Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-04-02
A LOST CHILD.

. brought freshly In my mind search
fer lost child in which participated
in years ago. 1t was the only case of
IE, kind with which | ever had any
in!Ig 10 do. Children are often lost in
large towns and cities. To the alarm
and ;-rlef of their parCLt,, bCt the stray
iI- uf a child in Il place thrUnged with
people is not 50 serious Il matter as Is
..c wandering away Of Il little one into
tine boundlesS Wild, IF an unsettled cOun-
try The police are notified. advertise
Iuents inserted in the daily papers, and
as some one Is pretty sure to have found
and taken care OF the little waif it is
soon restored to the arms Of its parents.
except in the rare cases of kidnapping.
In VIA regions, however. when child
i known To tie lost, it Is necessary to
at once organize searching parties and
sCCTr the country for miles in all dircc-
tions. Nothing more quickly arouses
the people of settlement in one of our
western wilds than the news that Il child
has been lost The sympathy of even
the most stolid in the community is
awakened. In isolated settlements all
! are drawn together as Il sort of class or
| large family, each member of which is
| faWiliarly acquainted with every other
member, both great and small. This
| being the case, when Il child is lost by
I one of the families of such a Communi
~ ii i only necessary to mention its
. name 10 bring its image to the mind S
eve Of every one. Besides. there will
he scores of persons who have fondled
and handled the missing little one, look
ed into its innocent eyes and listened
to its pretty prattle.
Nv experience in hunting for a lost
child was had in Iowa in 1851. 1t was
in what was known as the Wapseno noe
mock White Earth Creek settlement.
! half way between MuScatine and Iowa
! City. To the southwark was a heavy
! hrdv of timber. a mile or two in width
! and extending for 80 miles along the
crcck-the noc-nock-whilo to
| the west and north lay the wild and
boundless prairie.
One night, late in October, l was
aroused hy cry of: Hello, hello! The
! house"
1t WAS about 10 O'Clock at night.
Swinging ont of bed. l raised a window
| and sang out. Hello
~ child is lost William Hender-
sons little Lizzie. They missed her
! about sunduwn. and since then we have
| 'cyn searching everywhere. Come and
hiring all the help you can. am going
! To- carry the news To the other neigh
| hurS in tins direction. and the man, a
nrighlor. whose voice | AT once recog-
| niz,d, gallopvd on.
The farm of William Henderson was
two miles away, ON the edge of the
h1dndy>s prairie lying TO the north
ward My brothers and every man
aIuur the house turned ont and began
dr, ~Sing. for all had heard the alarming
news and all knew the lost Child-a lit
tie, 4-vcar-uld. Without waiting to go
u,lt upun the prairie to catch up horses.
/ W. all struck out ON foot for the Hen
/ Il r~1n farm. When we arrived at Hen
/ J,r~un's huusv. We found it filled with
women Mrs. Henderson was Wild.
/ She was determined to rush forth into
/ the prairie. despite the darkness of the
| night. The wolves. the wolves!' was
| her constant cry. The wolves Will kill
my poor chiId!" Twenty women were
present and all nearly as frantic as the
mother The house was perfect bed
! lam.
1t was not without reason that the
mind Of the mother was filled with fear
of wolves. At that time the prairies
were full of coyotes, bands of which
nightly prowled about the outlying
| farms. ready to Slip in and carry off
/ lamIrs or fowls. When intent upon such
! thicVing. they are quiet enough, but if
/ baked iv the flashing of lights or an
unusual commution. they stand off at
a distance and yelp ont their disappoint-
mrnt and anger. This evening the hun
CRY hrutes owing TO the stir about the
farm. had been particularly noisy and
indignant. The bowls and yelps were
torture to the poor mother. Some boys
had two or three times gone out into
the prairie back of the fields with dogs,
but the wolves were in such force that
they each time turned and followed the
dogs in a. >.on as the boys turned about.
Whenever the wolves began yelping,
the poor mother would make rush for
the door. hut four or five women, who
had resolved themselves into a sort of
hodyguard. always piled upon her and
dragged her lack. As the mother was
an unusually large and strong woman.
these struggles were So fierce rs to fright
III the - or % Youngsters collected at
the house and set them all to screeching
1T tn" top of their voices.
After witnessing Il skirmish or two
of the kind mentioned. and being una
llc To obtain any useful information at
tn. house we beat a retreat. The men
w,Te all ont in Il stretch of prairie that
Law east of the farm. Toward them we
FASTENED. Before us was beautiful
sight. Net only all the farmers. hut all
tn. residents of the little village of
W,>t Liberty, had taken the field.
AIuut go mon on horseback. each with
a huge, torch were ST N moving slowly
i'm lin" across the prairie. The horse
nI-n were about 81 feet apart. and be-
tween each pair WIS footman. They
swept over wide swath, and when out
"A mile from the fields would turn, form
again and move back again over new
ground. In order not to trample the
child under the feet of their horses they
did not move ont of a walk. At the
fields "A number Of old men were split
ting mp fencerails and making torches.
Thus they were going over the prairie
nearest the house, almost foot by foot.
This unusual sight stirred up the imp
i>h coyotes. and they could be frequent
~ heard yelping on the prairie to the
northward of the farm, quite needless
Of the gun and pistol shots when they
raised their Internal howl.
The father of the lost child was
among the mounted men. He was calm,
but his face looked like that of a dead
man in the glare of his torch. We had
Called to obtain any useful information
at the house, and when the father came
TO the fence where the torches were re-
newed a cousin who was with me ap-
preached him. Mr.. Henderson. he
said, keep up your courage. Your
child will be found, if not tonight, then
surely very soon after daylight. What
Kind of shoes did she have on"