The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-09
BILL NYE RECALLED.
Mr.. Riley INDUCES i'm Some Reminds
ces of Departed Humorist.

Mr.. James whitcomb Riley was inter-
viewed by a Kansas City Journal reporter
on Sunday, and in the course of general
conversation Bill Nye was mentioned, and
he was asked what was the funniest thing
Nye ever said.
"The funniest thing?" repeated Mr.. Riley.
''Why, he said so many funny things that
it would be hard to say what the very fun
NEST was. / believe IL must have been
something that was never recorded. He
was all the time saying funny things.
"Nye was the most delightful character
that it was ever my good fortune to come
in contact with. He was a lovable man.
with a heart full of love. We were Assoc
ciated together for three or four seasons,
and learned to know and love him. Not
withstanding his wonderful wit, he was
also very ingenious. / could go up to him
without a smile on my face and get joke
on him without his suspecting it, 1 remem-
Der once he was telling about two brothers
he liked very much. They were opposites
in appearance and manner, yet Nye liked
both. He said one of them was dark-com-
plexioned, with dark eyes, and the other
had blue eyes. / looked up at him with a
bland countenance and asked him which
one was the dark one.
Why said Nye, looking rather puz-
zled.
Il repeated my question again, but all
Nye could say was Why / said: Don't
of the brothers was dark. Sure, that's plain
enough. Just then / couldn't keep from
smiling, and then he saw that 1 was only
joking him. He threw his hands at me as
though he was angry. But he wasn't. He
enjoyed a joke, even If he was the subject.
Il remember one day when we were in
Washington. He was introduced to Sena-
tor Shirley, of Maine. After conversing
for a little while Nye said:
Senator, | am right glad to meet you,
for / claim Maine as my native State.
"'Ah, do your asked the senator. What
part OF Maine were you born in?'
Well strange as 1t may SEEM L was
Shirley? Shirley? queried the senator.
Il never heard of Shirley, Me
81 never did either until / was born
1T was certainly wonderful how Nye
mastered all the technical scientific names
and words that he used He got them me-
In this way, for instance. We were stand
| ing on the platform of railroad station
out in California. Nye was at one end and
i was at the other The wind was blowing
| a little and a small piece of paper was
whirled along in his direction and brushed
against his leg. He stopped down and
picked Ii up. 1t was page out OF an al
| manac. / saw him reading 1t and then he
| threw il away. He then pulled out his
notebook, which was not much larger than
| a visiting card, and wrote a single word
| in it. Some two weeks after that Nye wrote
| a comic article about the wind and used
| the technical verbiage of the scientist as
glibly as though it had been his favorite
| life study. He had just noted one word
| in that book and when he wanted to use
| il he looked TO see what the word was and
/ all the other words that he had seen on
that page of the almanac came back to
/ him.
/ .'Yes, I knew Field. too. but not as well
| as i knew Nye. They have both gone And
others. too. My, my Death seems TO be
| claiming them all. AS 1 look around and
think OF my old companions, now. gone
forever / wonder how long IL will be be-
| fore we are all called away and Mr.. Riley
| arose from the couch and for n moment
| WAS lost i'm meditation.