The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-03-13

great amount of work which every
housekoeper--eyen in mountain cabin
I in California-always finds 10 do,
Almost always the weather permitted
him TO play out eff doors, SO that he wa
far happier, rs well as far healthier than
! ii he were shut up in the house, And as
he never thought of running away, tins
was all very satisfactory TO the mother,
Sometimes she did not have to look after
him from noon until supper time,
This afternoon was one of those fortu-
nate times, All through the long, pleas
ant time OF sunshine the careful house
wife was left undisturbed TO work and
think, She thought most of her own
child, of course, but she thought II good
deal about Pete Peters child also, Per-
haps people were little too hard on
Rilly, after all, Perhaps il the neigh
] Dor women would only takea little more
friendly interest in her she would not be
| such rude little rutian. Really she
never knew of the child doing anything
actually wicked. But she was such n
rowdy,
/ At length she noticed that the sun
shine had grown dim, Evening was
coming and Jcrry's father would soon be
home, and she must bring the little fell
| low in and make him neat, MS she always
did for the fathers home coming,
She went to the door, but Jerry was
not where she had left him. She looked
quickly about. but her child was no.
where in sight She called; no answer
came. In panic she ran all about the
house and up and down the road, calling
as she went; neither sight nor sound of
her child could she gain. Little Jerry
was lost
"That girl That dreadful girl!h Mrs.
Fromer moaned, as she realized that her
baby was gone. "But, then would
have heard her If she had come about. "
Desperate and heartbroken she con-
tinued her iruitless search, growing
more and more excited with every
minute. When Mr.. Fromer came home
he found his wife so nearly frantic that
he could hardly learn from her athad
happened.
Ii was Il terrible thing when he did
learn and realize it. There was no know
ing how long the child had been gone,
but with darkness coming swiftly on he
would have time before he could be
found to get hopelessly lost in the forest
that was not so very far away. Hemight
be wandering there even now and it was
no safe place for a little child to wan
der. To say nothing of the dangers OF
starvation or exhaustion, wild beasts were
not unknown there. More than once or
twice mountain lions had been seen or
heard not very far from the little scat
tered settlement.
Very quickly Mr. Fromer satisfied him
self that his child was indeed gone, and
he was about starting away to summon
the neighbors to help him in the search,
when Pete Pelter appeared. There was
trouble in his face and anxiety in his
voice.
"Was Rilly here ag'in after | left yeT'
he asked of Mrs. Fromer.
"No."
''She amt to hum, an amt been
able fur to find her, an I'm Uneasy bout
her, it must be lowed"
Have you lost your child, toos" Mr..
Fromer exclaimed in establishment. II
was just coming to ask you to help find
ours He's gone. God knows where!'
He stopped speaking with that break
{ in his voice which it is always so hard to
/ listen to. Even in his own grief and
trouble Peter Pelter felt keen sympathy
with this other hereaved man, and was
about to say so, but an exclamation from
Mrs. Fromer checked him.
"That girl!H ,Jerry's mother cried out.
And it was easy to know from her tone
what she was thinking of.
! Her husband laid his hand on her
shoulder and stopped her from saying
/ more Mr.. Pelter heard the words and
noted the movement, but he only said:
',I'l! help We to hunt fur yer child.
kin hunt fur mine later. Or mebbe we'll
find 'em together. I reckon, that's most
likelv.n
All night long these two men, with
the help of all the other men in the set
! Element, searched the forest with torches
i for their lost children and found no
trace OF either of them. One little bit
of information was given by man who
came to Join the searching party.
In the afternoon, while on shoulder
of the mountain near the settlement, he
had stopped to look down at the houses
and the road. He saw little child GO
ing along the road toward the forest
He thought that was not safe, so he
started down the slope to capture the
little rover. He was a good while get
ting to the road, and when he got there
he saw only Rilly Pelter and her dog.
He asked her about the child he had
seen, but she only looked at him and
started off toward her fathers house.
Thinking he had been frightened with
4 out reason, the man had gone his way
! without giving any alarm.
1 "What time might that ha' been?s
asked Peter Pelter.
/ "'Bout three o'clock, | reckon
81 war home jest afore that. Lief,
right afterwards.
! All the next day the search was kept
up, and without success. At night the
men were exhausted and had to rest.
4 But the second day the search was re-
newed with more vigor than ever
The two fathers kept together through
a kind Of sympathetic understanding.
They were widely separated from the
other searchers when they came upon the
tracks made by little feet.
A moment later they found larger foot
prints and those of dog close to them.
The men looked at each other with tears
Of joy running down their faces and
I neither was ashamed of his weakness
They dashed forward over the soft. mois,
ground OF the little hollow they were in
not losing sight of a single track. Sud
denly Peter stopped, with smothered
4 cry of alarm.
I sob, Lord Oh, Lord Look at that :
he groaned pointing to the ground
where the tracks of another ANNA