Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 90, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1919 — PHILOSOPHY OF WALT MASON [ARTICLE]

PHILOSOPHY OF WALT MASON

The highway running east and west is but a sad and„ sorry jest. In drouthy seasons it will do; then motor cars along it choo, and loaded teams climb up its hills, and dislocate no poles or thrills. And this is why I sometimes say the government should do away with rain and moisture of that stamp, so triat the road may not get damp. For when the water drips and pelts, that doggone highway simply melts, like sugar in a cup of tea, and there’s no thoroughfaVe to see. Some drowning mules we may behold, and autos from the culverts rolled, and 'swearing men who ply the jaw and say there ought to be a law. We've blown in millions more or less to make that road a big success. We've graded and we’ve plowed and dragged, we've engineered aqd cussed and bragged, we've foundered horses by the /herd, to make the, highway less absurd. And wjien the weather’s good and dry it pleases the aesthetic eye; it’s scraped and manicured so nice we think it's surely worth the price; we bowl along its dusty miles, our faces wreathed in beaming smiles. Then Pluvius 'uncorks his trough, 'it rains, and all the stuff is off. I wonder if we’ll ever rise, unswerving purpose in our eyes, and build the kind of roads that last through vernal rain and wintery blast?