Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-10-26

| where they meant to take the cars.
Suddenly, at the same minute, both
girls missed Betty. Neither could tell
how 1t happened. She had been skip
ping from one to the other holding
now Lillian's hand and now Dora's,
saying little, but making her presence
constantly evident. And now she was
gone.
"Why, she had hold of my hand
| when l was at the fiorist'Sn
Eyes, and she went out to the front
of the store to see those Japanese
flowers"
"Was it before then that we met the
man with the balloons, and she
wanted one?"
"Oh, dear, don't know" said Dora,
almost crying. 1--WE must go back
and look for her"
Then a happy thought occurred to
Lillian.
perhaps she went back to Lawson's
to look in the window again. Don't
you remember how she wanted us to
so back for one more look?'
So the girls FASTENED to Lawson's,
finding the usual crowd before the
window, but no sign of Betty. Then
they went straight to n policeman
and told the whole story, and then
there was telegraphing to the central
station, and the policemen were noti-
fled to be on the lookout for little
girl, five years old, yellow hair, blue
dress and little black silk bag in her
hand. 1t was Dora's first impulse to
start for her mother But Lillian and
| the policeman advised her to wait q
little longer, and the policeman, sure
that the little one could not have
strayed far, began a systematic walk
up one street and down the next, the
girls following and looking into all the
stores.
Somehow, I cannot help thinking
all the time of Lawson's," said Dora,
finally. Lets go back there once
more, and then, if we do not see her,
| will go straight TO mother, though l
know l shall die if l have to tell her
| Betty is lost-poor, little frightened
| thing, as / know she is this minute,'
So to Lawson's they went again,
and mingled with the crowd in front
of the window, but no Betty was
there. They were too disconsolate to
| look inside, and the crowd, which
seemed bigger and more amused than
ever, hustled them along. They had
| almost passed, when suddenly there
was little stir, and sharp rap on
the glass made them turn their bewil-
dered eyes, and there, with a doll in
each arm, the rocking chair from
| which she had risen still swaying
back and forth, with shining eyes,
brimming over with fun and excite
ment, her yellow hair tossed back and
her cheeks aglow with delight, was
| Betty, not frightened, not troubled,
but supremely, radiantly happy.
Dora and Lillian stood motionless
with amazement, and if Lillian at
least felt that she would like to shake
the unrepentant cause of all their suf-
fering perhaps she is hardly to be
| blamed. But in Dora's mind the Joy
of beholding again her little sister,
| alive and uninjured, banished every
thing else. An attendant who was
watching from the inside then beck
oned the girls in, and they heard the
whole story. Betty had walked in all
alone, and going up to n clerk an
nounced unhesitatingIy her desire ito
be an advertisement" He was sur
prised to see so small child alone,
and asked her if she were lost.
"Yes, l suppose I'm lost. but they'll
find me pretty quick, and l want to be
an advertisement while they are hunt
ing" The clerk laughed, and called
to gentleman who was just passing
in the aisle of the store.
"Mr. Harris, here's an applicant for
the position Of window girl, and l
think she'll make good one"
When Betty had repeated her story
and told her name, the gentleman had
her take off her jacket and hat, and
lifted her carefully to the big win
dow seat.
They'll find her quicker there than
will please her, and her mother is one
of our best customers. 1t isn't bad
advertisement, indeed, to have the
daughter of Hon Hamilton Warren
as one of our employees" And he
laughed as if he enjoyed the joke.
The girls must have passed the first
time before the preliminaries We're
settled.
II hope you'll like It," said the child
who yielded her undesirable place to
Betty. To Betty it was anything but
undesirable, however. She felt that
her time was short, and simply set to
play with all the -mindedness
and apparently all the unconsciousness
with which she would have played in
her own room at home.
well, l knew she was never shy
: in her life" gasped poor Dora divided
between joy at the recovery and shame
for Betty's shortcomings. But l
never dreamed of her doing thing
, like that. How could you run away
from IFS RpttVf' she said rpprovinulv