Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-12-23
BILL, YYE'S HUMOR.
Cleanly and Kindly Characteristic Of
the Mans Home Life.

CIeAnIv anu hinuhy Oh"A oOtchboehO Va
the Mans Home Life.
Bill Nye, or to use his proper
name, Edgar w. Nye, lives on
Staten Island. He owns 3 large
house near st. George landing. 1t
cost its builder $40, 900 and it cost its
purchaser, Nye, about one-third
that amount. Nye has wife and
four children-two girls and two
boys. He is nearly forty years old
and a native of Maine.
After having received a good
education he started for the west in
1875 and obtained a position on the
old Daily Sentinel in Laramie City,
Wyoming territory, which he held
for a wear and then became con-
nected with the Boomerang, which
sheet obtained national celebrity,
through his writings. Abouta year
ago Nye and Whitcomb Riley, the
poet, made their first appearance in
Cleveland, Ohio.
Speaking of his early life Nye
said: 1--WE moved from Moosehead
lake when was very young, and l
lived in the west among the rattle
snakes and the Indians until grew
up. 1 practiced law for about a
year, but, he adds, without chang
ing muscle, nobody knew much
about At; kept livery quiet. l was
Justice of the peace six years. Yes,
1 used to marry people and try
them for their offenses."
He is now in receipt of good in
come. 1t is said that his lectures
last year netted him $50, 900 and his
pen $4,000. He is not obliged to
stretch his memory much, however,
to remember the time that he was
paid dollar column.
Most of the humorist's pen por-
traits. represent him as perfectly in
nocent of hair, This does, gross
injustice to the vegetation with
which his scalp is fringed, though it
is not luxuriant and though truth
compels the admission that the
crown is of the billiard ball variety
He is loosely built, large boned, six
feet high and straight as plummet
line. The Kindness that is in him
seems to find an outlet at every
pore. 1t dances.inshis eyes, softens
the expression of his face and rings
in every sentence that he utters.
The chief character of his work is
the unexpectedness of his state
ments and the good humor which
pervades all his writings. He makes
himself his own target and the
reader never teels hurt. The latter
!. car, apply to himself some of the
caustic sayings of the humorist II
he 50 desires, but he can never put
down one of ,Nye's letters without 9
kindly feeling toward the writer.
a. .. IA
A person with sensitive. con
science sometimes finds it Difficult
to transact business properly and a
the same time follow his inclinations
II is this difficulty that has led tt
the resignation of the president o
the State Savings bank of Detroit
He refused to accept the paper OF
tobacco firm because he believes tn
sale of tobacco is immoral; he re
fused to allow a watchman to watcl
the bank Sundays and Sunda.
nights, because he thinks no maj
should work on Sunday. The othe
stockholders protested against thi
sort of thing, and, as burglars hav
no conscientious scruples againi
working Sundays, the stockholdel
insisted that the bank should hav
a watchman on that day. 30 u
president sold out his interest In IL
institution and retired. t
Cornelius Vanderbilt, who ofte
visits Concord in his private car
meet his son, who Is being educate
at the noted st. PauPs school, {"
and one-half miles from the city,
awelcome guest at the hotels ana
the hack drivers. To the latter
hands 9 IS note for passage rom u
city 20 the school, refusing any
turn change, the regular fare bell
81.
Mrs.. Humphrey Ward 100
askancssn the woman's rights mo'
ment. aud has sister marf'ea
Professor Huxley. She shuns pu
licity, writes singularly mascun
hand, and IL complete enigma
her own family. who are stu 'Iy'