Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories; Christian life -- Juvenile fiction
It was a Sabbath morning in November, clear, bright and frosty. Mrs.
Dudley's family were preparing for church. They heard Carlo bark
violently, and knew a stranger must be near. Carlo is a faithful
watch-dog, but his habit of barking at visitors is so disagreeable,
that he is usually kept chained in the day-time. On Sunday, as no
company is expected, he is permitted to go at large. When Mr. Dudley
heard Carlo, he immediately threw open the window, and spoke to him.
He saw a gentleman, who was evidently much alarmed. None of the family
knew him. The stranger soon made known the occasion of his call, by
inquiring,
"Have you seen any thing of a stray child?"
"No, we have not; whose child is lost?"
"Mr. McPherson's."
"How old is the child?"
"About six years old. His mother sent him from home, yesterday, about
two o'clock, and she has heard nothing from him since. He had a small
tin pail with him to get some yeast."
It is sad to hear that a child is lost, and all the family sympathized
with the anxious parents. "How badly you would feel if I was lost!"
said Eddie, and he looked sober and grieved, as he thought of the
little boy about his own age, who had wandered from home, no one knew
where. There was much fear that he had fallen into the river, as he
had been seen on the dock.
At ten o'clock the family started for church. They met people who were
searching for the child, and who asked them, as the gentleman had done
at the house, "Have you seen any thing of a stray child?"
Notice was given in the churches that a boy was lost, and many a
mother's heart beat quicker as she thought of her own dear little
ones, and imagined one of them sleeping, perhaps, through that cold
November night on the ground, or (fearful thought!) buried deep in the
chill water.
After church, you could hear one and another inquiring anxiously, "Has
the child been found?" But no favourable answer was received. In the
afternoon, however, many hearts were gladdened by learning that he was
safe. He had gone to the village, and got his pennyworth of yeast, and
then, instead of returning immediately, he stopped to play with some
boys. He had gone with them to a part of the village with which he was
not acquainted and when he wished to go home, he did not know what
direction to take. He chose a road leading him from home, and wandered
at least five miles. Just before dark an old gentleman and his
grandson were walking on the road, and they observed this little boy
crying.
"What do you suppose he is crying about?" said the child to his
grandfather.
"I don't know. Perhaps he has been sent to the grocery, and does not
like to go."
They watched him and found he did not stop, but passed on with his tin
pail, crying grievously. They waited for him to come up to them, and
asked him,
"What are you crying about?"
"I want to go home!"
"Where is your home?"
The boy could not tell.
"What is your name?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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