Edgar Wilson Nye was one of the late nineteenth century's most prominent humorists. His reputation so rivaled Mark Twain's that Twain was jealous of the younger man's talents. Except for one attempted novel, Nye mainly wrote short comic essays, sketches, and fictional vignettes, though he also produced two books of burlesque history, an almanac, and two Broadway plays. Moreover, he was a famous newspaper columnist, editor, and comic lecturer. He even tried his hand at poetry.

Though Nye was born in Shirley, Maine, he remained a Yankee for only a short time. At about two years of age, as he humorously tells it, he took his "parents by the hand and gently led them away" to Hudson, Wisconsin. It was in the Midwest that Nye was raised. While there he received brief formal education in a Hudson academy and a nearby military school, but his main learning derived...