Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-20
NYE RETURNS ANNUAL PASS.
Famous Humorist Affected by the
Anti-Pass Legislation.

Anti HdSS Ie9lSldtioHs
4 recent issue of The Railroad
Mans Magazine contains the follow
ing letter from Bill Nye to the gen.
eral agent of the Atchison. Topeka
and Santa Fe railroad at the time the
anti pass legislation was passed.
Hudson, Wis, March 10. 1887.
w. +. White, Esq, General Agent
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Rail-
road, Topeka. Kansas:
Dear Sir: | enclose herewith an
nual pass No. @ OBS, for self and fam
lily over your justly celebrated road
for the year 1887.
| also return your photograph ana
letters you have written me during
the past five years. Will you kindly
return mine?
And so this brief and beautiful eX-
perience is to end and each of us must
so his own way hereafter.
Alas! =.
To you this may be easy, but II
brings pang to my heart which your
gentle letter of the 1st inst. cannot
wholly alleviate.
Whenever hereafter you look upon
this tear-specked pass will you not
think of me? Remember that you
have cast me from you, and that |
am wandering across the bleak and
wind-swept plains sadly enumeratlnG
the ties on my way to eternity.
| do not say this to reproach you
for | fear that you care for another
and so we could not be happy again
together.
But, Oh do you pause to fully com
prehend the pang it costs me to return
this pleaSant-faced little rass with ItS
conditions on the back? Could you
see me even now, as | write these
lines, turning away ever and anon
laying aside my trembling pen to 90
and sit by the CRATE and shudder ano
weep and put out the fire with my
bitter tears, your hearts would soften
and you would say:
Return, . Wanderer, return!
You do not say in your letter that
have been false to you or that have
ever grown cold You do not charge
me with infidelity or failure to pro-
vide. You simply say that it would
be better for each to go his several
ways. forgetting that my several ways
are passing away, passing away.
1t is we'll enough for you to talk
about going your several ways. You
have every facility for doing so. but
with me it is different. Several year:
ago Il large northwestern cyclone ano
myself tried To pass each other or
the same track. When the wreckint
crew found me, | was in the crotch
| of a butternut tree, with broker
| leg. Since that time | have walked
with great difficulty, and 10 go my
several days has been very serious
natter with me.
But l do not want you to think thai
| am murmuring. | accept my doom
calmly, yet with slight tinge of un-
Iavailmg regret.
Sometimes. perhaps, in the middle
of the dark and angry night, whel
the cold blasts wall through the tele'
graph wires and the crushing Slee'
ruSheS with wild and impetuouS fury
against the windows of your specia
car, as you lie warmly ensconed IL
your voluptuous berth and hear the
| pitiless winds with hoarse and Group!
means chase each other around the
| Kansas haystacks, or shrek wildly
away as they light out for their cheer
| less home i'm the Bad Lands. Will yoI
not think of me as | grOpe on blindly
| through the keen and pitileSS blasts
| stumbling over Outerguards. falling
| into culvertS. and beating out my rar,
young brains against your rough rlgh
of-way; will not you think of me? L dt
not ask much of you, but l do ask TN:
as we separate forever.
AS you whiZ by me do not treat me
with contumely, or throw crackers a
me when | have turned out to lie
your naughty old train go by. l hav,
| always spoken of you in the highes
terms. and | hope you will do The
same by me Life is short at the best
ard II is especially 50 for those who
have to walk. Walking has already
| shortened my life a great deal, ana
| wouldn't be surprised If the expo
sure and bunionS of the year 1888
carried me off, leaving Il gap in Ameri
can literature that will look like new
| collar
| Should anyone of your engineers ol
trackmcn find me frozen in cut mex
winter when the grass gets short ant
| the nights get long. will you kindly
ask them To report the bra td to you
auditor and instruct him To allow m!
| family what he thinks would be right
| hate To write to you in this de
iected manner. but you cannot under
stand how heavy my heart is today a
pen these lines.
| wish you and your beautiful roaC
ummitigdtcd success. 1t is good road
| fuI. | have passed over ii and enjoyed
lit. How different the country VII
look To me as ! go bounding from III
to tie. slowly repeating to myself tn
tritc remark once made by the gov
crnur of North Carolina To the eXcCu
tive of South Carolina.
| hope you may never know VIVA
| il is to pull into the quaint little cit!
of La Junta with the dust of many ;
mile upon you and the thirst of
long. uncvemtful journey in you
throat.
hope that congress will not pass ;
| law next year which will make ii
felony for railroad man T." Sa.
| "GoSh." without Il permit. | hop
that your life will be Chockful of hur
rah and hallcluiah. even if min
should be always bleak and j"ylcss.
Can ! do your road any good. eth"
at home or abroad, Can | be of ser
vice to you over Your righ:-of-way, b!
collecting nuts. bolts. old iron, I"
other briC-a-braC"
| would be glad To inilucnc" imml
grafton Of pull weeds between tn
tracks if YOU would be willing t" +"
gard me as an cmpl"yc.
| will now take Il last look at tn
fair. young features of your pass h"
fore sealing this letter. How sad L
sec an annual pass cut down in life
young morning. ere onc-i"unlh nl IL
race has been run. How touching Il
part from il forever. What Sh'
year this has been :" far. Earth
uuakcS. fires, storms. railway disaster
land death in every form have vistr,
nur country, and now like the bitini
blasts from Siberia. or the mippini
fruStS from Manitoba. comes the con
yrcsSiunal cut-wurm. cutting off tn
early crop of towering ANIMALS jus
as they have buddcd To bloom int
beauty uud usefulness.
will now close this sad letter I" &
over into the vacant lot behind tn
high board fence. where | can sob il
an uuf"ttcrcd way without Shaking
the glass out of my easement.
Yours. with Crockful of unShc'
tears on hand. BILL NfE.