This was early in the day , and we have seen nothing of her since . '' Ceres scarcely waited to hear what the nymphs had to say , before she hurried off to make inquiries all through the neighborhood . But nobody told her anything that would enable the poor mother to guess what had become of Proserpina . A fisherman , it is true , had noticed her little footprints in the sand , as he went homeward along the beach with a basket of fish ; a rustic had seen the child stooping to gather flowers ; several persons had heard either the rattling of chariot wheels , or the rumbling of distant thunder ; and one old woman , while plucking vervain and catnip , had heard a scream , but supposed it to be some childish nonsense , and therefore did not take the trouble to look up . The stupid people ! It took them such a tedious while to tell the nothing that they knew , that it was dark night before Mother Ceres found out that she must seek her daughter elsewhere . So she lighted a torch , and set forth , resolving never to come back until Proserpina was discovered . In her haste and trouble of mind , she quite forgot her car and the winged dragons ; or , it may be , she thought that she could follow up the search more thoroughly on foot . At all events , this was the way in which she began her sorrowful journey , holding her torch before her , and looking carefully at every object along the path . And as it happened , she had not gone far before she found one of the magnificent flowers which grew on the shrub that Proserpina had pulled up . `` Ha ! '' thought Mother Ceres , examining it by torchlight . `` Here is mischief in this flower ! The earth did not produce it by any help of mine , nor of its own accord . It is the work of enchantment , and is therefore poisonous ; and perhaps it has poisoned my poor child . '' But she put the poisonous flower in her bosom , not knowing whether she might ever find any other memorial of Proserpina . All night long , at the door of every cottage and farm-house , Ceres knocked , and called up the weary laborers to inquire if they had seen her child ; and they stood , gaping and half-asleep , at the threshold , and answered her pityingly , and besought her to come in and rest . At the portal of every palace , too , she made so loud a summons that the menials hurried to throw open the gate , thinking that it must be some great king or queen , who would demand a banquet for supper and a stately chamber to repose in . And when they saw only a sad and anxious woman , with a torch in her hand and a wreath of withered poppies on her head , they spoke rudely , and sometimes threatened to set the dogs upon her . But nobody had seen Proserpina , nor could give Mother Ceres the least hint which way to seek her .
Thus passed the night ; and still she continued her search without sitting down to rest , or stopping to take food , or even remembering XXXXX put out the torch although first the rosy dawn , and then the glad light of the morning sun , made its red flame look thin and pale .
So along before for of that through to upon whether