The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1922-06-02
FROM OLD
NEW YORK
Hubbub In Great City, AS
Described BY Former
Mankato Boy

4
Fletcher of this city.
New York City, May 16, 1922
Dear Anderson: Way back in the
year after they finished making the
earth / got letter from you in
| which you said that you had just
finished cutting poster in hnoleum.
BY heck, you nave not got anything
on me at that Tor / have been just
finishing cutting them for the past
six months and would say that for
habit it has all others beaten to
death. You have heard of the hope
i9ssness of the drug addict the de-
pravity OF the drinker, the depths
to which the user of the vile weed
sinks. Pastors have bemoaned their
:ate for SO many generations that
they are regarded as the hopeless
! trinity for which there is no help at
least this side of the grave.
LAS hopeless, desolate and wind
swept as may seem their present
and their unlighted future, | think
! that the man who has tasted OF the
i joys OF pushing good sharp chisel
! through a hunk of linoleum has gone
to a depth so far below them that
/ they seem TO simmer up in the
sunlight and be all mellow with the
4 llsuI anu Va Lliu Noy
| I'll say that il is the grandest sport
that was ever invented and / would
! willingly forgoe the pleasure OF sl;-
ting on a moonlight porch with the
cen Of Sheba or give up the JOY
Of assimilating a quart or ice cream
| and a cord OF sponge cake II could
only be surrounded with an acre OF
! linoleum and have one good sharp
chisel. Just one more eulogy before
move on to a new line of thought
| to be the pusher of said chisel is
superior in ali respects to- sitting
back of the best steering wheel in
! the best car that was ever devised.
Perhaps you gather from the forgo-
ing that ! am not ayerSe to rising
J early in the morning and going TO 1t
! or sitting UP late at night and work
! ing a bit more. If such be the
| thought that you CLEAN from my
efforts well and good for that is the
/ thing that | have been endeavoring
| TO explain.
81 have a Washington hand press
J here and can pull all of the proofs
| that 1 want but he had some OF
| the bigger editiC'- 'at have run as
high as three Z nd pulled by a
\ printer who had over press. The
| limit of size that | have cut so far,
is 16x22, that being the limit of the
press that ! have but there is no
| limit 10 the size that a person can
get away with if he must have the
PRESS and the size OF blocks. On col
or Jobs YOU must have the linoleum
mounted but on a black and white
YOU can lust lay ii on a block to
| bring il high enough and 1t works
fine then. think that it is going to
be a big thing in commercial art a
4 few wears hence but il is the pioneer
stage now and is a thing that is re-
| garded as a bit radical. 1t was a
process that was used for years oy
a bunch of freaks who did slapdash
\ work with il and 1t was hard TO con
vince people that 1t will make as
| good a Job as a )ithogTaDh or zinc
cut IL 1t is handled right
/ 81 sure. would like to be touring
4 the streets of our old town today
| and see some of the old timers there
hut suppose that il / don't come
hack oftener that | will be a stran :
ger there. I have had terrible de-
\ sire the past few months to come
back for good. ! am getting along
we'll here but have tried for the last
ten years to accustom myself to. the
city and to forget the west but so
| far the score is pretty bad IN favor
of the city. The gilded palaces and
the JAZZ bands that get some people
all excited and eager TO stay away
from home for life only annoys me
like a couple of cats singing at mid
| night, I'd swan all the shows that
| they have in NJ 7. for a chance TO
lie down under a big tree and look
at the sky and as for chance to
monkey with an acre OF corn again
well by heck Anderson that comes
under the heading of real sport |
used to think that il was tough luck
j to have a cow kick you across the
stable with a rail and gallon OF
loose milk but the jostling of the
stable days has not a look in with
riding home on tho subway during
the rush hours. With the cow one
had a sporting chance. With good
generalship one can land jolt to
her midriff or solar plexus, or there
remains ever the chance to speak to
her according to the dictates of ones
heart but when some quarter ton
piece of humanity decides to get in
to a car where the soul of an oyster
would stop to consider you regret
all that section Of your frame which
lies between your neck and the floor
7 guess that is the reason why peo-
ME use currency instead OF silver
dollars over here. A carefully creas
ed bill lying fat in the pocket is q
more or less harmless thing but a
penny or a penknife is apt to leave
marks on ones figure such as pre-
historic monsters left in a wet bank
of clay and I have reason to be-
leive fully as lasting.
Ever since I landed in the east
/ have dabbled with the newspapers
more or less Sometimes l am cleaI
, of them for a while but generally
have nv hooks connected with one
of the in some way. Just now / an
, writing auction and art news fol
The Herald. The auctions are those
where art and the best books are
sold as well as antique furniture. II
has been a great education for me
, and I have a pretty good idea now
of what things are worth in the line
of old books and old masters.
have seen great Libraries OF good
reading matter go for two or three
thousand because they were not first
editions and / have seen single TO
, Ito of William Shakespeare which is
no bigger than a small atlas go fol
$4,000. This is a peak price so fal
as / know. A week ago there drift
ed into one of the better auction
rooms an old cherry desk. SCARED
and marred not exceptional in any
way as to looks or period, but bach
of this desk when it was new, u. s
Grant tried in an unsuccessful way
to be dealer in real estate. In the
! days of its youth 1t probably was
worth not over fiftv dollars but be-
cauSa a carfain stuhhV- bearded mar