The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-06-06
ABOUT MR. WALT MASON.


ABOUT Mr.. WALT MASON.
Some time ago the Kansas City Star
published an appreciation of Mr.. Walt
Mason. In that article Mr.. Mason him.
self was permitted to take the stand
and testify as to how, by means of his
literary illusions, he has been able to
accumulate such a vast array of cold
simoleons. Few literary men have en-
joyed greater financial success than
has Mr.. Mason; and his personal pop
ularity, especially in this part Of the
country, is widespread.
Mr.. Mason's writings may be d.
vided into two parts-prose which is
written as prose and is acknowledged
to be such, and prose which passes
under the name and guise of poetry.
Although Mr.. Mason enjoys quite a
reputation as a poet still, in point of
that fact he has never been guilty as
yet of writing any poetry. The rhyth-
mic iingles of Uncle Walt" are inter
esting and usually present In quantity
humorous vein a view of the stern
| oAa BAd NAANhl lSaAANAto VI hlC"9GL
they hardly constitute genuine poetry.
In fact Mr.. Mason is temperament
tally out of tune with real poetry. He
~denounces poetry as high brow STUFF
and will have none of it. The help
lessness of his case may be shown by
the following remark. Says he: ANY
man who processes to enjoy the al
legged poetry of Robert Browning is a
liar" All true poetry Mr.. Mason de-
nounces as fine writing; and fine
writing causes Mr.. Mason to go into
his basement and have fits. Mr. Ma
finish and says so. He spoke in high
terms of DR.. Dubois Quest of the
Silver Fleece but deplored the fine
writing" in it. In fact he believes the
fine writing" nearly spoils the book.
Dubois cannot refrain from fine writ
ing because his is essentially the po-
etical temperament. So then, we may
expect no poetry from Mr.. Mason's
pen. Let us hope, however, that moth
ing will stay Mr.. Mason's pen in the
matter of prose. If %hispoetry is ad-
dressed to us he need not exert him
self further; but his prose is a source
of great delight. He is a genuine hui
morist-as delicate and genial as
Washington Irving himself. move
that Mr.. Mason be enjoined from pub
fishing further poetical effusions and
that he be compelled to publish at
least n prose sketch a week. Mr..
Mason's literary criticisms make
pleasant reading; we enjoy them; al
though we are unable to accept his
critical standards. Mr.. Mason judges
the merit of a work of fiction by the
number of fights in the story. He
must have a fight on every page OF
life is vain. He heartily enjoys the
frequent and cruel impact of cartila
ginous most with bony fist. We can
not agree that the sum total of virtue
in a work of fiction is to be measured
D by the number of scraps therein. VIII
so much carnage and blood shed Mr.
Mason?
] But Mr.. Mason's apparent love O
scraps arises from a passionate lovC
lof life, of man and a supreme joy il
= living. This is altogether admirable
: and is not to be condemned. AM
= when this sort of feeling manifest
itself in literature, the result is
wholesome realism, which is the key
o note OF Mr.. Mason's literary theorie
and performances. 1t is this intens
love of realism that causes Mr.. Maso.
to owe fights and ~denounce fine wrir
ing-though as a matter of fact rea.
r ism does not necessarily involve bleed
ing noses; and literary finish is no
inconsistent with an adequate preser
tation of the facts and realities of life
Robert Browning can be and is a
: realistic as Mr.. Mason, whilst he er
S joys the additional merit of being
great poet. But as some one recent
has said, Mr.. Mason is an institutio
n OF whom we Westerners are justl
? proud. He bids fair to create a schoo
and so we wish more and continue
e power to his pen so long as he col
y fines himself to prose.
y w. E. GRIFFIN.