The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-11-23

ought to be for Indianapolis. bought
him new outfit from shpes to hat,
then took him home to my hotel. y told
the landlord he wanted the best rooms IN,
the. house. 4 took, him about. the city
with N le, and every where he went he was
pointed out as jim Riley,s father. Il tell
you that did me good. 1t was the proud
est day Of my life.
II wish you could have seen Riley
when he said that the newspaper man
went on. s.Triumphs Of that kind are the,
really great triumphs Of life. we like to,
have the world speak well tof us, but it is
only the praise of the people at horne;
that we really care for. Now, take yRill
Nye. His experience was much the same
as that Of Riley. We were talking about
it the last time | saw him. The Nye5 TAM
lily came from Vermont, and Of the whole
tribe they thought that little Edgar Vii
son would amount to the least. lie was
rather sickly, and when he started west
to- go just as far as he could go. there was
not much grieving. The rest of the fam
lily, matter-of-fact people, We're doing
well, and two of the boys. who, like Ri
leys arithmetical brothers, knew some
thing Of figures, had gone to Minneapolis
to practice law. Bill Nya went as; far as
reputation there in connection with the
Laramie Boomerang, and then came East
and increased it. He now gets more than
the salary Of the chief justice of the
United States out Of his newspaper work
alone and his lecture business is equal TO
the interest a,, a goOd-sized fortune. lie
has almost entirely recovered his health,
which has been temporarily deranged by
OyerWorl, and with a little care he will
come out all right lie is, at any rate,
practically independent. His father still
lives on his Vermont farm. He and Bill
correspond now and then, and not long
ago the cid farmer wrote his boy he be
lieved he would sell the farm. He said
Il was heavily mortgaged, and it was all
de could do to pay the interest lie had
written TO Bill Nye's brothers in MinneaP
oils. but they didn't seem to be able to do
anything. He still owed $4,000, and as
he was an old man this was too much for
him to carry, and he thought he would
sell, Az. Bill Nye read this his eyes be-
gan to fill. He is, you know, a mighty
sensitive fellow, with all his fun. He
happened to have some money on depos-
it in the bank and he took out his check,
book and filled out check for $1,000. He
signed it in such big letters that it al
most covered the face Of the check, and
wrote his name in full, Edgar Wilson
Mye This he sent to- his father, and told
him to pay off the mortgage, and as he
did SO, away down in his soul, venture,
he said to himself We'll. guess they'll
think something now of the sickly little
cuss whom they thought they would have
to support who didn't know figures,
and who had to go West to make his for
tune" ..
L 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 was told that
The best way to make James Whitcoinb
Riley angry was to mention the word
up for good A close friend Of his, who
has much to do with his legal business,
told me how Riley recently received big
lecture offer from New York. A manager
there wrote Offering him 81 900 for four
lectures. Riley went to the telegraph Of
fee and promptly declined; and he sajd
at that time that the knowledge that be
could afford to refuseean offer f-that kind
made him happy He has been making g
great deal Of money out OF his books OF
late years, and his income is now bigger
than that of a con gresham. lie is not All
extravaga1lt man, and he lives quietly i'll
indianapolis with his brotheT-in-laW who,
by the way, has a good deal to DO in the
management Of his business. He reads a
great deal, and during the past two years.
has been deyoting himself TO the English
classics. He is very fond Of ngfelloW,
and one OF his greatest favorites is Robert
Burns.
The real secret of Marx Twain's tour
around the world is the publication Of {.
new book Of travels. His lecturiug will
pay his expenses and will net him small
sum, but in aH probability, not enough IT,
pay Ills debts. A new book Of travels viii
bring him tens OF thousands Of dollars,
ard it will have a sale all over the world,
Mark Twa;n'fs experiences in book pub
Fishing has given Kim d. knowledge of
what sells best, and he has great faith iii
travel Not long ago called upon him
at Hartford to get his advice as to q
book of this. kind. In answer, l2s draWled
out the following: az
There - is - only - one--kind-of-
book - that will sell - better
than - a. book - Of - travels - and
til -pious--bool1." ~.,.~
He then weat on TO fell ME something
about his own experience in travel work,
and gave me a. far different story as to
some Of them than that generally be-
lieved. He told me that the publishers,
and not the authors, made, as rule. the
MOST of the money out Of a book, and chat
he got royalty Of 5 per cent on .1nno-
cents Abroad" or from Is to Is cents per
volume. He will do better with his
Round the World Travel" for he will
probably publish it himself. He told me
that the company thar published "The
Innocents Abroad made a fortune out or
1t, and upon asking him if his royalty was
not very small one, he replied:
':No, not as such things usually go,
though thought it was when made the
contract. was advised " accept it,
however, by my friend, A. D. Richardson,
who told me he only gotg4 per CENT for
writing beyond the Mississippi" and 81
per cent vas a good royalty.
One hundred aud twenty-five Thousand
copies Of THE !nnoce!1ts Abroad we're
sold within three years after it was pub
iis.1ed, and the Hartford Publishing com
3pany, which! issued II, made more than
100000 GU. of it. doubt whether Mark
Twain got $4,000, end It was probably
through his; desire to remedy such an TN
lust division of. The profits that ne vent
into the publishing firm of Charlss ia:
Webster e 90, through which he ssaN ed
many of his books, and in connection
with which he lost his fortune. havs
heard 4it said that Mr.. Clemens viii isg,se e
d new volume of.tr'aveis upon his return;
end there is no doubt but that, il he does