The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-06-08
"BILL" NYE
MONUMENT

Continued From Page One.
qaently seconded by James H. Game
OF THE Aaheviile Citizen, in an enthu-
siasiic speuch.
In proposing tho memorial project
Mr.. Vincent said in part:
Cup wonder in the mountain fast
nesses of Henderson in a lone grave
unmarked save by a rough boulder,
uninscribed which by his wish is the
only monument he desired, lies all that
is mortal OF an adopted son whose
memory this state has neglected to
honor-one we are proud to claim as
of our craft-the lamented "Bill" Nye.
II was his misfortune not to have been
born in North Carolina--Maine 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 the Carolina
foothills 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-
sonville, or Asheville, or, if you will,
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 Late? 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 future, that let us hope,
may be rewarded by those who live
after us, better than we have rewarded
those who have gone before"
In seconding the movement to erect
a memorial to "BilP' Nye, James H.
Game of The Asheville Citizen said:
In endorsing the Nye monument
movement, l believe 1 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
Dry the name of the man whose body
now rests under the shadows of their
mountains. While the present move
ment found it's inception within the
ranks Of our state press association
some years ago, there has long existed
a feeling in the western section and
especially in that community where
the illustrious Nye lived and moved,
that something 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
grave in the lonely country churchyard
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, a 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
here. for he was one of us. The strug-
Cling vicissitudes of his early journal
istic days could not dim the light OF
genius which shone so brightly in
later years. We should not hesitate
to go on record here and now, repre-
senting the North Carolina Press as
ISOLATION, as setting on foot a move.
ment to erect at our state capital q
fitting monument to one of the great
est and most gifted humorists the
world has ever known"