Page 18

*                     .-     :,|~    ~~~~~ --1
HENRY CASSIUS THOM.
It is no idle tribute of words to sy that Henry Cassius Thom wlth      1
honored and loved in Wisconsin. A native of the sate, born at Clinton. 3eek
County. in 1856, of Scotch parentage, learning as a child the lemons of lbtW
in
the steady routine of farm life, educated in the district school of Mosative
place and the state normal school at Oshkosh. a successful teacher in thM
 ity
for some years, and oinally agin w   farmer near hi old home and sptend-
 g
ent of schools of Bock County, a teacher in the Farmers' Institue, deirypd
food eommissioner during Giovernor HoA rd's adminisabion, hasinth on' the
 1
Republia n State Central Committee in two C mp igns, and manaer ofthe   
- |
electrie light plrat at M dson, his lifte tounhed miny, and greah t olerae
in
this state and wah sO brod in its eh itsharity and strong in its wisdoi nOMc
death st his home in Mldison, March 16,, 1895, ws molrned not anly bq a bt
of peromal friends, but by the people of the ste, as a los of tone ot  tie-
sin's moat splendid products, a broad-minded, upright and able mn.1
Mr. Thom became fIrt known to the farmers of this state through his work
in the Farmers' Institutes. A paper whieh he red at a Clinton Institte pon
stock feeding attracted the attention of Mr. Morrison and for several yea
he
wa a leader in this work. As in his farm management he was systematic,
thoughtful and thorough, so in his Institute work he was definite and pracdal,
and cultivated mena' brains as he did his fields.  e wasakeen judge of men.
He never mistook gravity for wisdom nor wit for folly. He was the soul of
Institute meeting because he knew that men open the door to knowledge when
humor knocks. With a wit as brilliant as his logic was trenchant, he was
too
true a man to use either weapon in stage effects, but always had th eourage
and judgment to use them in behalf of the truth. Two ideas were distinetve
in his Institute teachings, the duty of the farmers of the state to eda 
their  1
children and the necessity upon the farm for that same thoughtful, bnes
management which obtains in the centers of commerce and trade. He 1d his
Institute work in a way which made every Institute worker his rimd  Per-
sonal biekerings and jealousies were beneath him. Hehad the c,,ai self-
reliance which goes with strength and the potent in4sou¢ne wWUkiM.
with
both. In all the relations of his life imriiliess was his distintive character-
istie. Courage, persistence and sel-control osme to him through the blood
od
his Scotch ancestry. Delicacy of feeling, tenderness of heart and a wealth
of
sentiment were in the depths of his life, guarded jewels, known to but his
closest friends. Pro-eminently practical in his make-up, with no lov faori
dreamers and theorists, a man of affairs, yet he read poetry as few men read
it,  I
is