Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1907-11-21

with us now Along with his other
wondrous gifts, Field was a prince
of the royal blood Of entertainers
and all were young then-and dam
phool reformers hadn t yet thought
of simplifying definition and ap-
plication of the word lid. l be-
lieve it was Rothaker who handed
out the oratorical orchids, and
he could peddle mignonette until
you could smell it mile-and in
the nature Of response to his wei
come Nye arose to the toast OF
Wyoming" He never could talk
even at tablet was always what
he said, rather than how. But
though stranger to all yet they
knew his genius, and were natur-
ally prepared for something good
the which they got. With melan
choly mien and a face that would
skid funeral Nye a began in slow
and unvarying voice to read a
lot of dry-farmer and mineral
mad statistics from a printed page
comprising our area in square miles
character of the soil, irrigation pos
sibilitics, coal, oil and other re-
sources, and a dump Of meteoral-
ogical data and like immigration
sucker-junk The company listen
ed at first in respectful silence;
but when the real humor Of the
response" dawned on them-wel
there was noise like rasng a
roof. But, though toasted and eu-
logized and entertained to the limit
| Bills head never swelled a little
bit, then or after, that I ever
learned, And he was as gentle in
manner as a well-bred woman, and
as kindly and consolidate. During
all the year l knew him he never
earned what money was worth, and
his work brought him in large
returns yet he died broke The
dollar, with Nye-as with too many
of us whose noses persistently press
the emery of creative expression
was merely a detail.
Nye's talent was both natural
and acouired-if I am permitted
in that much of his humor was
coined from manner Of expression
and much from the suggesron of
, words and phrases and ideas OF
others. 1t WASH t that Bill Root s
stories made him famous or that
he was copyist or plaigirist in any
sense His was style of its own
which everyday happenings and
current comment were transfigured
, in Joyous fun-his mind a riotous
storehouse of wit and humor in
! ludicrous and grotestque thought
and expression. He it was who
found and who developed a hew
road to honest laughter. Up to
that time American humor was
largely a monologue of simplified
!, spelling, the boisterous billy goat,
the obstreperous stovepipe and the
ever-present mother-in law and her
ilk. Nye quit this dusty thorough
fare and hewed path into then
wilderness outlined a humor
which appeals to the intellect
rather than the funny bone and
the fifth rib-the which is now, let
us confess though we get the gaff of
implied imitation, broad and
much Travelled highway.
! Nye wrote much good staff and
as is true of almost every Towser
, on the literary treadmill, some that
was real rotten. That he knew
this is evidenced by letter to
, friend which I saw the other day
, This friend had demonstrated with
! him on the loose character of some
} of his work, and had urged him to
: refrain from sending out that
: which belittled the talent h knew
him to possess. Nye's reply was
Characteristic. He said
my Dear Hennery The ar
ticle you complain of is even worse
: than you think. But say il
without shame. The publishers, you
see insist aye, command me to
stand and deliver-and ] shall fur
nish it in quantities regardless OF
5 analysis just so long as / am com
: PEELED to look the flour barrel, i'm
) tnrrnnatiunl,r in tha face ,,