The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-26
STORY or \ So GOLD PIECE.
Given 10 street Sweeper for ~ PEN
ny, II Reaches Its RightfuI Owner
After FOrty-GVe Years.
From the Washington star.


From the Washington Star.
"Forty-hve years ago" remarked a we'll
known resident Of Washington, Il was
one Of many boys who did not have az
much spending money as l could have
gotten rid of easily. About the only way
l could get spending money was to earn
IL. This did by doing odd Jobs, carrying
water, for very few houses were sup
Piled by Potomac water in those days and
in nearly every other way that came
boys way.
zone evening / was specially anxious
TO get some money, and with another boy,
who like myself. was armed with a
broom, we entered into the business of
crossing sweepers, depending on the kind
ness Of passers-by to chip in a few PEN
MES. The place we picked out was IN
front of q drug store at the corner of Sew
enth ana Louisiana avenue. There was
great deal of traffic between those two
points, and the mud was very deep in con-
sequence of heavy s}ush about the wind
up of the winter. Business was very good,
or at least the passers-by were, and in
less than two hours we had collected about
4j cents between US. The last piece of
money handed me l thought TO be PEN
ny, and, as l afterward learned, the giVer
also thought so. but when we counted up
IN the llSui AT the uIuE store II proven ~
be s. gold piece. | knew that whoever
gave it to me supposed it was a penny,
and l had scrupIes about spending It. L
did not have any reason 20 do so, for the
40 cents we earned outside of il, with our
previous capital of cents, gave us all
we needed. which was to get I'm the Old
Washington thoater, where the late John
n, Raymond was playing in a farce. Any
how, the S. was not in the divide.
My partner, now a leading dentist here,
did not insist on IL, for it was regarded
more as a find than a part of our earn
ings, so that s. gold piece remained my
property until two years ago, when | sur
rendered it to its owner, who proved the
property by describing the three letters
which he himself had cut on It. AT the
time mentioned | was in Athens, Greece,
having gone there TO witness the Olym-
plan games. one evening, while az a
hotel in Athens, / noticed on the register
the name of a boyhcod friend, although
he was ten years older than / was, and 1
sent my card 10 him. II proved to be he.
Like myself. he lived abroad the greater
| part bf his life. He is a well known Amer
lean lawyer, who has practiced his profess
sion in Rome for over twenty-five years
"Of course we got to talking over old
| times I'm Washington, and about the boys
of cur day. incidentally he mentioned the
dentist, who was my partner In the street
sweeping transaction. and something put
II into my head to tell OF getting the So
gold piece To my great surprise the
Roman lawyer said;
4 remember you both, and the partic-
| ular night you speak Of; you wore a red
comforter ana your associate had n broom
which had no handle. And | am the man
who handed you the Sc gold piece, which
had the letters "E. r. L." cut on it,
"Of course 1 handed him the coin,
which, as you may imagine, was some
what worn, for | carried IL for many years
on my watch chain.
Eve spent a very pleasant week togeth-
err and on my return there came with me
two Roman scarfpins. One of them. you
see, ] wear DR. ---, my dentist friend
and street sweeping partner, has the
| other. Now, are you willing 10 agree
with me that this is small world, after
all? To think that / had to go all the
way to one of the first cities started in
this world to find the owner of the coin!'