Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-16
father I tell you. that did me good. 1t was
the proudest day of my life.
Bill Nye's Big Check.

u,
the proudest day of my life.
Bill Nye's Big Check.
Il wish you could have seen Riley when
he said that" the newspaper man went on
"Triumphs of that kind are the really great
triumphs of ones life. We like to have
the world speak well of us, but it is only
the praise of the people at home that we
really care Tor. Now, take Bill Nye. His
experience was much the same as that of
Riley. We were talking about it the last
time l saw him. The Nye family came
from Vermont and of the whole tribe they
thought that little Edgar Wilson would
amount to the least. He was rather sick
ly. and when he started west to go just
as far as he could go. there was not much
grieving. The rest of the family, natter
of-fact people. were doing well. and two of
the boys. who, like Rlley's arithmetical
brothers, knew something of figures. had
gone to Minneapolis to practice law. Bill
Nye went as far as Wyoming before he
stopped. He made a reputation there in
connection with the Laramie Boomerang,
and then came east and increased 1t. He
now gets more than the salary of the chief
justice of the United States out of his news
paper work alone. and his lecture business
is equal to the interest on a good-sized
fortune. He has almost entirely recovered
his health. which has been temporarily de-
ranged BY oyerwork, and with a little care
he VIII come out all right. He Is, at any
still lives on his Vermont farm. He and
Bin correspond now and then. and not long
ago the old farmer wrote his boy that he
believed he would sell the farm. He said
1t was heavily mortgaged. and 1t was all
he could do to pay the interest. He had
written to Bill Nye's brothers in Minneapo-
lis. but they didn't seem to be able to do
anything. He still owed $500, and as he
was an old man, this was too much for
him to carry. and he thought he would SELL
As Bill Nye read this his eyes began to
NIL He is, you know. a mighty sensitive
fellow. with all his fun. He happened to
and he took out his check book and filled
out check for s., 500. He signed it in such
big letters that it almost covered the face
of the check, and wrote his name in full.
Edgar Wilson Nye. This he sent to his
father. and told him to pay off the mortgage,
and as he cid SO. away down in his SOU,
venture. he said to himself: Well, I
guess they'll think something now of the
sickly little cuSs whom they thought they
would have to support, who didn't know
nSures. and who had to go west to make
his fortune"
Riley on Lecturing.
I see it stated that James Whitcomb
Riley is to go on the lecture platform
again this winter. If this is true. he has
changed his mind during the last few
months. At Indianapolis 1 was told that
the best way to make James Whitcomb
Riley angry was to mention the word lee
ture," and that he had given the work up
for good. A close friend of his, who has
much to do with his legal business, told
me how Riley recently received big lee
ture offer from New York A manager
there wrote, offering him 1000 for four
lectures. Riley went to the telegraph Of
flee and promptly declined. and he said at
the time that the knowledge that he could
afford to refuse an offer of that kind made
him happy. He has been making great
deal of money out Of his books of late years,
and his income is now bigger than that
Of a Congressman. He is not an extrava-
giant man, and he lives quietly in Indianap-
oils with his brother-in-law who, by the
way, as good deal to do in the manage