Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1888-03-03
BILL nYE MEETS MR.. CLEVELAND.


SARANAC LACE, June 9.
Tho day closed quite warm here,
and, as the hot dusk settled down
among the somber green hills, writes
Bill Nye to the New York IVOrid, the
black flies pulled in their singers and
went home, giving place to the murmur
of hot-headed mosquitoes. Driven
from my quarters by the heat and the
torturing remorse which sometimes
comes to man who has fished not
wisely but too well, | strolled forth for
some time beneath the gathering wings
of the great, quiet night and finally
backed up against softly signing pine
TO scratch my blotched and corrugated
back between the shoulder blades,
where no human hand could reach.
look forward with horror to the day
when our forest trees will be utterly
swept from the face of the earth, and
when with all the agony shed over oul
race by the mosquito, we will not have
forest tree to our ba .ks.
l had only been few moments
braced up against the solemn pine,
when | heard low sigh, yelling up
from the very heart of some unknown
his back against my tree.
"Who are you, SIR" | Missed through
my froat teeth, cock 'ng a small pocket
pistol and resolved to sell my lie
dear,y.
ADO not shoot, for Gods sake" an
swered low, greasy voice with
blanchel lace 81 am a friend to you
| am fir end to everybody now. | am
the lres dent in disguise. DO not, O.,
do not contribute another martyred
President to our already CORY history.
[ simply came cut here to .ratch my
back under nom de plume and in a
quiet, Jetl'ersOnian way to agitate my
bites under an assumed name. | did
not know this was your tree, as heaven
is my Judge.
1T is all well enough for you here,
where no one knows you, to claim that
You are the President OF the United
States" | Numbered, "b,.t how are
you gong to prove it: Identify your
self and show that you are or ever have
been one side of President and ! will
spare you But if yon are de Giving
me ] will injure you severely
We'll, sir, | have been driven 10 de-
ce ,tion by the newspapers. The New
York papers seem to think that pub.
lie officer is a pubic cuss, and that !
ought not to do anything that it would
be wrong for the people to know about,
so am up here on the quiet, where
can unbend and 90 fishing and spit on
my bait and be a boy again. Here
ghoulish glee can never come. Here
do not have to think. You cannot
imagine how sagreeable it is to have
to think and to be responsible for what
you do, and to b, criticised if you do
not do it right. My early life ran quiet
as the clear brook by which l b .bbled,
and to be tossed about on the tempes
tuous tide of politics at Washington,
and to be held accountable every time
| appoint man to Office, if he turns
out to be a retired convict, | tell you is
tough"
ooh, yes, all this sounds WE'LL" /
said, reaching for him nervouslv, but
how can you prove that you are the
man we are talking about? Can you
show that you have ever done anything
by VIII CHI to identify yourself with the
Presidency?
"Why, OF course can. got mar.
ried, d dnt I?'
Yes, several of us have done that,
and we were most of us proud of it at
tie time. If you are the man who
eloped year ago and acted ashamed
of yourself at the time, and want to
point to it now with pride as the only
distinguishing feature of your Presi-
Dental ca eer, l will admit that you
are Grover Cleveland, for nobody else
would do that way"
He then further identified himself by
by Southern admirer. 1t had his
name on it, also marks of desiccated
fishbait and threads of fine cat chewing
tobacco.
SO we beosme friendly, and chatted
on gavly about the prospects Tor , s
and as to whether a fish ought to be cut
open on the back or OF the stomach in
order to remove his viscera, and whether
the press really nodded public opinion.
or whether our mold est opinion did
not really have its origin in the White
House, and what was good for prickly
heat, and the bred Scott de ison, and
what to do for membraneous Group and
the Wilmot Proviso, and whether it was
Il bad sign to drop a dishcloth, and as to
who struck Billy Patterson, and other
live issues of the day
Before We parted, at his request |
extracted II woodtick from the back OF
the Presidents neck, and it was given
to me by Mr.. Cleveland as a keepsake.
He said might have it with pleasure.
He also said that he wished it was in
his power to give each of his friends a
woodtick or some other little souvenir
that did not cost ANYTHING, and that
whenever they looked at it it would re-
mind them of him.
Just then Daniel Lamont called
through the summer twilight to Mr..
Cleveland that it was nine o'clock and
TIME that he was in bed; and so we
parted, and as ! came away with my
little Adirondack woodtick clutched
tightly in my tremulous fingers could
not help thinking that had never met
a President who presented more in,
tellectual or a more commanding APP
pearance in the dark than Mr.. Cleve
land. and | regret to read day aftel
day the harsh and vituperative com.
ments of various journals throughout
the country, who make Speci lily Of
indulging day after day in what Mr.
! Cleveland very Justly and very ortho
| ora nhically rpfprs IN ne ul,OnIiSh 0laa