The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-10-29
TEE LECTURE OF MAST.
4" Caricaturing."


might naturally be supposed, was made up
mostly of a representation of his art, with
a little data-relating to his own lite and
of those characters which he drew upon
screen near at hand. AS we said before,
the audience was kept in the best possible
humor. which frequently gave vent in
much laughter and considerable applause.
There is nothing sensational in Mast as a
lecturer; no attempt at bursts of eloquencc
and nothing excruciatingly funny, yet
there is quiet vein of Dutch humor in the
speaker which runs throughout his sayings
and his acts.
Mr.. Mast was introduced to the audience
by joel NJ. Haven, Esq, chairman of the
lecture committee, and proceeded at once
to the business in hand. He commenced
by SAYING that lecturers usually began
with wise and deep dissertation Oh
man. The mechanic would make him a
too-maling animal the tailor would con
slider him simply q clothcs-wearcr, the ar
list as man who buys pictures, but the
speaker would treat him simply as a laugh
ing animal. Barnum advcrtises a laughing
hycna from Australia, while he might not
have to go so far to get II subject in the at
tempts at laughter sometimes made by man.
Here Mast drew his representation of
laughing animal. face full Of jolly hui
NOR, and beside it that of an ape, to show
the lack of mirth in the nature of the lat
ter, albeit il il provocaton of that quality
in man. Englishmen are fond of depicting
us as a salow, dyspcptic and wholly ser
ious set, incapable of fun, says he, and
now perhaps you'd like to see how an Eng
lishman looks whcreupon genuine John
Bull of the typical stamp is drawn upon
the clean sheet, with huge square-toed
shoes, " haw-haw' whiskcrs and an eye
framed and glazed A ridiculous little Brit
ish lion, with bench-legs and spike tail, is
placed in rear of his representative, and
then Mr.. Mast sketches the typical Yankee
with bcll-crowned hat, Congress CATERS,
and key in lieu of a quizzing- glass. Then
the American eagle, with exaggerated beak
and ferocious eye, is drawn, and he is made
to bite the tail of the lion, which causes
that noble beast to apparently howl with
rage
We are a very humorous people, says
the lecturer, and he proceeds to prove it by
extracts from the western papers, wherein
even the gravest themes are made the sub
ecs of fun. OF a father shot by his son,
the itemizer speaks as a perforated
parent y of man killed by a buzz-saw, it
is sad that in life he was lovely, and in
death he was divided; of the doctor who
was killed by the caying in of a well, 1t
was said that he should have tended to the
sick, and let the well alone. He went on
to speak of the comic men of the press who
perpetrate these jokes. One of them, in a
politically dull season, last summer, started
the idea of C@sarism, and Immediately it
was seriously discussed by the press of the
country. But should we have Caesar he
would be so numerically ridicued by the
press that he would be driven from the
country in thirty days Modest man that
| he was, he felt equal to the extirpaton of Il
few Caesars himself. He then drew the
! ghost of Cgsarism in the shape of Andrew
johnson with coronet on his head, and
gorgeous in silk and crminc, and by his
side he drew the present Caesar,
being jackass's head with a
fools cap on, with "A pair of long
legs, but no body, for C@sarism
is nobody. The antiquity of caricature
was next taken up, and illustrated by a
sketch such as Briton of old might have
made of the invading Danes, resembling
the pictures of the hated masters which
wicked school-boys are apt to make. The
first political caricatures were made in the
days of Charles l., and they have at many
times since turned and overturned minis
tries and influenced the course of the
British Empire. In the time of the wal
between Pitt and Fox, the latter was once
represented as riding into Leadenhall on
the back of the devil to represent his at
tempt to ride into power on the back OF
the India bill. And the laughter of the
British people drowned the bill itself. I'm
til late years the art has made but slow
progress in this country mainly because OF
the expense; one of the large cartoons
such as llarpers publishes costing some
$500, and taking often the labor of sixteer
engravers three days. One issue Otter
contains $4,000 worth of pictures. This
he modestly said, brought him to tall
about himself, for he believed he was tn
/ first individual in this country who accepte,
caricaturing as a profession-accepted, h
n said, for in his youthful days he hoped f
= become a great historical painter, Secin
a Burton in comedy was what first gave Inn
love for caricaturing. He drew pictur
Of Burton as he used to depict him when
boy, with neckte awry and the look O
= drunken establishment which, as Toodles
y he used to wear. lie loved to draw til
>. comedian in all his favoritc characters
g and thus was acquired the taste which dc
priyed the world Of those magnificent Iii
torical paintings he had contemplated
y, When about fourteen years old he went
- the editor of an illustrated journal an
;, boldly told him he wanted to draw for h
paper, lie drew an amusing sketch of IL
"hcartrending" scene, as he called it, an
" told how he was hidden to go to the Hobo
- ken ferry and draw boat just about
" leave the dock. "IIc expected never
ic see me again, says the artist, and makes
W comical gesture of falling off Il
dock, "but | drew the picture al
y, went back, and was employed at S.
or week"
IT. Mr.. Mast gave graphic description
ii. his work during the war, and his first c
IS. forts at political caricature, when Butt
Al. Il