTS

When Found Is Little the Worse for
Population Joins in the Hunt, but Only
Few Keep 1t Up to the End.
WAUsAU, Wis, Aug 26.-Elmer Foster,
only 7years of age, has recently had most
remarkable experience, unparalleled, in
deed, in the history of even this forest re-
gion of northern Wisconsin He strayed
from his home on the 18th of this month and
until Saturday had been wandering in the
dense forests that cover large portion of
this country, living on berries, sleeping in
the shelter of some friendly log or thicket,
and surviving it all with so little injury to
body or mind that, when found Saturday,
after nearly ten days absence, he was eating
his dinner of berries as compos edly as
though he were sitting at the family table.
Disappearance of the Child.
Elmer Foster is the only child of George
Foster, a workman at Wordens mill, fifteen
miles southeast of this city and three
miles east of Mosinee, the first village of any
Importance south of here. His mother is
dead On the morning of Thursday, Aug.
Is, Elmer started out to pick backberries
WIN a uuuSuCti VI IitSi, aDDul Id VI airs
OF age, and returned to dinner. la the
afternoon of the same day he asked permis-
sion to go ont TO the berry patch alone, say
ing that he knew the way all right" and
was permitted to do so, as the patch was not
many rods distant He was accompanied by
little dog on his trip. As he is "A Sturdy
and enterprising little chap the family felt
no apprehension at his absence until evening,
hnt A.
safety, and commenced a search for him.
The Hunt Begun.
Not trace of him could be found His
father WAS Immediately notified, and the
crew at the mill turned out and joined with
the few neighbors living near in "a systematic
search of the surrounding forest Every
one carried IA lantern and gun, and a num-
Der of dogs were brought into use. Bat lights
and shouting and firing of guns met with no
response, and the morning dawned upon the
searching party without an indication of the
poor little fellows whereabouts Joseph
Dessert, OF Mosinee, upon hearing the pitiful
story on Friday morning, forthwith shut
down his immense saw mill and set his crew
of 100 men upon the hunt for the lost boy.
The inhabitants of Mosinee and the country
for miles about turned out to a man, and a
number of expert woodsmen from this city
"SiS SUI uONh W icdl btit siidli army UQdL
was now examining every nook and recess of
the forest.
The Number of Searchers Reduced.
These extraordinary efforts were con-
tinued until the 18th, by which time the
number of searchers was necessarily reduced
to few, but these few were filled with
calm determination that the boy must be
found Still the search went on, being now
cpulnpfAl rna xxhnSa liras haA haa,,
spent in the woods, whose keen eyes not
broken t~ig could escape; to whom the
trackleSs wilds were like beaten highway
One ray of light they had-foot-prints that
must have been made by his poor, tired littl 9
feet were found on Sunday morning several
miles northeast of the berry patch. That
these were the footprints of the lost boy
seemed certain from the further fact that
along with them were seen alse the trail of
the puppy that had gone with him This
puppy had returned home the previous day,
impelled, no doubt, by the pangs of hunger.
The Wanderer Found.
At ii O'Clock Saturday morning Thomas
Daisy and the foreman OF the sawmill of Jo-
seph Dessert a Co., who had been in the
hunting party ever since Friday morning of
the week before, came suddenly upon the
small object Of their quest sitting upon a
fallen tree and eating an early and simple
dinner of hlackherres. For more than a
week they had been travelling that solemn
forest with patience and fortitude almost
incredible, hoping against hope for the glad
sight that now met their eyes Gently they
approached the boy, who looked up at them
with a sudden, WEI k little cry of pathetic
gladness that filled their brave eyes with
tears
A Shout of Joy.
The next moment one of them had him in
his strong arms, and in the next they lifted
up their voices in Joyous shout that rang
through the arches of the forest like a
trumpet Very soon they were Joined 10y the
other members of their party, and now arose
generous strife to see who might minister
to the wants of the poor little chap Food
was given to him with all due caution and a
little stImulant from the flask of one of the
hunters-for this class OF men are not teeto-
talers to any great exteut-and presently he
became as clipper as Little Breechesn in
Hays poem
A Diiapidated Little Hero.
He was sight to make mothers heart
break. His clothes were hanging about him
in rags. His shoes were only ghosts of shoes,
and his stockings were raveled into nothing
ness. He was covered with scra,enes from,
all In short, he was little hero if there
ever was one, and his stout heart disdained
all mention of such small hurts 1t was not
long before he was able to tell them the sim
pie story of his wanderings, in which on e
long, weary day and fearsome night was SO
much like every other. His only food dur
ing all his wandering had been berries, and
water TO drink was plentiful il fact, as it
had rained several times meanwhile he had
not suffered from dryness in any sense
Restored to His Father.
just before the boy started for home he took
them to a little house that he had construct
ed of bark and sticks by the roots of an up
turned tree, and in which he had spent the
previous night He told them that he had
Just such bed and shelter every night. In
deed he would not admit that he was lost.
but maintained that he was on his way home
all right, and his berry cup was still
with him, in the breast of his ragge
jacket He had not been molested by wild
animals, but the hooting of the owls had
been rather grewsome at first and he was
awfuily lonesome after Rover deserted him
The scene between the father and his long
lost boy is too touching to be described As
for the neighbour, and, indeed, all of the
residents of this portion CT the country, they
feel lik hold Jubilee over the glad new $
which as yet they can scarcely believe
CHILDREN PLAY DOCTOR"