Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-03-07
WASHINGTON COLLEGE.

WhCIIINOIO COLLEuE.
The lost is found, the wanderer has
returned to the land of his birth, after
an absence of twenty eight years.
Matt q. Parker, son of Gipp and Han
nah E. Parker, deceased, has returned
to visit the home of his boyhood days,
and to see who of his relatives and
friends are yet remaining. When Mr..
Parker was quite an urchin his father
was killed in a railroad ,ccident,
after which Matt was 80 fortunate as
to be bound to Isaac Murray, deceased,
who was very kind to Matt, but at the
close of the war, when all the sable
sons and daughters of Ham were no
longer held as slaves, Matt concluded
that if Mr.. Murray's bondman, Uncle
Isaac, was free, that he. Matt, should
be free. So acting upon this theory he
without any preparation or farewell
greeting, started west. Soon he reach
ed the home of his uncle, Abe Early,
near Sweetwater, Tennessee. One day
while i'll the village of Sweetw ater
Matt was arrested by some renegades
from this part of the country who took
him into an clubhouse and lot him look
into the muzzles of their revolvers, at
the same time telling him that if he
revealed anything as to their identity,
what they had been doing in this coun-
try, that they would blow his brains
out. Matt says he did not have time
to take his uncle's horse home, but
without any further compliments from
his old acquaintance who had been 30
kind as to allow him to inspect their
revolvers, and as best he could size up
their caliber, Matt directed his steps to-
ward the setting sun. This was in the
year 1865, and from that day until the
14th day of February, 1894, he never
saw the face of any one that he had
ever known in his boyhood days, and
until about the 1st OF February, 1894,
he never heard from any of his former
friends or relatives. Soon after Matt
left Sweetwater the first blessing that
came to him was No. case of small
pox. AS soon as he had sufficiently
recovered from this loathsome disease
to be able to do duty, the officers in
charge of the hospital where he was
confined gave him job of nursing the
patients at salary of two dollars per
day. When discharged from this duty
he was for the first time in life the pos
SCISSOR of sufficient money to keep him
from want, at least for a short time.
Once more our hero is at liberty to
roam, and he wended his way to Lou
isville, Kentucky, where he soon found
employment on the steamboat General
Buell., on which boat he served as cab
in boy for time. But he soon had a
desire to traverse other rivers than the
Ohio. Then he sought and obtained
employment on a boat running from
New Orleans to st. Paul, and since
that time has been continually EN-
ployed on steamboats, that plow the
muddy waters of the Mississippi River,
and for the last twenty years his head
quarters have been in st. Louis.
In 1885 Matt came to the very sensi-
BILE conclusion that it was not good for
man to be alone, and he loved, wooed
and won the handsome and accomp-
lished Miss Josie R. Orleans, of French
descent, and in that year they were
Joined in marriage according to the
Catholic ritual, and today Matt only
frets over the good times he has lost by
not finding the dear and accomplished
lady earlier in life. Some weeks ago
Mr.. Parker learned that his brother
Jake and his brother in law, w. Kelly,
were living near Broylesville, and he
at once packed his grip and he and his
lady left their home and came to see
the loved ones to whom for nearly
twenty eight years be had been as one
dead. l met Mr.. Parker il Jonesboro
a few days since, and found him to be
a very fine looking and intelligent man.
He was accompanied by his wife and
Others, and were on their way to the
old Parker homestead on Cherokee,
where ne will find friends, relatives
and objects that will cause him to live
over in thought his boyhood days. He
will be able to Approximate his own age,
the exact date of which he does not
know. He has for twenty years con.
stantly handled the money of the COM
pany in whose employ he has been {;
has taken care of his wages, especially
since his marriage, and today has q
bank account sufficient to supply his
wants. He will soon return to his