Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-12-24
WAS A LARGE FUNERAL
NELS JOHNSON WAS BURIED SUNDAY
Funeral was in Charge Of B. P. o. ga
Glowing EuIogy by Judge w. ].
Conway.

SdGuTudy morning accompanied by
MeSSrS. Arsin Arpin, and George Nj.
Hill over the G. NJ. and ST. Paul r.
E. Mr.. Arpin was visiting his sister
Mis-. E. B. DeNevers at WoonSocket,
Rhode Island. at which place he
received a message to proceed at once
to Wilmington. Delaware. there to
take charge of NelS JOhnSOn'S remains,
who had died there on Tuesday night
and accompany his remains home.
He left there on Wednesday evening
and reached Wilmington, Delaware,
Thursday morning at eleven o'clock.
On his arrival there he learned that
MIR. johnson arrived there Tuesday
afternoon, and that evening he COM
planned of not telling WELL He took
hot sling and retired for the night.
bout midnight he called the porter
to whom he told that he was sick and
wanted him to summon the best
physician in the city, as he was very i'll
The physician came and found Mr.
termed 'uraemia," or acute Bright's
disease from which he died in less
than an hour after the doctors
arrival.
FUNERAL IN CHARGE OF THE ELKS.
Mr.. Arpin left Wilmington, Del
with the body Thursday afternoon at
three o'clock, and reached here as
above stated Saturday morning. The
| remains were met at the station by a
large number of members of the local
order of Elks, who conveyed the
remains to his beautiful home where
| they lay in state until Sunday after
noon at two O'Clock when the funeral
was held. The preliminary service
was in charge of Father Van RoSsmal-
len, after which the officers Of the
B. P. O. f. rendered the ritual
memorial service and Judge w. J..
Conway delivered a eulOgy upon the
| life and character of the deceased,
which we hereto append in full:
EULOGY BY JUDGE CONWAY.
in the city on Saturday morning over
accompanied by Arsine Arpin, who
had come through from Wilmington,
and Geo. w. Mead, who had met them
in Chicago. A large delegation of
citizens aud members Of the E1ks
lodge were waiting at the depot and
escorted the remains to the home of
|
The funeral occurred at O'Clock on
Sunday afternoon. There was a SER
vice at the home by Father Van Roos-
rna1en. after which the E1ks took
| charge of the services and performed
their regular funeral ritual. In this
service there was an eu1ogy written
and delivered by w. J. Conway, which
was as follows:
| HI Of
of the citizens of our city, the sad
sense of bereavement and sorrow
which sits upon the visages of those
here present, the funeral decorations
of this home, the empty chair so elo-
quent, all presage the melancholy
character of the duty which am de-
puted by my brethren of the order, in
accordance with the solemn usages
thereof, to perform.
When the heart is heavy and the
mind is nellowed with sorrow, when
feelings of sadness well up within us,
and we stand face to face with that
great mystery, Death, there is nothing
so impressive, so eloquent, so soul sat
1sfylng as silence. And yet today /
fain would speak. Not alone as a
member of the order in whose name
these services are being held, but in
the personal sense of one who loved as
a friend. 1t has we'll been said that
'the love which survives the tomb is
one of the noblest attribut of the
soul" In the spirit of this sentiment
we have gathered here today to pay
our tribute of love and respect to the
memory of Nels Johnson.
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark,
tifty-tive years ago, he at the age of
eighteen migrated to America, and
| decided to cast his fortunes in his
young manhood in the then almost
unbroken forests of Wisconsin. He
has himself related that when he
arrived in New York in 1865 he had of
ready funds but twenty-five cents; but
he had great, warm heart full of
human sympathy, and a mind fully
cognizant of the sterling worth of hon
est toll, and he had rerfect health. He
| had an integrity and character no man
ever questioned. But this young pion-
eer who had come from the far off
Island of Zealand to the shores of the
Wisconsin to seek his fortune, with his
exuberance of health and his pure am
billions, had already a wealth which
only those can appreciate who have
begun to look back regretfully upon
the hopes and the enthusiasm of dis
tant youth.
The young man, therefore, per-
formed his part in contending with
the adverse circumstances which inev-
itably surround pioneer life on the
frontier of civilization. Thus brought
into serious contact with the stern
realities of life, he established the
substructure on which he could we'll
rest his grand career of future useful
ness and success.
No school is more conducive to char
acter building than that of constant
contact with the forces of nature as
exercised by the sturdy and progressive
pioneer. H.
Ways, means and methods become
| daily problems for consideration with
| them and the eXertions necessarily
put forth to meet every emergency
| call into requisition the best elements
both physical and mental of human
nature.
Mr.. Johnson profted by experiences
of this character and he emerged from
| that crucial test physically and NEIL
| tally strong, practical, self reliant and
progressive student of human nature
and the problems of life. His whole ca
reer was honorab and successful. He
took home to himself early the lesson
that there is no royal road to success
and he adopted and practiced, through
out all his life, those habits of patient
industry and perseverance by which
alone success can be achieved.
He was the architect of his own for
tune. He was essentially business
! n