Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 September 1917 — PHILOSOPHY OF WALT MASON [ARTICLE]

PHILOSOPHY OF WALT MASON

I had a friend, I loved him- well, we ne'er had fuss or friction; he’d sit with me in my hotel, and talk of verse and fiction. We'd talk of Shelley, Moore and Scott, of Coleridge, burns and > Dickens; such conversation hits the spot, the jaded mind it quickens. Now nearly every modern skate will bnly talk of getting, of stocks and bonds add real estate, of rents and contract letting. And so I loved the man who spieled of books and those who penned thorn, from Homer down to Eugene Field, to roast them or defend them. And then one night he sought my den, and told a tale of sorrow, and ere'

he left he borrowed ten, which he’d return tomorrow. ’Twas long ago, and nevermore my friend and I foregather; he does not knock upon my door, but shuns my portal, rather. No more he makes the keen remark that set my pulses humming, but slides into an alley dark whene’er he sees me coming. I can’t get close enough to say, “That debt I have forgiven; oh, visit me, the good old way, for I’m to boredom driven.’’ Perhaps you have a cherished friend, who makes your life more sunny? If you would hold bim to the end, don’t lend him any money.