The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-09-30
Very Strange.
A Father Meets His 5o-Ysar-OId Child for the
First Time at a Funeral.

A Father Meets His 5o-Ysar-OId Child for the
First Time at Funeral.
A strange thing happened at Freder-
lex Station. in Montgomery Co., Pa, q
few days ago. Aaron Bout, well-to-
do trucker of the neighborhood, q hale
old man of 80, was introduced to his ia
Their. Aaron Bout. rich old merchant
of 20, who lives on Heas street, in this
city. Neither knew that the other was
alive. Although they have been resid-
ing within two hours ride of each 9TH
or for quarter of a century this was
the first time they had ever seen each
other. and thereby hangs tale. Fifty
years ago the father was well-known
horse jockey in Montgomery County
and lived near Frederick He was
crack rider across country and the most
popular horseman to be found in a ra-
dius of fifty miles. At all the county
fairs young Bout was authority on all
matters pertaining to horsefiesh. and
none dared dispute his opinion. He
was perfect daredevil in the saddle,
and no one could manage the ribbons
of q four-in-hand as gracefully as he.
AT. 20 he went of with circus, and in
a few months his first son was born.
He did not return to Frederick until the
day. fifty years after, when father and
son first met face TO face. The mother
had died and the father supposed that
the son had also died. But while the
one was roaming the earth, leading an
adventurer's life, the boy grew to man.
hood and to middle age. After many
years of wandering, and when he had
been lost to family and friends in Mont
gomery, Bout, the elder, married and
settled in Philadelphia and became a
domestic man of business, accumulated
property and became the head of
numerous family. His last child is now
but two years old and was born when
the father had reached the ripe old age
of 68. There are twenty-four other
children, not including the supposed-to-
be-dead first born, all of them alive. In
the mean time, Aafon Bout, Jr., had
lived an uneventful life, had married,
bought a little farm and also reared
family of children. One day Mrs. Geo.
bigger, of this city, who was a relative
of Mr.. Bout, died and was taken to
Frederick to be buried. Among the
mourners was the father, and in the
company at the church was the son.
Neither was aware of the others name
or identity. An old patriarch of the
met Bout, sen. He had
known him when both were boys, and
was amazed to lind him alive. Falling
back in the funeral procession he took
the son aside.
Come said he, Il will introduce
you to your father
My father" cried out the astonish-
ed man. s'Impossiblei have no faith
er. He is dead.
mo, no" replied his friend, The is
here Come with me-
In few moments the father of 20
and the son OF 30 years, each somewhat
bewildered, were in long and warm
embrace. For hours the two sat close
together under the friendly shade of
neighbours yine-clad porch, all uncon-
scious of the curious gaze of the conn
Try folks who had attended the funeral. |
The son, who has been in Philadel- |
phia but once in his life, was pressed to |
pay visit to his fathers house on Heas |
street, above Twelfth, and when the |
crops have been harvested on the Fred |
srick hills there viii be another meet |
NO PHILADELPHIA Record