The Dickinson press., 1888-01-14
A MODEST FUNNY NAN.
HOW A HuMoRlsT CLIMBED TO
AN EMINENT PLACE.

Country Boys Who Have Become la-
ness Men Who First saw Daylight in
the Rural Districts-.A Long List.
Whoever reads about a funny man sus-
poets fun in what he is reading. but no fun,
is intended when l say tha: Nyc is modest
He is almost painfully ST.. He is himself the
last person he ever tnlk> about tho last
whom lie tries to push along. 1t was i'll the
minds of most men present on the evening
when he was introduced To the guild lie las
himself distinguished. To regard hin, as in
teresting because lie is an outsider come t"
New York. Not only that. l"e"u>c he has
leaped from Wyoming territory over til"
heads of so many of us here and int" asa'lary
of 5000 a year. That is the broad fact
about his life. Tho lesser details are k,."wl
to few Born i'll New England. he went west
while young, hut, like the typical American.
was not SO much either an eastern ora west
ern man, but that he could strongly identify
himself with other sections. As he did with
.Asheville, n. {. He is Il lawyer. but disr"n-
nected newspaper work was his main
reliance until one day he ceased serious
writing. discovered his own humorous
vein, founded n paper in Laramie City, Wy,
t., named it The Boomerang. after Il mule
that he owned. and saw it fail tor lack of
subscribers, while every newspaper Office in
the country priced it and ri'lllci it will,
shears. Then he had an offer of the position
lie nom occupies, and his success eXcitcs TO-
mark among his co-laborers because. as they
say, he is Il country boy who has climbed to
eminence over the shoulders of the New
Workers"
Was there ever such nonsense unlunisl!rd!
TN very men who have made This remark
to me are countrylnen born and reared. In
that room, listening to Nye. there vas only
one born New Yorker-hinlself a curiosity i'll
the profession Oil that account. In the little
circle that Nyc joined on that night are the
managing editors of six daily newspapers,
and not one OF them is II New Yorker. There
were leader writers. critics. city editors and
reporters. and only one IL New Yorker. Was
there ever such Il thing heard of! Vow York
is instructed. entertained, advised and in
formed hy countrvmrn manning every one
of its newspapers.
And pray tell mo in what walk Of life in
Gotham would Bill Nvr lie am Morc of an
exception l." the rule than h. is in Journal
sim. Wall street. rulclbv Gould. who came
with a hcaliul of lnv+col grown ny tho
Hud>"n:"r 5. ". Whit. w!o Is as, country
looking to-day as the "hclisk in The park. and
who halls from a farm: on t,rus W. Field.
uf the little lumlci. "f Sl,w."riu.", .4,.>-.
Would Bil! N.vr have ii,,". u t.e rue mat ne
comc here 10 ilactlcc law with l.u&Nor toAh-
Ing. OF lti"a, "n" was IL RAM, provincial III
dress, habits and manners ~!en he started
anew at middle age in this clN Il lew years
ago, with Joseph Il. Ch"aie. VINO was Il colHi-
try hoy with r.Iihu Root. Mio im.its from the
Adirondack region, "t William +. Howe,
til. English immigrant. ur ninctv-ninc i'll IL
hundred other lawyers: Would Edgar Will
son Nyc be a rarity it he had come here Il
clergyman with North OF Ireland John Hall,
Western DIR. C"llyer, and all III" others,
among whom only two that | know OF arc
city meE: Here aud tier" .vVi will find iii
the roll of city doctors the born New York
son of Il dead and g"n, New Yorker, inherit
ing the fathers business, hut the leading ,lor.
tors and the mass ID durt"lsarr uT. tho farms
of the country. And pray where is il not
the same, from our country bora ma ,nr I,
the last ti@Urantc in The last iint of girl' III
Rice; Burlcsuuc company:
Our hest policeman. Alex Williams is q
Nova %Scotian; our pet and pride. Chani''v.y
Mitchell Depcw rnn lareto"lcd overt!r rocks
of Wcstchestel us q boy; oar Harry Hill was
a country pumpkin in England once: on
Moro>ini, whom the boys irrcvrrcntly cail
"tho macaroni millionaire, was Il country
boy in Italy, and Russell SAGE would not .et
over being country " swapping horses oI
wearing boots ii HI lived Il thousand years
Erastus Wiman was born in Toronto. so thai
he is not u countrvman, but neither is he ;
New Yorker. 1t is the same in the art world
The only New York born artist that l know
of is Charles j. Taylor, of Puck. In polite
there are several New Workers, though the,
form only a drop i'll the hucketiul of country
men who rule this town.
But to turn the subject ond view it lrol,
the other side, let lis see whether any New
Workers occur to the mind as having Il fam
sufficient to rank them in Importance witt
the country boys who are forever pourin,
into town and shoulderiny every one lefor
them and out of their way: Yes. there
Theodore Roosevelt and Henry lirrgh an,
Berry Wall, the cX-monalch Of dud,
dom; and William Waldorf .Asto.
and, ! think, Judge Hilton, the heir of \. I
Stewart, and James Gordon Bennett. Ton
Pastor, Pierre Lorillarl and Edward Iiarr
gan. OF those who were born here and al
quite famous in town there arc many of til
heirs of old established business house.
among which Mr.. Bennett and Nj. %I.orillar
belong, as do the -AppletonS and Harper.
but though their establishments are tamo,
abroad i'll the land the individuals are mainl
unknown outside the city. If y"l inrlut
the knicEcrbockcrs and other landed fam
lies of long established residence l,rrn VI
will add possibly 1000 men, women and chi
dren to the list. though not ull the knicke
bockers by which is meant descendants
the DUTCH are city folks. Every one of IL
Nandcrbilts of the first, second and thil
generations, dating forward from the o
commodore, was born Il coun;ryman a.
farmers son.-Julian Ralph's New Yo
Letter,