New-York tribune., 1905-04-09

1 semble preachers: they greatly enjoy
listening to the greater members of their
own profession.
Consequently l never lost a chance to
listen to Bill Nye, and worship the
memory of him as he was: a gentle vet
sturdy and persistent humorist of so
good a sort that he never could help
being humorous, no matter how uncon-
genial the surroundings. Although he
saw hundreds and thousands of chances
Of hitting other men so hard that the
hurt would last forever, he dropped
everyone Of them and trampled them so
hard that they never dared show their
faces again. He was an apostle of the
Golden Rule, which he eXemplifed in
himself, so there never was a sting in
his Jokes Gentle raillery was the sweet
est thing he ever attempted, and even
this he did with so genial a smile and so
merry an eve that a word OF his friendly
/ chatting was worth more than a cart-load
OF formal praise.
/ I speak OF what I know, for he and l
were close friends for many years before
his untimelv death, and he was so solici-
tous Tor my welfare and comfort that,
as often he had played father and mother
to me successfully, he couldn't help
going on till he had become my grand
father and grandmother, as well as a
number Of sisters and cousins and aunts.
! I don't believe he ever had an enemy
/ but himself. and he injured himself only
J by his peculiarities of self-description.
/ Anvone reading his humorous articles
would imagine him an under-sized,
scrawnv, backwoods invalid, with an
irritable disposition and an unquenChable
thirst for something stronger than water.
In reality he was q tall. brOad-shOuldered,
deep-chested, healthy, genial chap, SO IN
love with the mere fact OF living that he
took scrupulous care Of himself IN every
wav He was as abstemIous as any
clergyman who IS not a total abstalner,
and he never lost his temper except
when some deliberate scoundrelism was
inflicted upon him. He would 60 out OF
his 7vav-a whole days journey out Of
the wav. with all the railway fares and
discomforts-to help q friend out Of a
sick-bed or other trouble, and he en-
dured all the torments of busy enter
tainer's season on the road as cheerfully
as # he was the perpetual holder OF the
record for patience.
People often wondered how he could
60 on wear after year digging the same
kind OF fun out OF the same old vein; but
the secret was that he lived right in the
center OF that vein and merely was dig
ging his way out of It. He had full
assortment OF polite cOmmonPlaces, and
carried them as gracefully as he did his
full-dress clothes; but as soon as he gO-
well acquainted with a man-and i
didn't take him long 10 get inside OF any
decent fellows waistcoat-he would tall
in his characteristic droll manner all day
and seven days week and as mucl
/ longer as they two travelled together.
: As seriously as If he was talking 0
!. audiences OF hotel tables or railwa,
: : nuisances. he told me a story OF do,
d he had owned. II was a dachshund
e and Nye described him as two and hal
!. dogs long by one dog high. He had name
= the animal Entomologist, because
was a collector OF insects. In fact tn
s. dog lived up to his name 50 strenuousl
81 that something had to be done. A trien
Fl -..o--,,-+aI cCg1---7cr the doc IN kerosene