Clinton by Walter Aimwell

Jerry was missed at home; -to be sure, his departure was not felt so / sensibly as it would have been, had he acted the part of a dutiful / son and an affectionate brother. Still, all mourned his sudden / disappearance; especially, as they knew not what had become of him. / For a while, Mrs. Preston looked up the road, many times every day, to / see if she could discern anything of the runaway, for she had strong / expectations that he would return. But he did not come, nor were any / tidings received from him. In her distress and anxiety on his account, / she forgot all his bad conduct, and only remembered that he was her / son,-her only son. Little Mary, too, was much troubled at the loss of / her brother. She did not fully comprehend the occasion of his absence, / and as little was said in her presence about it, she somehow got the / notion into her head that Jerry had been seized and carried off by / certain wicked people whom she called "bugaboos. " "Mother," she would / say, "when Jerry gets to be a great-big man, wont he get away from the / bugaboos; and come back again? " And then her mother would look sad, and / reply, "I hope so, my dear."

About a fortnight after Jerry's departure, Mrs. Preston received a / letter from her husband's brother in Boston. She opened it with mingled / hope and trembling, for it was in reply to one she had addressed him, / the day after Jerry left home. But it gave her no information in regard / to his whereabouts. Jerry's uncle simply stated that he had been absent / from home, and did not get her letter till a few days previous; that he / had made inquiries, but could learn nothing of Jerry; and that he would / be on the look-out for him, and give her immediate information should / he hear anything concerning the runaway. She laid the letter down with / a sigh; and that evening she wrote to her husband, informing him of the / situation of affairs,-for she had delayed doing so until now, in hope / of hearing what had become of Jerry. Being at work in the woods, far / away from any post-office, Mr. Preston did not receive this letter / until it had got to be quite an old affair, and so he did not think it / worth while to return home, to look after his son.