Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1912-05-10


stopping for a time like any bird Of
passage wherever chance placed him.
He peddled goods for livelihood,
worked on farms, cut timber In the
forests-did anything that came his
way that offered bread for his hungry
mouth. He never wrote to find out
what had become Of his wife and
child.
After brief time he found himself
the proprietor Of a crossroads store
near Mound City, Kan. Here. he says.
he cherished the hope of some day
achieving competency and of return
ing to Georgia with means to search
for his people. But at night a cyclone
swept over the land while he covered
in a cellar and In the morning he
found his store distributed over a num-
Der Of counties and himself again
homeless and penniless. Nothing re-
NAMED Of his possessions but an old
tub, which alone had withstood the
storm and remainded to mock him in
his loss. He again became a wander
er, setting his back steadily upon wife
and home and child.
He moved into Kentucky and again
began to build up his shattered for.
tunes. He became the proprietor Of a
general store and again began to
dream dreams Of a competence. But
disastrous fire visited him, and he
watched all his earthly goods 90 up In
smoke. After the fire he peddled
fruit trees in the mountains. and
watched the distillation of the yellow
corn that had waved its golden ban.
nerets over Kentucky's sun-kissed
hills. He walked with the feudists in
the Kentucky hills for a number Of
years. Drawing food and storm in the
pursuit of his several peddling occu.
pations.
Worked His Way Home.
Recently he decided to carry out his
long cherished intention of returning
to Georgia. Old age was now coming
upon him fast, and with the coming
of age his mind turned upon the past.
He worked his way across the inter
vening states and came at last again
to Pembroke. But all the friends Of
his youth had disappeared. Many Of
the old families were broken up. The
little slabs in the churchyard told him
where most of the people he knew
had gone. The graves Of his father
and mother he found there. No trace
of his wife and child could he find. A
chance acquaintance told him that his
sister had married and was living IN
Savannah.
He found his sister, Mrs. Jessie
Davis, after some search. and con-
WINGED her, with some trouble, of his
identity. From her he learned that
his wife, after giving him up for dead,
had married again, and with their
daughter, who was also now married,
lived in Blitchton. He offered no rea-
son for having abandoned his family
SO long. and his sister did not press
him upon the point.
May Woo His Wife Again.
Thompson went on to Blitchton to
see the wife Of his early manhood and
his middle aged daughter, whom he
remembered as little child. He spent
day at the home of L. A. Schpman,
the husband Of his daughter, whom he
saw mothering sturdy men and wom-
en- whom she had brought into the
world in The years that had trans
formed hav father from a veteran Of
twenty-o one to a bent and broken wan
derer of sixty-eight. With the as
sistance Of a picture taken before he
went away, and by recalling intimate
instances Of her baby days. he sue
ceeded in convincing his daughter
that he was her father.
Means to Stay In Savannah.
Thompson has announced that he
will spend the rest of his days in
Savannah. Precisely what are his in
tentions regarding his wife are not
known. He has given no indication
of what procedure he will adopt in
this respect. It is generally believed
that he will not make any endeavor
| to interfere with present arrange
ments. Jones will certainly fight for
his wife. although he has exhibited
every indication Of being friendly to
Thompson unless the latter puts up
fight. Mrs. Thompson Jones will I'M
doubleday prefer to remain with the
latter. She mourned Thompson for
dead many years ago. and she cannot
recognize the father of her daughter
in the aged visitor.
But her position 10 delicate as well
az humiliating. She has two livln1
husbands, which is little beyond tn
pale Of the law. However innocent