Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-03-13
Dana of the New York Sun i

Dana of the New York Sun is
probably the ablest writer of sarcasm
and cutting irony on the American
press. The following which we do not
endorse en- toto is so good that not to
publish it were to deprive our readers
of savory dish that their mental ap-
petites must certainly appreciate.
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF
Thomas MAST
Few men will be more missed from
literary and artistic circles than tho
late Mr.. Thomas Mast. He had great
talent. In the line of his specially he
was unequalled. Harpers Weekly
Journal Of Civilization will hardly be
able to get along without him. Mr..
Mast has been one of its most brilliant
contributors. When he was alive he
was very handy with the pencil. The
characteristic Of his work was yigor.
He pursued the enemies Of his country
and Of Harper T. Brothers with great
deal of power The Journal Of Civit
ization attained large circulation
through his efforts. The Harper
Brothers were very fond Of him 1t
is stranye-and vet it illustrates the
cupidity Of publishers and the selfish
ness that pervades mercantile circles
that they have offered no reward for
fthe recovery Of his body. Mast was
something of sculptor withal. Not
that he worked in clay precisely; but
he worked in the next thing to clay
mud. No man has thrown more Of it
in the last year than he.
The editor Of Horpcrs Weekly will
miss Mast For Mast has sent him i'll
some of the best subjects for obituaries
he ever had. Witness the clever treat
ment Of the memory Of the late Hor-
ace Greeley by the Weekly. That OPP
portunity would never have been afford
ed had it not been for Mast
Everybody misses Mast. We ali be-
came 50 attached to him during the
late campaign. There was such nice
sense Of humor, such pure and earnest
patriotism, such honesty Of purpose
and loyalty and AL that sort of thing
in all his pictures in the Journal Of
Civilization. Those caricatures OF
Mr.. Greeley-shaii we ever forget
them SO de!icately put, so free from
coarseness and brutality, SO thoroughly
in keeping with the political essays in
the editorial columns. There was not
an issue OF the Weekly for several
these powerful arguments from Mast 5
pencil. The appeals to the nobler emo
tions and gcntler qualities Of tie h1-
man mind were irresistible. That, for
instance, where Greeley was represent
ed as reaching over the bloody chasm
of Andersonvliie to shake hands with
rebels or that whore Charles Sumner
is represented as laying flowers on the
grave et Preston 5 Brooks, will not
seon be forgotten.
Unapprcciative people said that the
manner in which Mast pursued Hor-
ace Greeley to his grave was brutal be-
yond anything in the history Of our
politics they said that his caricatures
Of Schurz were the offspring Of malig-
nant hate for successful fellow coun-
tryman and that his representations
Of Sumner and Trumbull and others
were cnly such things as suggested
themselves to coarse and vul gar mind
as means Of turning an honest penny
by pandering to the passion and preju-
dice engendercd in political strife.
| But it was not SO. Oh, no }! He
was q sincere man, the late Mr. Mast
was. He meant we'll 1t was neces-
sary that he should do some things
that were just little questionable, Or
seemed so, IN order to save the Gov
ernmcnS from such corrupt men as
Greeley, Sumner, Schurz, and Trum-
bull, and keep the pure and patriotic
Grant and Wilson and Colfax and
Oakes Ames and Pomeroy and other
Christian statesmen in power. Yes,
he had to dc it.
But ne is gone. Poor fellow, we
miss hirn now. The Weekly Joaraat
of Civilization says nothing about him.
Mr. George William Curtis doesn't
write any obituaries of him but we
know he's gone. If he were living
now, he would 60 for Oakes Ames and
SCHUYLER Colfax and Henry Wilson
and Harlan and Pomeroy and all that
crowd! OF course he would. For
everybody knows he was an earnest
man and sincere man, and free from
partisanship. He could make these
fellows who held Credit Mobilier and
didn't hold it, who took dividends aud
didn't take them, who borrowed money
and forgot it, and these fellows who
have bought and are buying seats il
the Senate, and these civil service re-
form professors who pardon conyictS
imprisoned for illegal voting--he could
make all that kind of cattle step around
lively. He might not kill them, as he
did Mr.. Greeley, for they are not sc
sensitive but he could make them un
comfortable and show them up to tht
public pictorially with great power.
1t does seem such d pity that Mast
is dead. For this would have beer
his opportunity. Nothing would hav,
prevented lis selling it except sneak
IL