The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1918-11-30

The October issue of the American
Magazine had a personal article by
Walt Mason, the famous prose poet
of Emporia, Kansas, giving briefly
his story of his life, how Old John
Barley kept him down for many
years, and how he finally emanci-
pated himself from the cruel old
tyrant.
For about a quarter of century
Walt Mason was a hard, consistent
wrestler with Old John BarleycOrn.
He would wrestle until exhausted in
physical strength, purse, raiment
! and employment. Then he would
! draw a long, sober breath and, with
tremulous hands, set that versatile
pen of his at work in some kindly
| newspaper office.
Walt Mason roamed afield between
the Missouri river and the Rocky
mountains for many years. Being
! clever, capable and a glutton for
work, he rarely failed to connect
with job. But, at last, after an
especially hard wrestle with his
arch enemy, he found that he was
past his prime, penniless, almost
naked and with no welcome extended
to him from any direction. He fin
ally landed in Emporia, Kansas.
where he was given employment.
encouragement and where where Old
John Barleycorn did not greet him
on every corner and, in some blocks,
at several places between corners.
There, under protection of kindly
employers and boozeless town, one
of the most original fellows that
ever welded pen or punched a
typewriter, got back health, self
respect, money and friends. He
struck new pace, and name that
once was redolent of the gutter be-
came famous wherever English is
printed and read.
When I first heard of Walt Mason
he was star writer on the Nebraska
State Journal, at Lincoln. He edited
a special department, Topics of the
Town. think it was headed. Every
morning couple of columns were
filled with humorous paragraphs and
an occasional bit of rhyme. His
paragraphs were original, droll and
great smile producers. The circula-
ton of the old Journal was greatly
strengthened and stabilized by Walt
Mason's department..
Mason was a we'll known charac-
ter about town, as we'll. He was
welcome at any bar and his &C
| quaintance was state wide. In those
days the old Merchants hotel was
political headquarters, particularly
for the republicans. The Nebraska
State Journal was strongly republi-
can, therefore Walt Mason usually
frequented the lobby of the Mer-
chants hotel when not at work at
his desk.
1 think I first saw Walt Mason in
1886. I went to Nebraska in 1884
and, of course, read the Nebraska
State Journal and became familiar
with the humorist's writings.
In the summer of 1889, 1 worked
temporarily on the State Journal
for a member of the editorial force
who went on an extended vacation.
Mason still was there but slowly 60
ing downhill. John Barleycorn put
him on his back entirely too often to
please the managing editor. But he
was such a strong and popular fea-
ture of the paper that more delin-
quencies were endured from him
than would have been the case with
any other employe.
In the drawer of a desk at which I
worked was large number of draw
ings by Mason. They were done in
ink, outline work, on common copy
| paper, a good grade of newsprint.
Those drawings were as funny as his
writings and I have always believed
that had Mason taken up cartoon
work and perfected himself in the
principles of art, he could have made
a lasting reputation. He had the
instincts of true cartoonist as we'll
as the faculty of making a few sim
pie lines tell much and his characters
! true to life.
In those days Mason was habitu-
ally hard up. His pay rarely lasted
to the end Of week, therefore he
sought the pawnbroker. One Levy
usually was asked to advance money
on the Mason watch or portions of
his ward robe. Many wrangle was
had by Mason and Levy in making
settlements. He loathed and hated
the entire Levy family. I remember
that one picture in that drawer was
of Mrs. Levy, trailed by seven little
Levys, each one with a pronounced
Hebraic beak, corkscrew curls and
waving the right hand in true Yid-
dish manner. Although simple and
even bit crude, the pen drawing
was scream.
In those days, coffee and beans
were provided for the printers for
their midnight lunch and another
cartoon had for it's central idea the
typographical lunch counter with ito
huge can of boiled beans.
| Mason finally became snch a VIC