The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1881-10-06

tues" Reads made themselves manifest
in the line of stYictest rectitude. There
lives not man who can say he suffered
intentional wrong ct his hands. He
cherished no enmities, he gave occasion
for none. His temperament was as
genial as the sun of early spring. His
popularity was tribute to his righteous
ness, his candor and his manliness, for
he did not court ii through the willy arts
of the demagogue. eff he was candi-
date for presidential elector he would re-
ceive almost every vote in Kewaunee
county" was the terse manner in which a
neighbor conveyed an idea of his popu-
larity. Though he enjoyed almost COM
plete immunity from structure and the
enmity almost invariably directed against
one who pursues the course his convic-
tons point out, it was not because he
deprecated hostile attitudes against what
he thought wrong. His frankness left
no doubt as to his position, his sincerity
deprived opposition of bitterness.
A man of positive convictions, he was
never arrogant in their assertion although
firm in maintaining them. Keen and iu-
cisive in his writings rather than impetu-
Gus, he appealed to judgment, rather
than to passion and sought to convince
by perspicuity of statement, not to dazzle
by the splendor of logic. The purity of
his style was corolla-y of the man.
His earnestness was typified in the char
acter of his writing. The limpid purity
of his nature made his style inimitably
graceful and the practical form of his ed
ucation made all pedantry foreign to him.
He had that undefnable quality known
as ''good taste" something inherent rath-
er than acquired, and the product of his
pen had that cultured simplicity, terse-
ness and directness which give evidence
of clear vigorous mind. 1t had that
charm of smoothness and ease as if it
was the natural issue of we'll stored
mind. There was no rhodomontade and
he never 'sthundered in the index" and
grew tame in the recital. His writings
were photograph of the man, pure I'M
pretending, direct and elegant l have
dwelt at some length on Mr.. Reads at
tainments as writer for the reason that
he never enjoyed the distinction among
the editors of this state to which his
merits entitled him. He was too modest
to be fully conscious of his own power in
this direction. He was possessed of
possibilities never fully developed
because his sphere CT action was too
circumscribed, in the direction of liter
airy effort, to bring out to the fullest extent
his latent powers. For years the shadow
of death hung round his pathway and its
menacing, icy finger robbed intellectual
labor of its delight and made fame q
mockery to him who suffered.
He died at an age, in which, for most
men, the sun of life has not reached its
meridian, at time when the mind and
body are in their greatest vigor and the
industry of youth blesses the growing
maturity Of years. But in that narrow
cell in the Silent City, over which the
autumn leaves now rustic, lies man
who lived to some purpose, whose men,
DRY is legacy to those who knew him.
The flowers that decked his early grave,
are not sweeter in their fragrance, the
Cow urops JnaJ nIgnJIy d1sJlI IKE drops
of sorrow, beneath the poplars that
shadow his last resting place, are not
purer though passed through Natures
alembic, than the thoughts of him who
laid down the burden of life and sank to
quiet rest.