Humorist Bill Nye was the first editor of the daily paper in Laramie, Wyoming, and named it the Laramie Boomerang in honor of his mule. As Nye’s son Frank said, something about the word “boomerang” piqued Nye’s imagination, as it described the "eccentricity of his orbit". “His mule, his mine, his newspaper, his [first] book [Bill Nye and Boomerang], all bore the trademark.” The book, according to Nye, includes "some little epics and ethereal flights of fancy..." and said "it affords me great pleasure...to know what a feeling of blessed rest and childlike confidence and assurance - and some more things of that nature - will follow the publication of this work." Warning: Common side-effects include uncontrollable side-slapping laughter and giggling. Listen with extreme caution. - Summary by Dale Barkley, proudly from Laramie
Chapters
1 To My Mule Boomerang 1 min 2 The Apology 2 min 3 Apostrophe to an Orphan Mule 2 min 4 A Miners' Meeting - My Mine - A Mirage on the Plains 8 min 5 The True Story of Damon and Pythias 8 min 6 Sad Memories of the Dead Year 5 min 7 Bill Nye's Thirteenth Grand Semi-Annual Farewell Circus and Hippodrome 7 min 8 Letter from Paris 4 min 9 Prehistoric Crockery 5 min 10 Suggestions for a School of Journalism 8 min 11 The Fragrant Mormon 3 min 12 Recollections of the Opera 5 min 13 A Sunny Little Incident 3 min 14 He Rewarded Her 1 min 15 The Modern Parlor Stove 3 min 16 Remarks to Originators 3 min 17 Queer 1 min 18 Sic Semper Gloria Houseplant 2 min 19 How to Tell 1 min 20 Biography of Colorow 3 min 21 Diary of a Saucy Young Thing 2 min 22 Killing off the James Boys 2 min 23 A Relic 2 min 24 Some Reasons why I can't be an Indian Agent 5 min 25 The Picnic Snoozer's Lament 1 min 26 Billious Nye and Boomerang in the Gold Mines 6 min 27 Two Great Men 3 min 28 Dirty Murphy 2 min 29 A Rocky Mountain Sunset 3 min 30 The Temperature of the Bumble-bee 2 min 31 Drawbacks of Public Life 4 min 32 The Glad, Free Life of the Miner 5 min 33 Some Thoughts of Childhood 3 min 34 The New Adjustable Campaign Song 3 min 35 Sitting down on a Venerable Joke 3 min 36 A Hairbreadth Escape 4 min 37 Myself, Dr. Talmage and Other Divines 6 min 38 Fine-cut as a Means of Grace 3 min 39 The Weather and Some Other Things 5 min 40 The Parable of the Unjust Steward 4 min 41 Ode to Spring 1 min 42 The Parable of the Prodigal Son 4 min 43 The Indian and the Everlasting Gospel 6 min 44 The Muse 12 min 45 Shoeing a Broncho 5 min 46 Pumpkin Jim; or the Tale of a Busted Jackass Rabbit 13 min 47 William Nye and the Heathen Chinee 6 min 48 Hong Lee's Grand Benefit at Leadville 3 min 49 You Fou 3 min 50 The Lop-eared Lovers of the Little Laramie 14 min 51 Speech of Spartacus 8 min 52 Correspondence 11 min 53 He Went Out West for His Health 6 min 54 A Quiet Little Wedding without any Frills 6 min 55 Thoughts on Spring 4 min 56 The Same Old Thing 7 min 57 The Veteran who died while getting his Pension 6 min 58 Gingerbread Poems and Cold Pickled Facts 5 min 59 Origin of Beautiful Snow 6 min 60 Ute Eloquence 4 min 61 The Aged Indian's Lament 4 min 62 How a Mining Stampede breaks out 4 min 63 The Great Rocky Mountain Re-union of Yaller Dogs 4 min 64 What Woman's Suffrage has done for Wyoming 5 min 65 Portuguese without a Master 6 min 66 The Rocky Mountain Hog 3 min 67 The Buckness wherewith the Buck Beer Bucketh 2 min 68 Billious Nye and the Amateur Stage 4 min 69 A Journalistic Correction 2 min 70 Bankrupt Sale of Literary Gems 2 min 71 Thoughts on Marriage 5 min 72 A Ute Presidential Convention 12 min 73 The Club-footed Lover of Piute Pass 7 min 74 The Automatic Liar 4 min 75 Some Post-office Fiends 6 min 76 Agriculture at an altitude of 7,500 feet 3 min 77 The Gentle Youth from Leadville 3 min 78 A Snide Journalist 7 min 79 He Was Blind 4 min 80 Thoughts of the Mellow Previously 4 min 81 My Tombstone Mine 6 min 82 Bankrupt Sale of a Circus 6 min 83 Greeley versus Valley Tan 2 min 84 The Eternal Fitness of Things 3 min 85 They Unanimously Arose and Hung Him 4 min 86 Rhetoric versus Woodtick 6 min 87 The Model Wife 6 min 88 Some Overland Tourists 6 min 89 Catching Mountain Trout at an elevation of 8,000 feet 4 min 90 Home-made Indian Relics 7 min 91 The Previous Reporter 3 min 92 The Peace Commission 4 min 93 Some Answers to Correspondents 6 min 94 The Crow Indian and His Caws 4 min 95 The Nuptials of Dangerous Davis 4 min 96 The Holiday Hog 2 min 97 Some Census Conundrums 2 min 98 The Gentle Power of a Woman's Influence 4 min 99 The Native Inborn Shiftlessness of the Prairie Dogs 2 min 100 Answers to Correspondents 7 min 101 The Secret of Garfield's Election 5 min 102 Perils of the Butternut Picker 7 min 103 A Word or Two about the Swallow 4 min 104 Laughing Sam 3 min 105 The Calamity Jane Consolidated 2 min 106 The Nocturnal Cow 4 min 107 The Relentless Garden Hose 2 min 108 A Wail 2 min 109 The Great, Horrid Man Receiveth New Year Calls 3 min 110 Just the Thing 2 min 111 Thanks 2 min 112 An Anti-Mormon Town 2 min 113 A Christmas Ride in July 2 min 114 Examining the Brand on a Frozen Steer 1 min 115 Onion Peelin's 3 min
