Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1919 — PHILOSOPHY OP WALT MASON [ARTICLE]

PHILOSOPHY OP WALT MASON

Since first the kaiser donned his crown his talk had been of swords; he gloried in his war lord frown, and dreamed of marching hordes. A sword is hut a useless tool, used in no honest trade; and no one but a knave or fool prefers, it to a spade. There is no sane, uplifting job in which a sword’s required, and any fiery sword-struck swab is sure to make me tired. Hjid Wilhelm clamored for a hoe, when he secured bis throne, he might not now be clothed in woe, an outcast, sad, alone., Instead of sending submarines to show new curves in crime, he might have hoed his stringless beans, admired in every clime. Behind his Potsdam linden trees he might have had a patch of stringless beans or early peas that would be hard to match. By toiling for an hour or two, each morning, briskly, there, he might have won the ribbon blue at state or county fair. Had he insisted on a saw as emblem of his power! But no, he must-have sword to draw, and flourish by the hour. He did not wish to hew the elm in useful two-foot length; the sword must advertise his realm, its majesty and strength. And now he has no realm to boost, he cannot use his sword; he’s perched up on his lonely roost, dishonored, weary, bored.