A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



harmed by a coyote or bitten by a rattler when lost; 

 but those menaces, imagined or real, are the first to 

 come into the mind when a child has strayed, just 

 as a woman grabs her skirts or climbs upon a chair 

 with the first suggestion of a mouse. The people 

 and the incidents in this story are real, but in draw- 

 ing the sketch I have made it composite as to the 

 lost child terror in sparsely-settled districts, and no 

 amount of dressing can exaggerate instances which 

 have come to my personal notice; in fact, I have 

 toned down the dramatic tragicality which is a part 

 of every instance. The telephone, prevalent now in 

 rural districts, has helped the situation, but it is a 

 terror to operators who after the first alarm reply 

 to every ring, "No, he has not been found;" or, "Yes, 

 they have found him." It was strange how, before 

 the rural system was installed, that which all people 

 on the frontier know as the "grapevine" phone car- 

 ried the news of "lost child" into great distances. 

 This method of communication, which no one has 

 been able to explain, carried news with startling 

 rapidity. 



Little "Curley" McNutt is still a character with 

 us, now seven years old. His imagination is vivid. 

 His laugh and grin, and his habit of saying unex- 

 pected things at inopportune times are all still in 

 vogue. I saw him last Sunday, and we had our 

 usual big talk. He was much excited over an air 

 rifle; he has two wonderful "wolf" dogs (really 



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