recollections about horace mason
"My brother, Horace, was older and attended Maercker before I did. He told me about one teacher, Miss Handy, who was having all sorts of trouble with discipline. She became ill during the year, and her sister came in to substitute. She was still in high school, but her discipline was better. The Soper boy - a big kid - was sitting in the back of the room, and he hit my brother over the head with a history book. Miss Handy dashed down the aisle, yanked the book out of his hands, and bounced it off his head several times. She never had any trouble after that." - Horace's brother James Mason (1977)
"In 1910 Dad was supervising a drainage job laying 6 inch tile buried about 30 inches clear across the farm. At the same time Horace age 14 was supervising the harvest of a hay crop, which may have totaled 20 tons. That was a lot of hay lifted by the pitchfork of that skinny kid, and it seemed to me he was doing more heavy work than was good for him. Yet, 67 years later he is still on earth, still able to write about [his] Fairview farm experience and the school days at Maercker school." - James Mason (1977)
"Horace was so quiet, especially compared to Lucy, that I think in a lot of ways we didn't know the real Horace. His sense of humor was definitely there, but didn't have a chance to come out with all of the cacophony around the house. One lady in Walden who ran a laundromat/gas station, Iris Blevins, told me years ago that when Horace was running the grocery store across the street from her one of the women in town that thought she was very sophisticated went into the store and asked Horace for a beef heart. He went off to get it, and came back with a can of beans. She said 'No, I said a Beef Heart!' Horace replied 'Oh, I thought you said Big Fart,' and the snooty lady stomped out all the way home with everyone in ear-shot laughing." - Horace's grandson Steve Roberts (March, 2013)
"Looking at the Owl Creek pictures got me thinking of a story that Florence Mason Little told me once when I was in Chicago, probably at Jane Marshall's house. She was at the Owl Creek ranch visiting her brothers one time, and went horse-back riding. The horse she was riding spooked, and took off running with her in the saddle. Horace jumped on a horse and raced to catch-up. When he did, he grabbed the reins and stopped the run-away horse. She described the scene as just like you would expect to see in a movie western." - Steve Roberts (May, 2013)
"One of the vivid memories that I have of Horace is as a little kid inside the little pantry off the side of the kitchen in Walden. That was always a fascinating place for kids, because there were usually cookies or home made cinnamon rolls to find, and playing with all of the old kitchen equipment was fun.
"We always thought of Horace as the strong silent type, and of Lucy as the conversationalist. That is an understatement of both of their personalities. Horace liked his peace and quiet, and Lucy loved the noise and bustle of a social life. We also knew them as teetotalers. Lucy was probably more of a Temperance Unionist in her views of alcohol.
"Anyway, this one time there was a lot of commotion going on in the house and I remember looking up from the floor of the pantry when Horace walks in, takes a bottle of cooking sherry off the shelf, opens the bottle, takes a long swig, caps the bottle, puts it back and walks out, all without a word. That always said a lot to me about the difference between appearances and reality." - Steve Roberts (May, 2013)
"We always thought of Horace as the strong silent type, and of Lucy as the conversationalist. That is an understatement of both of their personalities. Horace liked his peace and quiet, and Lucy loved the noise and bustle of a social life. We also knew them as teetotalers. Lucy was probably more of a Temperance Unionist in her views of alcohol.
"Anyway, this one time there was a lot of commotion going on in the house and I remember looking up from the floor of the pantry when Horace walks in, takes a bottle of cooking sherry off the shelf, opens the bottle, takes a long swig, caps the bottle, puts it back and walks out, all without a word. That always said a lot to me about the difference between appearances and reality." - Steve Roberts (May, 2013)
From Horace's daughter Ida Frances Marshall's Things Remembered...
"Daddy had two horses. The one he liked best was old and his name was Rex. He was mostly a pensioner but occasionally Daddy would ride him and Bob did some. I only rode him once. Then Daddy bought a horse from Pete Monroe from the south end of North Park. His name was High and his main characteristic was that he bucked everyone off, especially in the morning. It was a challenge for people to ride him. One time he ran away and went to where he came from, which was maybe 30 miles from the Hill Ranch. We took Daddy to where he was and Daddy rode him home, except late in the evening we were anxious because Daddy was still not home and it was getting dusky. As we looked down the road from the lower end of the ranch, we finally spotted him walking and leading the horse. High had thrown Daddy off and Daddy had a broken collar bone so could not get back on the horse. Of course, at that late hour, Mom had to take Daddy to town to the doctor to get the bone set."
"Daddy had a favorite horse, Buster, that he loaned to some carpenters who were repairing the flumes that shored up the ditch that ran from Big Creek Lake to the Hill Ranch. Unfortunately, they did not feed him properly up there in the mountains and he became very ill. Daddy was leading him back to the ranch through the forest when the horse became too ill to go any further. I remember taking a hot dinner and coffee to a place at the edge of the forest and then Daddy walking back into the dark where he stayed all night with the horse until it died. That is something I will not forget because I was so worried about my dad. It was scary."
"Daddy had two horses. The one he liked best was old and his name was Rex. He was mostly a pensioner but occasionally Daddy would ride him and Bob did some. I only rode him once. Then Daddy bought a horse from Pete Monroe from the south end of North Park. His name was High and his main characteristic was that he bucked everyone off, especially in the morning. It was a challenge for people to ride him. One time he ran away and went to where he came from, which was maybe 30 miles from the Hill Ranch. We took Daddy to where he was and Daddy rode him home, except late in the evening we were anxious because Daddy was still not home and it was getting dusky. As we looked down the road from the lower end of the ranch, we finally spotted him walking and leading the horse. High had thrown Daddy off and Daddy had a broken collar bone so could not get back on the horse. Of course, at that late hour, Mom had to take Daddy to town to the doctor to get the bone set."
"Daddy had a favorite horse, Buster, that he loaned to some carpenters who were repairing the flumes that shored up the ditch that ran from Big Creek Lake to the Hill Ranch. Unfortunately, they did not feed him properly up there in the mountains and he became very ill. Daddy was leading him back to the ranch through the forest when the horse became too ill to go any further. I remember taking a hot dinner and coffee to a place at the edge of the forest and then Daddy walking back into the dark where he stayed all night with the horse until it died. That is something I will not forget because I was so worried about my dad. It was scary."