The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-09-05
TRUE NOBILITY.

TRUE NOBILITY.
We can write no leader half SO int
resting, or so eloquent, as the followir
plain statement of facts, which furnis
higher testimonial to the ancestr
worth of our President, than the sig
manual of the Norman invader attache
to patent of nobility. No "pride {
heraldry or pomp of power'' il neces
sary in one who can boast of so glori
GUS record as is contained in the follow
ing obituary notice of President John
sons father, which has been exhumet
from the files of the Raleigh Star of Jan
uary 10th, 1872. Aa
died in this city, on Saturday last
Jacob johnson, who had, for many
years, occupied an humble, but usefu
station in society. He was city constable
sexton, and porter to the State Bank. =
In his last illness he was visited by tn,
principal inhabitants of the city, by al
OF whom he was esteemed for his hon
esty, sobriety, industry and humane and
friendly disposition. Among all to
whom he was known and esteemed,
none lament him more Except, perhaps,
paper, for he owes his life, on particu-
lar occasion, to the boldness and hui
manity of Johnson"
The North Carolina Standard thus
explains the concluding lines in the
above obituary notice:
Thomas Henderson was upset i'm a
canoe, and was so near being drowned
that life was nearly extinct when he
was recovered. Jacob Johnson was on
the bank, safe and secure. But he saw
his friend drowning before his face
Thoug htless OF self, he plunged in at the
hazard of his own life. He did finally
succeed in saving his friend, but both
were nearly exhausted when they reach
ed the shore. The statement in regard
to Jacob Johnson being esteemed for
his honesty, sobriety, industry, and hu-
name, friendly disposition is concurred
in by the old inhabitants now living in
this city. The grateful and generous
tribute to his worth and goodness of
heart is more to be valued and esteemed
than 'storied urn or animated bust AS
such President johnson may SO regard
it, and no doubt he does. That peculiar
trait, so marked in the fathcr-Of devo-
ton and attachment to proved friend
the son seems to have inherited in an
eminent degree. Those who have known
him we'll and known him long, concur
in the statement that where his friend
ship and confidence are once secure, he
allows no extraneous influences, no par
ty violence, no whisperings Of enmity,
no reverses OF fortune, to ALLEVIATE his
feelings"
What follows on the same subject from
the Standard will no doubt be welcome
to the Chief Magistrate, for sweet are
the dews of memory when they fall
upon pure heart and conscience at
peace: H1 u
We can well imagine what may be
President JohnsOn's feelings on reading |
this tribute to his fathers worth-pre-
served in the musty files of journal of
by-gone times. There it has remained
in quiet forgetfulness for fifty-three
years, till brought to light by the great
ness and elevation of the then orphan
boy. Little did the orphan suppose that
the fatherless child, with whom he no
doubt deeply sympathized, would, in
process OF time, acquire a name and a
reputation commensurate with the linz
its of the Christian world. The follow
ing extract, from Mr.. Johnson's speech
in the House OF Representatives, on his
great favorite measure, the homestead
bill, delivered April %, 1869, will show
the touching affection he still cherishes
for the land of HE birth, in which re-
poses the ashes of his father: .hFlqal
"soms Object this measure as calculated to take
away the population from the old States Let me ask the
Old Domionion; let me ask North Carolna-GoD BLESS
HER for although she is not the Romans would call
1t, my anna ndi.r yshe is mother Although pov-
erty-gaunt and haggard moser-expatrstedm me from
her limits to seek home In my adopted State yyhere
every FIBRE every tendr Of my heart Is entwined with
the interests OF her peopleyt still North CroIina is ma
natoe State and in my heart Irespect and lore Ier
Strange to say, the very paper con.
tanning the above obituary is in mourn.
ing for the terrible disaster of the bmrn.
ing of the Richmond Theatre in 1910
and the proceedings of meeting Of con,
dolence on the part of the citizens nf
Raleigh, presided over by Col. Will;am
Polk. In the same paper is an obituarv
notice of the death Of the mother or
VIM. Castor. Such is life One gene.
ration passeth away and another sue
ceeds, Fifty-three years from to-day all |
who are now the busy actors on the thea |
tire of life will have passed to that bourne
from which there is no return, and an.
other generation will have taken their
places-and another, and another, in one
continual cycle"