Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-03-28
GEMS FROM BILL NYE's AUTO
BIOGRAPHY

Edgar Wilson Nye was born i'm
Maine in 1850, Aug. %, but at two
years ofage he took his parents by the
hand and telling them that Piscataquis
county was no place for them, he boldly
struck out for ST. Croix county, Wis,
where the hardy young pioneer soon
made a home for his parents. The first
year he drove the Indians out of the
st. CroiX valley and suggested to the
Northwestern railroad that it would be
a good idea to build to st. Paul as soon
as the company could get grant
which would pay them two or three
times the cost of construction. The fol-
lowing year he adopted trousers and
made Sl75 FROM the sale of wolf scalps.
In 1854 he graduated from the farm
and began the. study of law. He did
not advance very rapidly in this pro-
fession, failing several times i'm his eX-
aminations and giving bonds for his
appearance at the next term of court.
He was, however, a close student of
political economy at the same time, till
he found that he could easily live on
ten cents a day and his relatives.
Dir. Nye now began to look about
him for new country to build up and
foster, and as Wisconsin had grown to
be so thickly settled i'm the northwest
ern part of the state that the neighbors
were frequently found as near as five
miles apart, he broke loose from all re-
straint and took emigrant rates for
Cheyenne, Wyoming. Here he began
looking about him for position in a
bank. Not succeeding in this he tried
the law and journalism. He did not
succeed in getting a job for some time,
but finally hired as associate editor and
janitOr of the Laramie Sentinel. The
salary was small, but his latitude great
and he was permitted to write any
thing that he thought would please
people, whether it was news or not.
IL was at this time that he began to
turn his attention TO the abolition of
slavery in the south, and to write arti-
Giles for the press signed "Veritas, y in
which he advocated the war of 1860, or
as soon as the government could get
around to it.
BY and by he had won every heart
by his gentle patient poverty, and his
delightful parsimony with regard to
facts. With hectic Imagination, and
an order on "a restaurant, which adver-
used in the paper, he scarcely cared
through the livelong day whether
school kept or not.
He is the father of several very beau
tiful children by his first wife, who is
still living. She is Chicago girl, and
loves her husband far more than he de-
serves. He is pleasant to the outside
world, but perfect brute in his own
home. He early learned that in order
to win the love of his wife he should
be erratic and kick the stove over ON
the children when he came home. He
therefore asserts himself in this way,
and the family love and respect him,
being awed by his greatness and gentle
barbarism.
He eats plain food with both hands,
conversing all the time pleasantly
with anyone who may be visiting at
the house.
If his children do not behave, he
kicks them from beneath the table till
they roar with pain, as he chats on
with the guest with bright and over
flowing stream Of bon mots which
please and delight those who visit him
to that degree that they almost forget
that they have had hardly anything to
eat.
In conclusion, Mr.. Nye is in every
respect lovely character. He feared
that injustice might be done him, how.
ever in this biographical sketch, so he
has written il himself.