Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1917 — PHILOSOPHY OF WALT MASON [ARTICLE]

PHILOSOPHY OF WALT MASON

It’s . hard to smile when you have the-grip, when you cough all day and all night you yip. when yous lungs are sprained and your throat is peeled, and your head feels much like a football field. Oh, it’s bard to smile, but it can be done; I have tried the scheme, and the effort won. And the doctor said, as he gave me pills, and some castor oil, and a quart of squills, “I wish my patients were all like yotr, but they mostly roar when the doctor’s due?’ And all who minister unto me, when. I’m as sick as a man can—be, behold the raqiance of'my smile, and say it’s sotnething that’s well worth while, iind they fondly hope that I may get worse, it’s such a pleasure my nibs to nurse. When sickness comes to a man’s abode, the women carry a grievous load. They fret and worry and work and weep, they miss their meals and they lose their sleep. And he' is surely a tinhorn skate who gives their burden an added weight, by grouching round in a peevish style,, for if he wishes to he can smile. "

The curtailing of racing in England last winter season did not lead to any great curtailment of betting—and street betting at that, in spite of the act. One bookmaker—not a big man either—took over 4,000 pounds in football bets in one week; and a week or two previous he paid out over 3,000 pounds. The week before that, however, he paid out nearly 200 pounds, winning over 3,000 pounds. Not a few bookmakers, particularly in South London have, however, been badly hit by the facility with which football enthusiasts have spotted winners.