Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-06-09
/ NYE MEMORIAL
| Movement Launched by
North Carolina Press
To Erect a Monument 10 Maine
Born Humorist.
Convention Speakers Say His vii
Made the World Brighter.

wrirh.svjIe Beach. y. G.. June s.
one of the features of the opening seS-
sion of the annual convention OF the
North Carolina Press Association,
which convened at the Hotel larry
moore this morning. was the launch
ing Of a movement to erect d sub
st;,ntial memorial to the late Bill
Nye. the humorist. whose death oc-
cured at his home in this state in 1896
and whose unmarked grave in Hender-
son county is the mecca for many
tourists. The movement which was
introduced in the course of an essay
on journalistic problems by r. w.
Vincent, of the Charlotte Observer,
was cloGuently seconded by James II.
Caine. of the Asheville Citizen i'll an
enthusiastic speech.
In proposing the memorial PROJECT
MIR. Vincent said in part:
Up yonder in the mountain of Hen
derson, in lone grave unmarked
save by rough stone boulder, unin-
scribed, which by his wish is the only
monument he desired, lies all that IS
mortal of an adopted son whose MEM
DRY this state has neglected to honor
one we are proud to cain as of our
craftt-he lamented Bill Nye. 1t was
his misfortune not to have been born
in North Carolina-NIaine claims that
distinction-but the best years of his
life were spent at beautiful Buck
Shoals and the best work of his career
done there 1t was in Carolina foot
hills that he gave up the unequal
struggle, and it is there that he is
buried.
I'VE cannot more ornately mark his
last resting place if we respect his
wishes. but we can erect, in Hender-
sorville, or .Asheville. or, if you will.
in the shadow Of the capitol at RAJ
leigh, a suitable and substantial me-
mortal to show to the world that we
know our duty and have performed it.
Who among us has not delighted his
soul with the boomerang stories or
dropped tear over the pathoS of The
Pass that Came too Latc?' The good
that he did in making the world
brighter by the music of his mirth
cannot be measured in words, and he
left us things upon which to reflect
and Thoughts upon which to build. for
ourselves a future, that, let us hope,
may be rewarded by those who live
after us, better than we have reward
ed those who have gone before"
In seconding the movement to erect
a immortal to Bill Nye, James H. Caine,
of the Asheville Citizen. said
In endorsing the Nye monument
movement, | believe | voice the senti-
ment. not only of the press fraternity
of Western North Carolina. but Of the
great majority OF the citizenship of
that section, who hold in loving MEM
ory the name of the man whose body
now rests under the shadows OF their
| mountains. A feeling has long esisted
in the Western section and especially
in that community where the illuStri-
Gus Nye lived and moved, that some
thing more than a nameless stone
should keep in mind the genial spirit
| whose gospel was sunshine and whose
creed was good cheer.
True, the Block of granite which
now does sentinel duty over Nyes
J grave in the lonely country church
ward at Arden mutely expresses the
dying wishes of the great humorist
but we would not be disregarding those
wishes were we to erect, by means OF
popular subscription. marble shaft
| which would in some measure express
the regard and veneration we feel for
the man with whom all of us laughed
and wept by turns.
1T is fitting and proper that the
movement to perpetuate the memory OF
Nve should find its reincarnation here
for he was one of us. The struggling
viclssitudes of his early journalistic
DAYS could not dim the light Of genius
which shone so brightly in later years
We should not hesitate to go on rec
ord here and now, representing the
North Carolina Press Association. as
setting on foot a movement to erect
at our state capital a fitting monu-