The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-07-02
A Pleasant Time.


Tuesday evening last. The occasion was the
presen tation by Judge Hilton TO the post al
that place, of an elegant and costly picture
of DIR. l.. G. Woodman, after whom the post
was named. In making the presentation
the judge spoke as follows;
In presenting to the Post at Lawton, this
likeness Of doctor Woodman, do not wish
to appear to say word in any vain attempt
to do honor to him who is no more with us,
and whose name your Post bears; most as
suredly not with the presumptuous hope on
my part to magnify his name and praise as a
soldier and man. You all knew him, for
probably in no other town in our county had
be more or warmer friends than in Lawton,
and in no other spot is his loss more keenly
felt and sincerely deplored than here. You
knew him well as a man and physician, and
| see before me many who knew and loved
him as a soldier and n comrade. do not
desire 10 pronounce any eulogy on him, for
eulogy has already performed her office 10
his memory, and we all have mourned. He
was very near and dear 10 me, and not until
i seek for his smiling, genial face, and no
longer find it, and feel to realize that he has
passed from earthly scenes, do know how
little / appreciated the kindness OF mis- true
heart. the generosity of his spirit, the unaf-
lttAtu ktullCuCNn VI llulllts LID
simplicity of manners and utter freedom
from deceit and pretension. All these traits
of character belonging to him, see, admire
and miss more and more each day as ! know
that he is gone
As a soldier can speak of him but briefly,
for / was but child during the stirring
times of the war, and what little | have
learned of his experience while in the army,
has been from him in the way of anecdote,
and the lips of Others who were with him in
arms; but am sure that the doctor merited
and received your confidence, affection and
respect, for | remember on one occasion of
his telling me how he came to be taken pris-
oner, and confined in Libby prison, not with
any spirit of self ostentation, but merely the
circumstance, and am confident that such
sacrifice and loving care and affection for the
dying and suffering must have brought him
very near the hearts of those other comrades
in arms who moved on, leaving him behind.
IL Is for you not me, to recall and speak of
this. / have, in connection with this circum-
stance in the doctors army life, a vivid
recollection of the time when he was released
from prison and came TO my fathers house,
ragged and dirty, but smiling STILL as though
the whole matter was a very pleasant joke,
somehow or in someway, on somebody. How
great be seemed to my boyish eyes, and how
j treasured up to show TO my awe-struck
companions, the last ration dealt out to him
before he was released, and which he gave
me, consisting of piece of corn bread about
half as large as ones hand, ground cob and
all. His brief visit, and anxiety to return TO
his regiment-all this but the beginning of
an acquaintance with him, that, on my part,
ripened in after years to cordial admiration,
mn xuoc NV y,rty,iac,a 90 ha
with him during the dark and troubled days
of his sickness and death, to witness his I'M
complaining resignation to the death of a
dear wife, just before his own, TO be followed
by that of their eldest son Mark, and all
within the brief period of three short months.
But one, the youngest of the family, bearing
his fathers name, survives. That he may
bear in this life the likeness in charity, in
true heartedness and generous, noble man
hood, of his father, and when called away,
take with him TO the higher life as great a
share as he of grateful recollection and love
is my earnest hope and prayer.
For this remnant of the doctors family
and his many relatives and friends elsewhere,
j desire TO thank every member of this Post
for the high honor you have done the memo.
~ Of doctor Woodman in selecting his name
for that of your Post and the assurance that
you SO delicately give that his memory shall
be ever green with his soldier comrades, and
that while we live we will all stand by his
honored grave 10 say:
BE thy dear memory still guardian might
When thou art gone from sight.
Judge Lawton, to whom had been dele
gated the pleasing duty of receiving the pic
ture for the post replied as follows:
Judge Hilton-I have been kindly request
ed by my comrades of the grand army of the
republic, here assembled, 10 accept in their
behalf. from your hands, this portrait of
him, whose name designates this post and is
inscribed on its banner.
And, also, l am charged by them. TO ex.
press 10 You their high appreciation of this
very marked evidence OF your regard for
them personally.
The portrait is strikingly accurate and
beautiful. II is accurate, since the artist
ussa the rays of the sun 70 liEln Il with. 1t
is beautiful, since the light that shone i'll
those features in life has been caught with
supreme art, and put "on duty" 10 make
the canvas speak 20 us of him, whose SEM
blance it preserves.
/ assure you sir, we shall ever hold il in
high honor in the hall Of the Post, and when
we. his comrades in life, also, shall have
passed away, our sons-sons of veterans
will keep il as a treasure from fathers
hand.
Not only will this portrait continually re-
mind rs of your thoughtfulness .and kind
ness. bnt il will remain the valued symbol OF
his mythical. "a il is the nearest attsinable,
of his real. personal presence in our midst.
Indeed. post commander and comrades,
DR.. Lucius c. woodman will hereafter join
Us at our camp fires. He will come TO Us
from among the warriors who lead the ad-
vance-to camp we trust, not by watch
fires in front of vigilant and cruel foe
bat 10 quarters haven indeed. that will
never be invaded by angry hosts. Yes, though
there, he will appear to us-thanks to the
canning of the artist whose work this is
and we will talk Of his early and long devo-
ton TO his country and 10 afflicted man.
We shall recall that he came TO rs frail
and slender youth from the Green mountains
fresh from his college studies-poor in
"hssket and store" but very rich in charac-
ter and all manly qualities, and full of zeal
TO serve the sick and suffering; and we
shall remember how easily he won all our
hearts and bound rs 10 the chariot of his
love.
/, was the good fortune of both that he
directly engaged rs student and assistant,
with our venerable comrsde. Josiah Andrews,
L. Il