River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-03-12
[From the Minneapolis Evening Journal
A BROTHERS. TRIBUTE.
Frank n. Nye's Eulogy on His Brother
Edgar w. Nye.

Il
has written tender and magnificent
tribute to that brother, who by his
homely humor lightened the burden of
many life and made himself dear to
hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Thus speaks the brother of the
brother:
| | am cons trained to offer to the
public few words of simple tribute
| TO the life and character of Edgar
| Wilson Nye, a brother as dear to me
as life itself. | shall call him Edgar,
as always have, the name his good
| father and mother gave him, and the
only one that seems natural TO me.
/ never took kindly TO the name of
"Bill, and l do not think he did. He
was SO frequently and persistently
| called by that name in his early West
ern newspaper experience that he
| finally, and 4 think reluctantly,
| adopted the nom de plume. / always
| felt that the name conveyed an i'm
| preston TO those who did not know
| him which was erroneous, but / viii
not dwell on that. To the family he
was always, and win ever be rcmem-
bered as Edgar. We were nearly of
an age, and up TO the sprin@ of 1870
were scarcely separated for a single
month at any one time. Since his
return from Wyoming to Hudson,
/ Wis, | think in the year 1888, we
have kept up and emphasized as
much as circumstances would permit
! the intimate and sacred brotherly
/ relations which existed in childhood
and bOyhoOd DAYS. He removed from
Hudson do Staten Island, New York,
in the summer OF 1881, and some
| three years later removed to North
Carolina, near Asheville, where ne
| lived until the time of his death, Feb.
| -, 1896.
He visited me in Minneapolis in the
| latter part of October, 1894, and the
two or three short days we spent
together then seemed to bring back
more of the joyous liberty of youth
and frolic of boyhood than we had ex-
| perienced for 20 years. Little did we
| think as We shook hands ald babe
each other goodbye at the Milwaukee
depot it was to he the last farewell in
| life; but, alas, it was.
| / reached his beautiful Southern
home in the evening, several hours
after all his earthly pain and suffering
had ceased, and he had fallen into the
final sleep. In his last moment, re-
lieved from pain, his natural ex-
preston returned, and the same sweet
and welcome smile we had known so
long was upon his kindly face, as if to
speak in silent and volceleSs eloquence
| the love he bore to all mankind. But
/ must leave this solemn and sacred
hour of sorrow and unut1erable grief,
Which / did noS at first intend to
mention, and speak of his life and
character, as truly feel, in words |
dared not utter while he lived, but
| which L know he richly merits now.
lie was a child of the sunlight. His
life was lesson of good will toward
men-a constant song of kindly
mirth-beneath it the broad
philosophy of universal brotherhood.
No one was beneath him. The
humblest child of poverty and dis
tress found comfort IN his welcome
smile and stingless jest. He loved his
fellow men and babe them be of good
cheer. His very presence was re-
buke to ali dependency. He could
not live in an atmosphere of gloom-he
rose above it and took others with
him. He was physician to the de-
pressed and downcast. He always
cured the blues and used whatever
remedy was necessary. Sometimes he
struck the disease with hand that
seemed almost merciless, but always
to heal, and not to wound. The re-
lieved patient thanked him when the
| aching tooth was out. He did more
| than 10 make the world laugh. His
| mission was beyond the momentary
| amusement of mankind. Those who
knew him best felt beneath the ripples
of resistless fun, the ocean currents
of his great good nature, his generous
heart, his loving soul.
Few men comprehend the real
mission of their lves-perhaps he did
not. We are all children trying to
walk but stumble much-moving
rather by instinct than perception,
understanding but little as 10 what
| il really is to even walk, and thinking
stiil less of the vaster lessons to be
| learned after our childish feet are
able TO take us over the path to the
first crude but real schoolhouse of
| life. Thus, it is, / trust, we are all
/ building better than we know. We
see through glass darkly, but some
/ thing in our better nature tells us to
| struggle on until we see face to f.oe
| the divine and patient parent, whose
/ will is law, and whose law is love. We
/ are under the law of faith, and to
| walk by faith when we cannot walk
| by sight is the characteristic of
| genius. The intellect waits to see
and understand; the soul waits for
| nOthing-it pierces the darkness and
| struggles through the night until the
| dawn appears. Leadership. power
and influence, are given mainly TO
those who walk by faith and not by
| sight. This is the sure sign of genius
| the badge of true greatness. Whoever
/ ri III hos rs
| and plants flower of hope and JOY
| along the pathway of life, whether by
music, poetry, song, laughter or tears,
no matter how, is a benefactor.
| True humor has its foundation in
| the serious, and the serious always
| has its humorous phase. Edgar
| reached the serious through the
| humorous, and thousands caught the
point and took the suggestion they
| would not have received from other
| hands, or listened to from the undis-
| guised and ayowedly serious side.
| Nature endowed him with that
wOndrous weapon which we call the
| ridiculous. 1t was sharpened to the
| keen edge of exaggeration, and with
! it he went into the overgrown and
| distorted forest of individual and
social Inconsistency and imperfection,
| w IIllll anu UIuilt IL VI lUo dIhuONi-
edged burdens and deformities.
/ do not think he anticipated the
accomplishment of great results in
| this direction, but lie was born with
| this unusual weapon in his hand, and
he used it as nature prompted.
| perhaps with seemingly awkard but
really skillful hand. / believe he
| builded ever better than he knew.
Verify he walked by faith rather
| than by sight.
| BY a manner and style of exaggerat-
| ed expression, indefinable. but natural
and seemingly careless, he drew
| striking picture of the ridiculous and
ludicrous side of M en-, of times and of
customs. He carica tnred the follies,
| the fOibles, the fool less and weak
ness of men. This he did in a general,
| and never in personal way. There
was no element of bitterness in his
! nature. He cherished no enmities.
| He had no time to hate. His nature
| and disposition were as sweet as the
breath OF a summer morning. He
wasa youth always, boy in spirit and
disposition TO the last. He never
changed from childhood, except TO
| grow. He spoke and wrote and con-
yersed after he became known TO the
/ public the same as he always had.
! Tim only daxplonaT-it did NOT cha ,, Uxs