The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1881-10-06
HON. JOHN NJ. READ.
READ BEFORE THE EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION
- AT MILWAUKEE.


pleasant flowers and again darkened by
somber shadows. The mother who
bends with loving soicitude over the
cradle of her child has fountain of JOY
in her maternal affection. But the love-
light in her eyes is often quenched in
tears and her affection brings forth a
fruitage of SORROW. Grief is parasitic
plant which feeds on love, and the smile
of to day is often but prelude to the
tears of the morrow. At every meeting
of this body, the pleasure of forming
new acquaintance and renewing old, has
in it leaven of sorrow caused by the
absence of those we shall NEE, never
again at those gatherings. In the death
of John NJ. Read, the editorial fraternity
of the state has lost brother who did
honor to the profession and credit to
mankind. Ifeel that have lost friend;
all who knew him feel that the state has
lost man who deserved the name in the
noblest sense in which it was ever utter
ed by human lips.
Three years ago John Read read an
obituary notice before this association on
a friend-an editor who had passed to
the great Unknown, and he spoke touch
ingly OF this melancholy duty which
Death made incumbent upon some mem
Der of the association, "when the sum-
mer solstice is reached and brief truce
is sounded in the battle of life." Now
when the kiss of the summer sun has lost
its fervor and the noontide shadows re-
mind us that the evening of the year is
at hand, to my poor pen has been assign
ed the task of giving sketch of him.
Though feel inadequate to the perfor-
nance of the task, it is duty would
not willingly resign to other hands. My
acquaintance with him made me respect
him; intimacy made me honor him;
knew him and therefore loved him. j
feel that cannot do justice to this unob-
trusiye man on whom Nature Set the
stamp of nobility, but whose life ran in
such quiet channels that his worth was
known to but few, but it is not through
lack of appreciation of his virtues. A
friendly pen naturally transcribes what
is purest and best. A hostile pen could
not set down aught to stain the memory
or cast reproach on the manhood o. John
NJ. Read. The grave, that barrier which
divides the quick from the dead, often
cuts off recollections of the virtues OF its
lonely tenant, and they sleep with him
in forgetfulness. But superior qualities
defy death and cling to memory while II
remains faculty. You canrot speak OF
Read to one who knew him intimately
and we'll in whose voice there will not be
a suggestion of tears and who will not
instantly recall some excellent trait OF
character, clear despite the passage OF
time, strong despite the interposition OF
the grave. Thus it is that as write OF
him, months after he has passad away,
memory is true to her Office and my sub
ject is before me, not theme for discus
sion. hut man instinct with lifa nnd
crowned with these virtues which won
admiration while he lived and made grief
more poignant when he died.
The subject of this sketch was born in
Louisville, November 3, 1912. His par
ents took up their residence in st. Louis
short while after, remaining there until
1S47, when they came to Wisconsin, re-
siding for a brief while at Milwaukee
and then settling permanently at Mani
towoc. In those early days of the county
school advantages accorded in primitive
simplicity with the general features of
new settlement. At the age of seven.
young Read suffered deprivation IN the
death of his father and thus even the
limited facilities offered by the district
school of these days could not be enjoy
ed to the fullest extent by him, as the
care of mother and sisters soon after de-
volved upon him, the only son, and
brother. At an age when boyish i'm
pulse has in it but little that is practical
and when care sits so lightly on spirits
that responsibility is scarcely felt, he as
sumed his fathers place as head of the
family. The gravity of his duties al
such, gave him stability of character and
compensated in part for the lack of {
fathers watcbfulness. With buoyant
hope and elastic spirits he worked fol
those he loved with constancy of pur-
pose far beyond the immaturity of hi:
years. His filial affection never knew al
ebb even when paternity made fresh de-
mands on his love.
At quite young age he entered (
printing Office and worked at case il
the offices of The Pilot, Tribune ant
Herald. He was not an ordinary printer
boy and did not sink to the level of {
clOu D6CdllS6 vi IAC udtuiC vi LILO duliOS
He did not, like many young boys, who
learn the cart preservative, become {
mere type setting machine. His MIND
WIS active and kept pace in the acquisi-
ton of knowledge with his increase il
proficiency in his trade. The purely in
tellectual part of his mind expanded
symmetrica,ly with the PRACTICAL
While an apprentice boy he relieved the
monotony of his manual labor by the
use of his pen, and enlivened the dull
ness of the Office by the frequent exercis,
Of his wit. While he was acquiring tina
knowledge of details 80 essential to tht
publisher of local newspaper, ne devel
oped his talents as writer. The wit O
an acute mind and the effervescent spirits
of youth made him racy writer and ht
acquired no little celebrity among hi
boyish associates which soon extended
to those of ripper judgment and mature