48 IN MEMORIAM : 



around the table were ti'ying to keep up their courage by tell- 

 ing amusing stories, anecdotes, etc., when one of them, rising, 

 said : " Well, gentlemen, I must say this is ill-timed levity." 

 Scarcely had the words been uttered than a great wave carried 

 away the bulwarks and crashing upon the skylight of the ward 

 room a flood of water poured in, wetting them thoroughly. 



In view of the recent death of Dr. Fussell, it may appear 

 to some that what is about to be related is also "ill-timed 

 levity." But to the writer of this it is far, ver}^ far, from it. 

 It is a tender, reverent record of a pet name that Linnaeus 

 Fussell bore for most of the happiest period of his boyhood. 



At the Octagon School House there was a small boy of 

 about his own age (five years), who found it impossible to 

 properly pronounce most of the common words, and when it 

 came to the name Linnaeus, the nearest he could come to it 

 was "Nierie." Many a ripple of merriment passed round 

 that little school room when a shrill, high 3^oung voice would 

 call out: " Tousin ' Izzie, Nierie's dot my penser ! " or 

 " Tousin ' Izzie, Nierie's scrougin' me ! " These were two of 

 the many complaints that became bywords in the school, 

 repeated so often that the name "stuck." For many years 

 he was chiefly called so by his boy playmates and companions. 

 It is more than probable that John A. Groff, to whose per- 

 sistent use the name owed its permanence, never to the day of 

 his death spoke or even thought of him by any other name, 

 certainly not in speaking of him to any of these boy play- 

 mates. With all our love and reverence for the goodness and 

 accomplishments of the man Linnaeus, there will always be 

 left a fond corner for the boy Nierie. 



As showing a strong characteristic trait of the young 

 Linnaeus, it may be related that in the Fall of 1846 Joseph 

 Fussell (grandfather of Heniy M. Fussell, of Media), with 

 his wife and four children, moved to Fall Creek, Indiana. 

 As his brother, William Fussell, three sisters and a host of 

 nephews and nieces lived in Vincent, that place was consid- 

 ered by all as a fitting place for the start to their new home, 



