Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1908-06-07
THE SECOND
 ABE LINCOLN

GtlsT- snd struggles as l know them, TsaeG his friendship as have felt it. sara his intense love and kindness for d.a fellowmen as l have seen it and @ power on earth can deter them insa placing him at the head of our a4s3earal government" These are words s1f D. friend and former employe of Gstaegnor John \. Johnson of Mime 4ay5.s
 Nbether John A. Johnson shall ever G@e president of the United States or aa0Gs 3le has made a success of life and 2aas proved that the republic still spells Opportunity. Possibly not since g1irQeo1p's time has a man risen to saGgst through greater suffering, harder G,1il and more tragic sadness than he wba2m his friends delight to call the '7Esssreaf Governor of Minnesota
 Tohn A. Johnson was born al St. ISeter, Minn, then a little village, in Ght, beautiful valley of the Minnesota, .amiy 2Sth, 1861. His parents were Ng1f h immigrants from Sweden, who sad come 10 St. Peter in the '50s. The s&4her Gustav, was a man of good edu' gzition and had inherited some prop e.rfy, which proved to be his undoing Yer he soon became a victim of his .SGvlalitv and sauandcred his inheri- aaHce Feeling that the only hope for tyyt future was to get away from his old associates and comrades, he per ssns aded the Evens0n family, who had migrated from the native village in Sweden to Minnesota, to help him to come to the new lanl. At first his re- %Ormation appeared to be complete and l1e took up the trade of blacksmith 5ug, which he had learned in his youth, Mnu in 1S5S took to wife an orphan Swedish girl living in St. Peter. For she first few years all went well and Hhe family prospered, but little later GSustaF succumbed to the habits form
 
 1iYne on for years the family history l6 pitifal beyond description. The ssiaCOnl son. John. was born in the will Rage of St Peter in 1861 and his first consciousness of life was associated with surroundings of misery, unhap- TlneSS. material want and family trOu Tbles At this time his mother was supporting the family by taking in washing and as soon as John was physically able he acted as her deliv cry boy when not in school. At twelve -Nears of age the boy came to the con- G.lusion that the family could not af- S.ord to allow him to remain in school any longer, He begged his mothers permission to quit school and take employment in a village store. She opposed this self-sacriice because she Iearei that il meant the end of her sons education, but John was firm and %nus his school days forever ended. E9Or several years he continued to work in the store at a salary of twelve and fourteen dollars a month, and later entered the employ of a druggist and became d licensed pharmacist. When he was fourteen years old he 1udge1 his income sufficient to sup port the family and proudly told the snother that she need no longer work as a lauudress, and from that time on ,Ae Yas the entire support of his moth esr and several other children In his &arl( 20s he was for two or three years employed hy q railway e0ntrac- gsJr in Minnesota and Iowa. and he was in Mankato a little city not far distant from St. Peter. when there @2me 70 him the opportunity that proved 10 be the turning point in his Rife. Friends had acquired control of Gne ST. Peter Heral Knowing the fsoy's studious habits, how he had de- WaOnrel the entire village library and how he had educated himself in other vwgys and feeling great confidence in his capacity to do whatever was given IAI1M lo uo, oilSI tu llliit lilt tuiIttil Slll lp ; and half interest in the newspaper. : John had to admit that the strain of supporting a family and providing for she education of the younger chil lren, aas well as buying in the honest aad when it was sold for taxes. left him without any funds for investment lis tyTao6c b0wayar wore canal fO fhn i O. <e.asion and purchased ha} inr rest flor him with the understa ding ;sa- Ae was to repay them when Ae eaald.
 Then began a brighter life era. The young man became an important per sssonage in the community. He lived asg life. mixed with the people in all ~Ssair social affairs. took an active in 1.erest in politics, published good