The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1893-12-23
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.
Bm N.Y., omoiates at Frontier Mar
riage Ceremony. 81
Edgar Wilson Nye, otherwise Bill
Nya has been writing series of auto.
biographies for the Century. From
the first paper we quote as follows:
Il forgot to say that the Office was not
a salaried one, but solely dependent
upon fees, the county furnishing only
the copy of the revised statutes and q
woolsack, slightly and prematurely
bald. So while I was called judge
Nye, and frequently mentioned in the
papers with great consideration, I was
out of coal al ut half the time and
once could not mail my letters for
three weeks because I did not have
the necessary postage. Friends in the
Eastern states may possibly recall the
time when my correspondence, from
some unknown cause, seemed to flag.
That was the time. OF course could
have borrowed the money, but had,
and still have a foolish horror of bor-
rowing money. I did not mind rum
ming an account, but hated to Dor
row. :,
1.-the first business that had was q
marriage ceremony. met the groom
on the street He asked If I could
marry peopl. I said that \ could to
a limited extent. He said that he
wanted to get married I asked him
to secure the victim and I would get
the other ingredients. He then wished
to know where my office was. 1t oo-
curred to me at that moment that
there was no fire in the stove; also, no
coal; ALSO that the west half of the
stove had fallen in during the night.
So l said that I would marry them at
their home He maintained that his
home was over eighty miles away and
that it would consume too much time
to go there.
Where are you stopping atp'
inquired-using the Pike County style
Of syntax in order to show that I was
one of the people.
''Well we met here, Squire. She
come in on the Last Chance stage, and
I'm camped up in Gov'ment Canon,
not fur from Soldier Crick We can
go out there I reckon
Il did not mind the ride 80 I locked
my Office secured book of FORMS
and meeting the young people at the
livery stable went out with them and
married them in rambling, desultory
sort of way.
The bride was q peri from Owl
Creek, wearing moccasins Of the pllo-
Gene age. TIE rich Castillo blood OF
the cave-dwellers mantled in he1
cheek along with the navy blue blood
of Connecticut on her fathers side.
Her hair was like the wing of raven.
and she wore a tiara of clam shells
about her bsetling brow. Her brace
let was a costly string OF front teeth,
selected from tho early sattlors at the
foot OF independence Mountain. With
the shr~wdness of Yankee and the
hautur Of the savage she combin I'D
the grotesque grammar OF Pike county
snd the charming naivsts Of the cow
puhcher. She was called Beautiful
Snow. But think it was mostly in 8
spirit of banter. She was also nc
longer young. I asked her: with ar
air OF bandinage, if she remembered
Pizarro, but she replied that she was
away from home when he came
through. The cave-dwellers were q
serious people. Their plumbing was
very poor indeed; so also were their
jokes. Her features wore rattle,
classic, however, and was about Il
say clean cut but on more mature
thought I will not say that Her nos,
was bright and piercing. 1t resom
pled the breast bone of q sand hill
Prane
The groom WAS a man Of grea
courage and held human life at very
low figure That is why he marriei
Beautiful Snow without any finching
also why I have refrained from men
tioning his name; also why I kisse.
the bride. I did not yearn to kis
her. There were others who ha,
claims on ma but I did not wish Il
give needless pain to the groom, an
SO I did it. He had no money, bu
said that he had a saddle which If
could use l was welcome to. I di
not huve anything to put the saddle O:
at home, but rather than retu,r
empty-handed I took it. y"