The Little Lost Child
1894 song
"The Little Lost Child" is a popular song of 1894 by Edward B. Marks and Joseph W. Stern, with between one and two million copies in sheet music sales. Also known after its first three words as "A Passing Policeman", it is usually considered to have been the first work promoted as an illustrated song (an early precursor of the music video). The song's success has also been credited to its performance by Lottie Gilson and Della Fox.
Marks was a button salesman who wrote rhymes and verse, and Stern, a necktie salesman who played the piano and wrote tunes. Together they formed a music publishing house called Joseph W. Stern & Co. and became an important part of the Tin Pan Alley sheet music publishing scene. The lyrics, written by Marks and based on a newspaper report, concern a lost little girl found by a policeman, who is then reunited with his estranged wife after it transpires that he is the girl's father. Stern wrote the music for piano and vocals. Joseph W. Stern & Co. "started their career in a little basement at 314 East Fourteenth Street with a 30-cent sign and a $1 letterbox, which to say the least was not large capital even in those days..."
The promoting innovation that made "The Little Lost Child" significant to cultural history was an idea in the mind of George H. Thomas even earlier, in 1892.
The public source identifies “The Little Lost Child” as 1894 song. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Little, Lost and Child.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Little Lost Child”, the useful work is to connect “1894 song” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7747646. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1894 and 1892.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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- Expand the search: follow The Little Lost Child primary sources, The Little Lost Child archive and Little research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Little Lost Child” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.