The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-28
Memorier of,
 Men ana Women
JOHNSON J. HOOPER
BY HENRY D. CATERS.


 Among the most pleasant of my mem. ories are those which were fixed in my | mind by associations, of a somewhat inti mate character, with the gentlemen who | l met as officials of the government oi | the Confederate States. Some of them mad known previous to our meeting al Montgomery when the Confectionery was ] taking on the form of a government dur ing the month of February, 1881. Among these was Johnson J. Hooper. or as he Hooper,"
 As an accomplished humorist, a man of decided genius. witty, as wit Is recognized in our best English and American cote ries Hooper would have been welcomed at the October or Kit Cat" Clubs in the days of Samuel Johnson or Goldsmith. As an accurate writer of the English language, and scholarly attainments in classIcal literature, he was not so well krown as he was among authors for be- ing the admirable delineator of the char acter of provincial rusticism.
 simon Suggs," and his adventures, was. when I first met MT. Hooper, a standard work of humor, read everywhere North. South, East and West, and even beyond the Atlantic. l had enjoyed fol- lowing the original Simon, and had ad- mired the genius of hls biographer. giv- ing me an idea of the author before I met him first at Tuskegee in 1858.
 It was not. however, until our assocta- ton began and soon ripened into a friend
 
 federate government, that I found the pure gold of Hooper's character and from admiration soon learned to love him.
 He was at this time Secretary of the Provisional Congress of the Confectionery while held the position of Chief Clerk of the Treasury Department From his assistant secretaries or clerks his most intimate associate and genial companion Alexander B. Clitherall had been taken to fill the office of Register of the Treas ury. This brought Hooper often to the executive building of the Confectionery and 1t was there and in the office of Judge Cltherall that 1 frequently met him, and that when our labors were relaxed, and the bonhomie of our circle was aglow, that our friendship began. only to termi- nate with his death in Richmond in 1862. There was a loveableness in the open. undisguised and genial spirit of Hooper that soon won my affection. While abounding in wit, in ready repartee and with a host of anecdotes at his ready command, Our Jonce'' Gas we loved to call him) was by no means hail fellow well met" with every Tom, Dick and Harry" He was in no sense vugarian. and with a sarcasm, peculiarly his own, would repel any attempt at familiarity from the blackguard or the stranger. In public he was disposed to be exclusive and reticent It was only with his inti mates who knew him well and loved him. that he would unbend and give to us the flow of his great soul While he will al-
 
 elsewhere. as the author of simon Suggs," I have a distinct recollection Of other stories which he would read to us, that were charming, not done in humor, but in expressions of pathos that were exquisitely beautiful One, 1 recall, com menced in Montgomery and finished after the removal of the Executive Depart ments of the Confederacy to Richmond "A Shfty Man in a Strange Place."
 Often have I desired to know if this manuscript was ever published. In the constantly accommodating details of his of flee, he may have failed to find a pub fisher if indeed, such an one could have been found in the beeagured city. Hooper was not a very strong man physically. On the contrary he was frail and because of this detlcieincy in bodily strength he succumbed to a severe attack of pneu- mcnia. the dread scourge of the terrible winter climate of Richmond.
 With his dear and devoted friend Judge Clitherall I watched at the bedside of our suffering friend. and was with him when his life went out calmly and with the serenity of a sunset in May. We buried him in Hollywood Cemetery at Richmond, near an attractive spot he often visited with us and from which he could over look the inspiring scenery of the James River
 There We placed our friend to rest where the murmuring waters of the his- toric river will be his perpetual requiem.