The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-18
GOGTATE HERDEAR RAGDOLL?
REWARD OF So FOR THE RETURN
-. OF ,RASTUS WASHINGTON.


LlttIe Miss van Mater Lost Him In the fark
and New she IL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Much 70 Look It, hut She FriIed thm
B. Above All Her Earthly Possessions
Frsnoes Van Mater, little maid Of Colo
rado is stief stricken over the loss OF Eras-
tua Washington, her rag doll. SO badly
did she feel about II that her father put
tbis advertisement in the newspapers yes
tsrday:
Iost-At merry go-round or carrousel In
Central Park on sunday, April 10, one rag
don. IS reward for return TO Netherland'
Fifth avenue and Fifty-ninth street.
I,ots Of people saw the @ad,' and there
have been many dolls taken 70 the hotel
but Erastus Washington was not among
them
There are some persons intimately &C
dhAinted with Erastus Washington VINO
regard him as nothing more than very
dtsreputable rag doh Of singularly homely
parts. The little girls mother and father
who are Denver people-Air. Van Mater IL a
railroad man out there-didn't think much
Of ,Rastus; they would have given their
four-year-od daughter a fine big doll any
time doll with a silk dress and long,
yellow hair--n Frances would have thrown
Erastus Washington in the street or buried
the tattered Ethiopian with becoming cere-
monies. But to Frances the rag baby was
oil that was beautiful and lovable.
Il was true that Erastus had lost the
better part Of one leg through the cruelty
Of Frisk, Mrs. Van Matters bull terrier
and that the stuffng stuck out OF the
severed place hideously. There was no
denying that both eyes were missing be-
cause Sneeze, the Angora cat, went visit
ing friends one day IN Denver taking 'Rastus
with her. 'lso 'Rastus was minus hand,
and his complexion, because OF the wear
ana tear Of affection and weather, bad
o aled from walnut to lemon. But all
these things made no difference with the
Htth girl. She turned her nose up at
Mademoiselle Fanchette, her gorgeous
French doll, and wouldn't even put Miss
Nancy Brown TO bed, although Miss Nancy
was a very splendid doll indeed and most
Htte girls would have been tickled at the
very sight Of her.
Ever since Frances spied Erastus Wash
inFton two years ago rolling his eyes In
Denver toy store, she and the rag baby
have been quite inseparable. Several davs
ago the Van Matters car e to New York and
nut up at the Hotel NptheTland. On Sun
day afternoon the little girl went to the
park With her nurse. E1sus y ent too,
clutched in her ar :.
Franoes showed the rag baby the monkeys
first Of all. deceitful baDoon made
oiIio< snatch for 'Rastus, and It would have
been all up with him II the black paw had
been the half Of se'ond swuter. As II
was Frances rescued the rag baty, but the
ohatteTing balloon kept part OF hastus )
red trousers as a souvenir.
Frances and 'Rastus spent delightful
hour on the merry go-round. II required
an the little girl's self possession and polite
ness 10 resist saying things TO several other
little girls who rode on the wooden hor,e'.
Some Of them had very. gorgeous dolls
and they poKed fun at 'Rastus until
Frances's face blazed with wrath. IL was
just about then that the goat with a long
gray beard trotted on the scene.
Frances had wanted a goat for a long
time, but the Van Matters didn't care to
add one 70 the household. When Frances
cav the Central Park Billy she almost for
got 'Rastus then and there. Up and down
the Mall she rode in the red wagon, with
che patient nurse by her side.
About o'clock in the evening il was
time to 90 home Then Frances discovered
that Erastus Washington had disappeared.
They searched for him everywhere, in and
about the merry go-rcund, along the Mall
and In the grass. About hundred sympa-
thetio children Joined in the search, but
il was no use.
The nurse suggested that the long
whisksred goat might have Gated 'Rastus.
The idea appealed to old Hawkins, the goat
man, because he had seen similar mis-
fortunes occur during his career Of amuse-
ment purveyor for small folk, but he wisely
said nothing. Frances had stood all she
could. More than that, from the look
In the ohild's eye, he was afraid that she
would walk away with the goat, whether
or no, II she really thought that be had
lunched on Erastus.
FranOas went back to the Netherland,
CRYING as II her heart would break. Most
everybody In the hotel heard Of her be-
reavement' ana many were the ouers OF
had been attracted by the child's pretti-
ness and polite ways. But Frances was
inoonsolable, and so yesterday Mr.. Van
Mater had the advertisement put in the
papers