The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-24
ANGUISH CHANGED TO JOY.
Parent and Child Ten Years Searching
for Each Other.
From TIE WashinQfon Post.

AOt Gc1Ch OLhCI.
From the WASHINGTON Post.
"At last, thank God Ny SON." This
dramatic utterance was that of a woman on
Seventh street, near d. as she excitedly
clasped young man in her arms and began
to hug and kiss him as only a mother can.
The people on that crowded tboroughfare
stopped and looked and wondered, and some
of them, touched by what they knew was a
strange meeting, passed on with tears in
their eyes-tears that indicated a sympathy
for the happiness which filed the womans
soul They did not know the story, but
their sympathetic natures told them that a
woman'S heart, long filled with sorrow. had
suddenly lost its burden and was filed with
new life, new joy, a new hope.
The story Of this meeting reads like a
romance. Truth always rivals fiction, but
it rarely falls to the lot of the public to wit
ness in real life, in the crowded street, what
Is so frequently pictured behind the glitter
| ing footllghts of the stage.
John +: Barr. painter doing business at
lOO4 Ninth street, lives on a small farm in
Virginia. Four months ago George Wash
| lngton Higgs came to his house and asked
for work as farm laborer. He Yves Just
turning his Goth year and appeared like an
honest, willing fellow, and Mr.. Barr took
him in. Young Higgs did not deceive his
appearance, and proved a good workman.
BE bad not been there long when his en-
plover learned his history.
Riggs said that when he was 9 years old
he lived with his mother and a stepfather
| in Washington. His stepfather treated him
cruelty, and made his life as miserable as
possible. In order to get rid of the care of
him, this stepfather bound the boy out to
| farmer canned James Crow. Young HigRs
remained with Crow as long as it was posi-
| bic, and when he could no longer stand his
treatment, which the boy said was equally
AS cruel as that OF his stepfather, he deter
mined to run away and earn his own living
as best he could.
Having made up his mind to take the
step. he at once carried it into execution.
Fearing he would be pursued and taken
| back, he went as far from his masters
house as possible, begging food on the way
and covering the ground on foot. Finally
he secured work. but being anxious TO get
| still further away he left this place and be-
gan another tramp. So it happened that
during the past ten years he has been work
ing as farm laborer through Virginia and
Maryland. During all this time he has
never heard from his mother, but he has
been living in the hope that he would grow
to manhood and be able to find his mother
and help her if she needed his assistance.
When he was driven from home, as has
been stated, bis mother lived in this city
1
near here. Thus it was that he applied to
Mr.. Barr, and neither employer nor en-
ployed have had cause to regret the day they
met. Mr.. Barr speaks IN the highest terms
Of the boy, who, he says, often spoke of his
mother, and expressed the hope that he
would some time find her.
The other morning Mr. Barr brought
the doy to town 30 purchased him suit of
clothes. The purchase had been made, and
| the boy was delighted with his outfit. They
were driving down Seventh street, and
Higgs was again talking about his mother.
Just as they reached D and were about
| to turn the corner, young Higgs saw a
woman walking along the pavement. She
was about so years old, neatly dressed her
| face somewhat careworn, but kindly in its
| expression. To the ordinary passer-by she
would have attracted not more than a
glance; to the boy she became instantly the
| object of most intense interest. AS he
looked his eyes filed with the joyful light
of a new-found hope. and, grasping the
hand that held the lines, young Riggs cried
out to Mr.. Barr:
There goes my mother"
go and see." said that gentleman, and
| the boy cleared the wagon at bound.
| Hastily overtaking the woman be gently
touched her arm. She stopped, looked at
the boy moment and then knew that her
son stood before her, Then followed the
scene with which this romantic story
| opened.
Mrs. Higgs was invited into the wagon
and driven with her son to the residence of
| Mr.. Barr. There she told how all these
years she had prayed to God every night
that her son might be restored to her, and
| how she had written over and over again in
the hope that her son might receive one of
her letters and know she was longing for
his return. For some time past Mrs. Higgs
said she bad been living en- Fourteenth street,
southeast, near the Pennsylvania avenue
bridge. The cruel stepfather of Higgs
died several years ago, and Mrs. Higgs in
formed her son that she contemplated TAX
ing on q new name within the next few
days. The happy reunion will be celebrated
at Mrs. Higgs' home tomorrow with a big
| dinner