The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1882-11-09
PULASKI. TENN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1882
A WEST SIDE ENocH ARDEN.
The Strange Story Of a Wanderer
Who Found His Family After
Long Years.

Long Years.
There is great rejoicing in l
South Ann street, where the widoy
Lloyd and her family have reside,
for many years. Thirty years age
her husband and I4-year old sol
started for the California golC
mines, hoping to make a speedy
fortune and rejoin their family
Three months afterward Horace
the son, ragged and half starved
reached home, saying that the train
he and his father started with was
attacked by Indians and he alone
escaped. After he had grown easier
in his mind he changed his story
enough to leave Mrs. Lloyd ground
to hope that her husband might yet
be alive. She cherished this hope
for seven years. They were not
seven years of poverty, however, for
they had not come to America
empty handed, and the wife or
widow, was thrifty and energetic.
She started millinery shop, and,
assisted by her daughters, made it
popular, and became the vogue
among the fashionables of the west
side. Judicious speculations in real
estate swelled her property rapidly,
and she became independent within
a few years.
The early months of separation
from her husband having passed
without word from him, she put on
widows weeds and mourned him as
dead Diligent inquiries failed to
discover any one of the train with
which he had begun the tedious
journey across the plains, and about |
the only conclusion possible was
that he had persisted along with a
small train, which was wiped out by
the Cheyennes about the same
time. Mrs. Lloyd was still young
at 40, and several gentlemen sought
to console her. She, however,
valued her independence, and re-
solved not to sacrifice it until seven
years had made it certain that her
husband was indeed dead. They
were years of great prosperity for
her. Property rapidly increased ia
value, her business extended, her
daughters were suitably married,
and her sons found profitable en-
plOyment. 1t is not essential to
the story to name the man who s
offered himself while the widow was s
poor, and remained constant almost ]
as Ions as Jacob served for Sarah.
He won, eventually, and the twain {
became one flesh. The marriage,
however, was anything but happy.
Mrs. Lloyd, to provide against the
possibility Of being sought for her
wealth, had transferred her property {
in trust to her daughter. AS soon ;
as her second husband ascertained ,
this fact his protested love turned
to bitterness.
Peace fed from the family and was
restored only after the merciful law
of Illinois had dissolved the matri-
mOnial bond which bound them to-
gether. Resuming her name, Mrs.
LLOYD, she also resumed her bust
ness and prosecuted it with dill
gence, until very recently she found
herself able to retire with an easy
Her son, Horace II. Lloyd, lived
with her. In their cosy parlor are
two oil portraits Of young man
and young woman dressed in the
costumes of fifty years ago. The
former is a handsome, high-bred
looking youth and the latter is q
smiling, attractive, cherry -cheeked
young woman. The portraits are
not daubs, but genuine works Of art
BETTING the style and pretensions
of people of quality.
On Sunday morning Mrs. Lloyd
answered a ring at the front-dOor
bell A tall, handsome man, with
hair white as the snow, wrinkled,
but still erect, and wearing a patch
over his left eye, asked to see Horace
II. Lloyd.
Tell me your business and I'll
tell you if you can see him" said
Mrs. Lloyd.
Il am Bartholomew Frederick |
Lloyd" the man began, but Mrs.
Lloyd waited to hear no more. Her |
knees almost refused to do their |
duty as she tottered toward her son |
sleeping on the lounge, and babe
him see who it was would speak |
with him.
Don't you know your father,
Frederick the old man asked.
''You are not my father" the son
reioined, making a motion as if to
throw him off the stoOp. His
mother stayed his arm, and in a
few minutes the fog was cleared
wife recognized husband and on
father. The sons joy was extrava-
CANT. The old man, weak from
recent sickness, was placed tenderly
in the best bed, and the sisters and
their children were summoned from
their homes to participate in the
rejoicing.
Perhaps the least elusive in
demonstration of joy was the wife.
Where is the woman who can for
get desertion? Even though the
years had been fruitful to her, she
could not wipe out the memory that
they had parted in expectation OF
speedy reunion.
Bartholomew Frederick Lloyd had
no valid excuse to offer for his long
neglect. The truth about his part
| ing with his son was, the nigh
spirited boy ran away from the train
because his father in a fit Of temper
threw a sword at him that nearly
impaled him. The boy ran to the
trackless plain until night set in,
and then made his way back to
Fort Laramie, already 100 miles be
hind them. The father, believing
that he must have perished on the
Journey, mOurned him as dead, and
in the depth of his grief lost his
sense of duty toward his wife and
other children. He became willing
to be believed dead, and took no
steps to relieve his wife's anxieties.
His hope was that he would make a
lucky strike at the diggings and
| l. 80 Ha F,s1nI - 4nIro