The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-17
thousands Mourn Passing of
IMorsH Wilder, Incurable Optimist

lie merely suffered from a little stomach /
disturbanCe-that was his diagnosis. /
DR.. Jonah Of course permitted him. to |
have ms way.
But there's one thing I want you to !
promise me" said the doctor 81 want /
you to give up propelling that tricycle. |,
u yours on the Boardwalk It's too /
hard work. 1t takes a lot out of you. /
You've got a rolling chair. Ride IN
that But | won't he answerabie for |
: YOU If you don't give up pushing your
self up and down the Boardwalk. often /
in heavy winds. as I've seen you, on that |
tricycle."
Many times l. too. had asked wilder
TO give up the tpicycle. 1t was perfectly
patent that it was too hard work for
SO fragile man, whose heart had been
suspected for some time Of having
something organically wrong with st.
lie was So justifa oily proud of his two
children. Oracle. pretty but peculiarly
sad eyed little girl. and Marshall Jr..
a genuinely rompish boy year younger.
that he would take them with him on
the tricycle. thus adding to the burden
Of propelling the machine. for the sake
OF exhibiting them to the Boardwalk
paraders.
Hut he WOULDN'T make the promise
to DR. Jonah. lie lodged the point
with a quip. and when the doctor
pressed he took refuge in sIlence-but
refusing to promise. know perfectly
we'll that that tricycle. shortened Mar
shall Wilder's life.
But after all il was the death Of his
wife a little over a year ago that fairly
crumpled the little man. Here was
union so ineffably happy on both sides
.-sf,s Il Flynt
comprehending world marvelled at H.
But there was nothing to marvel at.
Certainly Mrs Wilder Sophie" to a
whole world Of friends -never showed
.he slightest trace of the thing called
anger unless some taCtloss individual
Eel into the beorish and ineNcusable err
ror of expressing something akin To
amaZement that she ever had entered
INTO such a union. At such times her
eyes would flash. But she never stopped
, to explaining her marriage. She
hose To make glori1uSly happy a man
with a sparkling mind and a heart OF
Womauly tenderness within sorelN
. twisted body: and the union was almost
miraculously successful from beginning
/ 'u end.
Those OF another generation who re-
, ran George Boxers play. Fra ncesca da
. Gm.ni" and the rhlpsodic expressions
1T the deformed hut noble hearted Lam
,iotto upon his meeting the girl 10
whom his marriage had been arranged
, might + rm some sort Of conception OF
Marshall Wildars outgivings with re-
70 gard to his wife to his very intim ate
= and most trusted friends His love for
her was a beatihc sort Of madness
\ ana gratitude.
The last time I ever saw the two to-
. gether was one night in September.
" very late when passing from the car
: tU my own home ! came upon them
10 sitting upon the bottom step OF their
o front porch. swathed in brilliant moon
" ueht. holding hands like a pair Of very
II young lovers-and firm the dark ned
d house came the good naturedly quer-
u ulous voice Of the stout negro woman
n who had been MIS-. Wlider's childhood
nurse and now was the nurse for htr
j. children. demanding To know IF the
10 two was uh-gwine tub sit out on IN
- pooh all night. keepin' respectable
lc cullud folks rum gitun' uh lit sleep 10
J. theyselves.'
= II was grievance OF WNders-a
< grievance however, which he touched
III upon only to his closest intimates-thai
y he had outgrown the generation which
u knew him best. This feeling, an aiilic
ton which artists endure with varyinl
r degrees Of fortitude. weighed upon him
'E He loved applause. The handclappn'
IL and the laughter of his auditors were al
80 most literally the breath OF his nostris
/" Back in the 30, particularly the name
= OF Marshall T. Wilder was certainly a!
w. we'll known as that of-wel. say. o
- Chauncey NJ. Depew or of Billy Flor
ence-who remembers that last name,
-, accomplished comedian now except tn
= oldsters or even of Mark Twain, on
- might almost say. Wilders witticism
90 Mere as widely quoted as those o
Maurice Barrymore, or more so; an,
on the other day, by the way, | met thea
a., tire wild young woman of % who neve
nd had heard OF Maurice Barrymore
a Was he any relation to dear Ethe
no barrymore" she asked me. well, h
ly was Ethers father, and the most talke
Nv about actor and wit of his time" | re
he piled; whereupon she marvelled greatly
SO Well Wilder had his great daS
Ms reached his zenith, back in the 90
he and then, gradually but surely, hi
hold upon the upspringing generatlo
of relaxed His sort OF humor became oil
ng fashioned. as all forms of humor do an
he musician anybody of the present da
en- read ArtemuS ward or BIZ Nye an
ID get the laughs out OF them that IN
,er folks Of their day Individually did?
as They don't want me any more
ire Marsh said To me many and many
N time in his later years "NO matt,
T'n what stun | give them they don't wal
Tar me. They don't know me! Someho
/ don't understand It a all-I'm ne
,st to most Of the folks in the vaudevil
a, audiences; they don't remember m,
on they don't get me-"
bo verify believe that he would haN
al worked for nothing in the vaudevll
Iad theatres, so intensely did he love II
~ acclaim, If by so doing he believed J
on might have chance to win back II
old gales of laughter that had greet,
ak his ears in the dimming time when
M was the most talked Of entertainer
ks America. He was prudent In mOn'
life matters. and his children will inherit
,at least a couple of hundred thousands
~. dollars. But money was the secondaI
ter factor in Marsh Wider's ambition