THE LATE GOVERNOR JOHNSON.
[Portrait: John H. Johnson.]
To the Editor,--As I sit writing, my eyes rest on the picture of the
subject of these few remarks. This picture was sent to me with an
autograph letter by Governor John Johnson, of Minnesota, four years
ago, under these circumstances. In a magazine I was reading, as I lay
in bed with typhoid fever, I came across an article written by a
life-long friend of this good and great man. Of his early boyhood to
the time when he was elected Governor of Minnesota, what an example
he was to the youth of that day as well as this. The short sketch ran
thus: John Johnson was the eldest, I think, of four children. His
father was a blacksmith and a good mechanic. Both father and mother
were Swedes. Although a good mechanic, he developed into a lazy, bad
man, who neglected his wife and children, and eventually landed in
the poorhouse. Being left to themselves, the mother took in washing,
and after school, John, the eldest, took home the clothes and took
out parcels for a tradesman. John was thus able to help to keep the
family. He was ambitious, wanted to learn, attended night school for
that purpose, engaged with a chemist, gave it up, went into a
lawyer's office, then into politics, and after filling several
important positions got elected Governor of his native state. What I
admired in John Johnson was his devotion to his mother, brother and
sisters; also his self-denial. What would you think of an alpaca
coat to resist the rigors of a Minnesota winter? Well, John, by
working at night in various ways saved up enough to buy an overcoat,
he having none, and having to be out late at night delivering the
clothes his mother had washed during the day. Through unforeseen
demands on his mother's earnings the poor boy was forced to give up
the overcoat and hand over the hard-earned money for something he
thought was wanted more, and went through the winter with nothing
warmer than an alpaca jacket. I cannot but believe that these
hardships laid the foundation for a delicate constitution, and every
time I looked at his picture hanging in my dining-room I thought,
"How delicate he looks; will he live to be an old man?" I was so
taken with the story of his early life, his trials bravely endured,
and his final triumph, that I wrote to him and congratulated him
on his election. This election was a great victory for him, as his
opponents used the fact against him that his father had been an
inmate of the poorhouse and had died there a pauper, to defeat him.
These disgraceful tactics were repudiated by many of his opponents,
who showed they did so by voting against their own candidate and for
John Johnson. This gain of votes from his opponents elected him by a
good majority. Well, I told him in my letter that I was a British
subject living in Victoria, Canada, and as such I congratulated him
on his victory, that I was glad his old mother was alive to see his
triumph, and that she should be proud, and no doubt was proud, of
such a son.
In due course he replied, and also sent me his photo, which, as I
said before, I had framed and hung up in my dining-room as an
object-lesson for all of how a good and noble son made a good and
noble man. There is room for many more such in this world.
To show the respect and love of the people for this good and great
man, I have added the account of his burial. The late Governor
Johnson paid a visit to Victoria about a year before his death, and I
am sorry I was not aware of the fact until it was too late, as I
should have esteemed it an honor to have shaken hands with him:
"St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 23.--While the body of Governor John A.
Johnson, of Minnesota, was being lowered into its grave this
afternoon all industrial activity in the state was stopped for five
minutes as a tribute to the memory of the dead Governor.
"The body, which had been lying in state in the rotunda of the
capitol since yesterday, where it was guarded by officers and
privates of the state militia, was taken to the railroad station at
9.15 this morning, escorted by ten companies of militia, preceded by
a band of one hundred pieces.
"At the station the body was placed aboard a special train which left
for St. Peter, Minn., where interment took place this afternoon at
three o'clock. The funeral services were held in the St. Peter
Presbyterian Church, where Johnson sang in the choir when a boy.
While the services were in progress at St. Peter's, memorial services
were held in all the churches in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The public
schools are closed to-day, and the whole state is in mourning."