Milford chronicle., 1891-07-24
ROMANCE OF PRoDIaAL SONS.
Strange Fortunes that Befell Two Way
,rard rsnvs in Their Wanderings.

Strange Fortunes that beAe1l Two wy
ward Boys in Their wanderings.
MAJOR Steele, of Albany, Ga, recalls an
interesting incident Of adventure. lie Uells
the story in his own words: Near my
fathers home, in Allegheny county, VII
linia. lived a family by the name OF key,
nolds. composed of a man and vile ana
several sons.
'sTbev were iliterate people, and were
REGARDED by their neighbors as pretCy
rough crowd. No master ever treated ms
slaves with greater severity than did OLD
man Reynolds treat his sons' and under
.ucb treatment they had but little respect
for their parents and no love for Vnelr
home. e
..YVhen was nineteen years old two OF
these bows went to school to me- and one
of them could never understand the prln-
chile of subtraction, though at his father $
lumber yard he could count lumber IN ms
head faster and more accurately than
could with pencil
"Old man Reynolds also owned a grlsl
mill. and one morning about chestnut uLlS
those scholars of mine We're sent to the NH
to get meal for breakfast.
After getting the meal they started on
their return home, but wandered out INTO
the woods and in gathering chestnu6s, losO
/ siaht of the flight of time, and forgot thelr
4 errand until the breakfast hour had long
since PASSED, and knowing that they would
get an unmerciful hogging for their trll-
! ancv. they decided right then and there TO
! leave home. Their failure to return UhaG
day aroused the fears of their parents ana
] the country was secured for them ioE Gays
| afterward without success and then they
were given up as lost.
,oTvventv years or more after that a
stranger rode up to my fathers gate anu
asked for lodging for the night. 1t was
cheerfuly granted him, and that night as
| tbev were sitting around the fire, for 1t
vas AGAIN chestnut time, the stranger be-
oan to make inquiries concerning the hey
nolds family. The sheriff Of the county
wss also spending the night at my father s.
and remembering the lost boys Of old man
REYNOLDS. during the progress of the stran
oer,s INQUIRIES he turned in his chair anc
asked him:
Amt you one OF them sons OF olu MAI
REYNOLDS that ran awayr
eyes. I am one Of them,' replied the
stranger, and then he went on to tell how
he and his brother made up their minds t.
leave home, never stopping until they hat
reached the Ohio river; bow they hat
drifted into Mississippi, grown up and be
come lost to each other, and how, afte
: MANY years, an irresistible longing ha'
: come over him to revisit the scenes Of hi
, childhood, and how he had made the lonl
Journey on horseback to satisfy that long
: ing ~.
q ''Finding that his parents were still awe
e and that the old mill was still running an
S grinding meal for the community as @
r vore. when he left for his old home tn
next morning, he went by the mill, secure
i a small sack Of meal and carried it to hi
: fathers house, where he received such
welcome as he never before received.
: "He spent several weeks with his parent
b and then left for bis home in Mississippi
y and that was the last ever heard Of him
d his brother truant, who was thought
s have zone to California and become swa
It lowed up and lost in the rush to the gol
a fields.n
y There was a far away look in the major
1t ewes as be concluded, and the report'
imagined that probably his old Virgin
home was again being looked at throug
the strong lens Of love and memory, and
"a he skipped out and left him lingering ami
a tie reeollections Of chestnut time.-Albar
" News and Courier.