The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-08-13
Return Of Wanderer-A Happy Fam
iIy Reunion.

I
following:
On the 18th of September, 1850, curly
headed, laughing boy of fifteen, tired OF
the restraints imposed on him as a mlller's
apprentice, ran away from his master in
Onondaga county, n. y :, and after knock
ing about for some time, shipped IN the
whaler William Badger, of New Bedford,
and went to sea. His widowed mother
was apprised of his Highland barely man
aged TO see her boy and bless him before he
went out upon the wide world, hoping
and trusting that after couple OF years
she might see him again. Time passed,
and no word came until the two years
heightened into five, and then letter,
open at one end, crumpied, dirty ana
worn, was received by the mother, who
learned by an Endorsement on the envel-
ope that some other person bearing a
name similar to her own had taken the
letter from the post-office, and after carry
ing it about with her for couple of weeks
returned it.
The letter told how the writer had suf-
fered by shipwreck, illness, wounds and
many other mishaps, during the five years
of his wanderings in the waters of all seas
and the lands of nearly all people, and it
besought a speedy answer, so that the
writer might know where his relatives
were and how they could be reached. But
the poor sailor boy waited in vain, because
some unfeeling wretch, Notwithstanding
she knew how important were the contents
of that letter, had criminally neglected her
duty in the premises. With painful doubts
in his mind when his means were exhaust
ed, the boy again went TO sea, and for
many year lost sight of his native land.
Time and again the longing to hear from
home would overcome him, and he would
write. Now to an uncle, who he hoped
still titled the old homestead farm his
grandfather had settled half a century be-
fore, again to his mother in Chicago, hop
ing a second, third or fourth letter might
be more successful than the first, but no
answer came, and he settled down for a
ten years residence in Australia, after hav-
ING served in the ships OF three or fourn ma
tiOns as the necessities imposed by wreck
or illness required. Life in the mines in
Australia, labor in the fields and woods,
and many successes and reverses, did not
oblterate love of home and mother and
again were the mails invoked, but to no
purpose.
Again the changes of fortune send the
sailor to sea, and California becomes his
home until the longing to see friends be-
cones too strong to be resisted and he un-
dertakes the journey of thousands of miles
to find them. Arrived at Chicago, the
great bustling, busy, cruel city where men
and women are soon forgotten in the
whirl of business, he enters upon a fruit
less search for his friends. The directory
is searched, and two days are spent in in
terviewing every person whose name
promises tidings, and all to no purpose.
They know of no such people as he names.
Surely" thought the sailor boy, now
a middle-aged man, ''the old home in New
York contains some one who will know
what has become of my mother, sisters,
and brothers, of my numerous aunts and
uncles, "and with this thoughtin his mind,
turns his face eastward. At Syracuse he
resumes his search. A few people re-
member his father, who died 80 years ago,
but none can tell what became of his un-
cles. He turns to the interior and finds
the old homestead in the possession of
stranger, who cannot tell where the last
of his uncles of the Leverich family have
gone and knows absolutely nothing of the
Adamses (his own name). At MarcelluS,
another uncle had lived, but here he only
gathered the information that he had gone
West, where, none could remember, but
they believed it was Ohio. The wanderer
unused while, and in his mind arose
the memory of q visit to Jefferson Prairie,
Wisconsin, where two uncles had lived,
and westward again he turns. Arriving
at Beloit, the country seems so familiar,
Notwithstanding the lapse of more than
quarter of a century, that he imagines
himself now i'll the neighbOrhood OF rela-
tiyes, but after another weary search he
| finds that the restless American impulse
| to move westward has taken his relatives
/ to mort bwaCrarO Iowa and the
other none knew where, he moved so
| long ago. The search seemed fruitlesS,
and the hopes so lately raised are dashed
to the earth again, and the wanderer is
about to take the train again for
| the return to the Pacific coast, when
the name of an old neighbor occurs
| to him, and he asks young man: care
| there any people in that vicinity named
| Case?' "Ies." responds the stranger,
''that is my name" And here, after
search of more than two weeks, there
seemed to be faint trace which he eagerly
seized. The young man proved to be the
son of the old neighbOr, who knew the
whereabouts of one uncle of the wanderer,
but could only tell him concerning his
mother that he believed she still lived.
! The trace led the wanderer to Sparta,
Monroe county, Wis, and there the exile
of "a years learned that his mother and sis
Ter were in Evansville, Ind, a place until
then unheard of. With great reluctance
he Welded to their friendly eDtrea.ies and
remained day before resuming his pill
! srimage.
On Yesterdays train from the north the
wanderer came, a travel-stained, timeworn,
sun-6urned man of 80 years, and, on i'll
quiry, found the residence of his sister. In
| answer to hi, ring, came an elderly lady
whom he recognized as his mother, and Ie-
pressing the impulse of his heart, he intro
| duced himself as the bearer of a friendly
message from Wisconsin. After an inter
view of few minutes, the name of the
| stranger was asked, and when he replied
- Richard Adams" the name created no
surprise, the idea of the death of the wan
derer having been so long entertained that
even the mothers thoughts turned to an
other relative of that name, until something
iE the expression of the strangers face
and the sound Of his voice caused the
mother and sister at the same moment to
seize upon and express the hope that It
was Our Dick"
Such reunions as here ensued bear no
description, and defy all attempts, even OF
the dramatist, to portray.
The mother found it hard to recognize
her curly-haired boy in the bronzed man,
but the heart learns quick, and the memOr-
les of old days were recalled to aid the
stranger in his search for his loved and lost
relatives. The sister whom he bade good
bye" when a little girl she accompanied
her mother West, was now the mother OF
children almost grown, the little brother
of five years had expanded into the man OF
two hundred pounds weight, who Is now
preSSman in the Evansville Journal office,
and thus after twenty-four years of wan
dering, by sea and land, Richard l.. Adams
has found his friends, and they have well
coined him as one arisen from the dead.
Angora Goats.
Now VorL- aycbonore trivpe a Glowing