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?ANTA CLAUS "LIVES Trns-y HIS DOUBLE V 1 3 Paul B. Mnason* Whose Snow-framed Features Smiled at Thousands of Children. Will Pose No More. Man of Mys? tery. He Once Led a Religious Sect Called the Angel Dancers By ARTHUR CHAPMAN Mnason in a pose reminiscent of his "Lord's Farm" days T HE man who was Santa Claus is dead. He was a man of many names, but at the Art Students' League, where he posed fer beginners, and in the stu? dios of the best known artists, where he was sent for when a "Santa Claus type" was need? ed, he was known as Mnason, the first "n" being silent Over in Jersey'City, where Mnason lived. the children in the neighborhood are still sor? rowing because "Santa Claus" is gone. They used to call "Hello, Santa Claus," after him when they saw him on the street, and they would say "Now, don't forget to send me that ?HI for Christmas." Or perhaps it was a sled or le, or whatever else happened to be fore? most in the mind of the child. And the man who was Santa Claus would always promise to send whatever they asked. "He said that American parents always got their children whatever the children wanted," 'aid .Mnason's landlady, a motherly woman in whose house the Santa Claus model had lived .for ten years. "Such being the case, he did not ?kesitate to promise the children whatever they afked for. If he had thought they might be jiisappointed he never would have made a fromise, as he was fond of children. Hardly day passed that he did not come home with e or two children by the hand." Huntsman T. Mnason, or Mnason T. Hunts n, or Madison T. Huntsman, or Paul B. ason, as he had been known at various es in his career, probably had his picture produced more times than any other man. '?.art circles he was famous as the type that aeant beard, i joviality. Santa Claus was ?a chief subject in later years, when his >eard had become snowy. Artists say there ?ever has been another Santa Claus like ?4nas?n. They drew and painted him as ..anta Claus foi ne covers, posters, ??"way advertisen ents, illustrations for sto " ';' ; Senre paintings. They found ?im the ideai type, on account of his snowy ward, his beari ?g, the jolly twinkle it, his Cl?S,hls and his intelligence. Also J*hands' Orson Lowell, who drew Mnason ,'3;' times ; Santa Claus, says he had the ?as that wenl with the type?hands that ?*essed character. At the Art Students' League, in West Fifty *en?h s';- "?? M-.a.-oii miel often posed * where he was stricken with a fatal at Ki of heart disease, he found almost con Jtemploym?ni as a model. Miss Margaret *|feau' th( ? -v of thc league, showed 7* recen< made of Mnason by stu f*8' sonu' of them showing him as Santa J18, One ?howed him as a sea captain ' - some story of the sea to a little boy with '. a*- ?f" made an excellent sea captai33. * also posed as King Lear. In fact, he ?"fcdto - | any character that called a snowy beard, but Santa Claus was his ?!t hc-i, and he knew it and the children J ' and the artists knew it. ?nason fell dead at the Art Students' ??Tue one week ago last Thursday, almost *? he answered "All right" to some stu '?quiry about his health. He had left Pwe as usual early in the morning. His land ?J y~^ she did not see him go. but a , a( him and Mnason waved I'/" " was bis habit to leave the house rung to "get out of the way," P?e put i*. '.,''"Wed him a room in my house ten years ?' sa?d his landlady, "because I believed ? to be in need. My husband, who was a Jroar-l man, had met with an accident and *?been compelled to seek other work. I de .".'"' ' ..' 'et 0'-;L a ''00331 or two, and that wa-; "'. Mnason came to us. He helped *]nd the house at any little work that he d do. He was a vegetarian. In fact, he Much pronounced ideas on the subject that, e be would go to the store for us and get bread or anything of that sort, be would not go to the butcher's and get 3ueat. Of late, he had been talking about going to France to see a boy he had raised The boy is now twenty one years old. I used to see letters that he sent to Mr. Mnason in ear? lier years?-very af? fectionate letters." Mnason was seventy four years old last De? cember. He was buried in Scranton, Pa., near his birthplace, a niece at Morris Plains, N. J., having claimed the body. When he was posing occasionally the model for Santa Claus would hint to his artist friends regarding cei'tain ex periences in his life in which his pronounced and individualistic re? ligious views played a part. It was A delight to talk on religious subjects. InWact, one Christmas season when he had been hired by a New York department store to dress up. as Santa Claus and receive the messages of the little folk who flocked to the toy department, it was said the engagement proved to be short lived, because Mnason had "talked religion" to ?customers. The files of New York newspapers of an earlier clay contain many articles about Mna? son, whose activities as head of a religious sect in New Jersey involved him in difficulties with his neighbors and even got him into theLcourts. The Angel Dancers, or the Church of the Liv? ing God, was what Mnason called his sect. He put the "n" into his name because in the Bible (Acts xxi, 16) there is the following ref? erence : "There went with us also certain of the dis? ciples of Caesarea and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge." For almost a score of years Mnjwpn, who called himself "The Holy One," was the center of bitter controversy. He and a group of his followers, men and women, lived on what they called the "Lord's farm" in the Pascack sec? tion of northern New Jersey. In 1909 he and his followers were evicted from the farm, after which Mnason disappeared for several years, to reappear in New York as an art model. "Line's Busy"?a Christmas drawing by Orson Lowell for which Mnason posed. Reprinted by courtesy of the editor of "Judge" I He was Santa, he was a sea captain, he was King Lear 'M? Mnason first appeared ? in New Jersey as a lay ]m exhorter in the Metho m dist faith. He told of ? visions which he claim? ed he had. His ideas were so radical, par? ticularly where they concerned marriage, in K which institution he 3j? always declared he did /? not believe, that one ' night he was waylaid Pin the dark and half his hair and whiskers were shaved off. This hap? pened at Pascack. Fol? lowing this event, Mnason went to Jersey City, but he soon re? appeared in the Pas . cack region. He waslo j&ft cated on the farm of ^jr Garrett Storms, near J? Woodcliff Lake, who, ?y with his brother Rich? ard, his sister Mary and his mother, became so interested in the teachings of the ex? horter that soon Mna? son was in control of the farm, which he made the headquarters of his cult. Here he raised vegetables and took them to market and sold them. Wayfarers were wel? come at the "Lord's farm," and hoboes soon learned the way there and ate many a free meal, with no greater penalty than hearing Mnason expound his radical doctrines. There were protests on the part of neigh? bors, and Mnason was even tarred and feath? ered and ducked in ice water. But he was an apostle of non-resistance even in those days so far ahead of the great war, and all such "mere incidents" did not have the desired ef? fect of making him quit the community. Bergen County authorities conducted an investigation of the "Lord's farm" in ISO?,. There were twenty-eight followers of Mnason on the farm, nine of them long-haired men, seventeen women and two children. Biblical names abounded, some of'them being "John the Baptist," "Silas the Pure," "Titus" (Gar rett Storms) "Thecla" (Mrs. Jane Howell I "Poebe" (Mary Storms) and "The Holy One," who was Mnason himself. Indictments fol? lowed, and all but Mary Storms, who has since died, were found guilty. Only Mnason and Mrs. Howell were sentenced. They were sent to state prison for a year. After serving his prison sentence, Mnason returned to the "Lord's farm," which he con? tinued to run for several years. Occasionally he broke into the public prints, owing to some "preachment" or some threatened in? vestigation. But apparently the hold of Mnason on his followers was slipping. "Titus" Classroom of the Art Students' League, where "Santa Claus" worked as a model and where he died A War Memorial Dedicated to the Boy Who Needs a Home JUST such a memorial as soldiers killed in the war might have themselves chos? en is being planned for them in New York City. It is not monument, tri? umphal arch or statue. It is that which holds within itself an inspiration greater than all of these might give to the millions who view them. By this memorial the memory of a patriot who gave his life for his country may mold the characters and lives of American boys. "That a man's name and influence may not die with him, but continue as an inspiration and example to those who follow" The memorial is to take the form of a large building, a definite section or unit of which may be given in memory of some relative or friend. It if? to be devoted entirely to working boys from sixteen to nineteen years old, and as near as it can it is to mean "home" for the New York City boys whose homes may have been broken up by death or misfortune or for the out-of-town boy who comes to New York to make his business start. Enshrined in each room is to be the picture of the man in whose memory it was given. Inscribed below will be his record in war, or it may be his achievements in his business or professional career, for not only soldiers are to be honored in the building. Thus will be set before growing boys high ideals which will seem to them very near and real and worthy of aspiration. Such an endowuuent is not, of course, a novel scheme; hospitals, college buildings and so forth have been erected under it. But none of them has filled a more pressing need. And the boys' building will have such an opportunity as no other place would for presenting those re? minders from the lives of great men which can mean so much to lads. The building is to be erected by the West Side Y. M. C. A. by means of its own contri? bution and the memorial subscriptions. It is to he half a mile from the property of the West Side "Y," at Fifty-seventh Street and Eighth Avenue. Besides the dormitory feature there will be space for social, educational and ath? letic uses. The memorial will cost $500,000. Memorial gifts to endow rooms have been given in honor of the following: Lieutenant Marshall Peabody, killed with the "Lost Bat? talion," given by George M. Bodman; Lieuten? ant Harold Imbrio, Princeton, '00, died at Kelly Field, given by Philip Le Boutillier; Edward C. Moen, Harvard, '91, given by his brother, A. Rene Moen; William C. Wolverton, giveh by his son-in-law, Frederick H. Cone, and Lieu? tenant Quentin Roosevelt, killed in battle. The boys' division of the West Side "V" will commemorate these fellow members: ,'ulius Hoffman, who died in France; John Stark, William Jones and Harold Ash, Tank Corps, cited for bravery under fire; Harry Botjer, who picked up an enemy hand grenade to throw it out of his company's trench and lost an arm by its explosion; William Moore, Alexander Robb and John Van Schoohoven, cited for bravery under fire. There will be a room in memory of two leaders of the "Y's" Greenskin camp: Lieu? tenant Gilbert M. Jerome, killed in aviation, and Captain John Logei, killed while leading his company over the top. To provide a room $1,000 is necessary, while the other units run up to $25,000. Storms turned on him. "John the Baptist,*1 whose real name was John McClintock, com? mitted suicide, and in October, 1901), Mnason was legally ejected from the farm under the landlord and tenant act. It was then that he dropped from sight until, several years later, with his hair and beard snow white, he . appeared in New York City as a model, and specialized as "Santa Claus." Apparently he had given over all idea of re-establishing a religious colony. He wrote verse which was on religious topics, and he lost no opportunity to set forth his ideas on religion to any one who might be inclined to listen, but for the ? most part his time was occupied making the rounds of the studios, generally at the re? quest of artists who had Santa Claus pictures to make and who now are bereft because they declare that nowhere in New York or its en? virons is to be found such another model for the patron saint of Christinas. "There is no type more difficult to find than the venerable old man type?particularly the sort with a sparkle of humor, which Mnason had," said a well known artist. "It is no trouble to get old men, of course. There are plenty of them to be seen on the streets and in the parks. Not all of them would pose, even if asked?but there are few we would want under any circumstances. A model may have the flowing white beard, the long white btSsshy locks and the generous girth of an ideal SantX Claus. He may have, the ruddy glow of he^ith in his cheeks, but when it comes to painting such a model, he lacks the something necessary to make a vital picture. "Probably it is because few of us reach old age without bearing evidences of some of the hard knocks we have received. We may try to hide it under a brave front. We may have a ready enough laugh, and perhaps we are classed as cheerful, but something furtive will . show in our eyes in spite of ourselves. Or. there may be lines in the face which we sim? ply cannot hide. Get those lines under a studio skylight and they are the first thing an artist sees. In youth or middle age it may be possible for a near-type to get by, but when it comes to old age the model must stand every test. "Santa Claus, as most people have him treasured in the imagination, isn't just a commonplace old fellow, ready with a grin. Not: at all. He lives up to the immortal de? scription in 'The Night Before Christmas.' The picture of Santa Claus that always sticks in my mind is one that I got out of a short story in "St. Nicholas," written by Washing? ton Gladden, back when I was a boy. "An artist could almost draw a picture of that sort of Santa Claus without a model. I say 'almost' because he'd probably be hunt? ing around for a model before he finished. And right there his troubles would begin. If he'd hunted for a few weeks and then, just about when he'd given up, he should hear a knock on the door and there would stand Mnason, bowing and smiling his Santa Claus smile, you can imagine just what sort of a reception the applicant would get. "It's no exaggeration to say that Mnason posed for most of the Santa Claus pictures that have been made in recent years. And he figured in a good many for which he did not actually pose?as such pictures have been copied from originals for which Mnason was the model. Probably there isn't a man to? day whose picture has been cut out m ire times and is treasured in more scrapbooks. And when you figure magazine covers, ad? vertisements and pamphlets, as well as illus? trations for Christmas stories and verse, you can see that there is no end of demand for a Santa Claus type. incidentally, this is the busy season for such a model, as the illus trators who make Santa Claus covers and such things generally do their work when they are thinking about getting the price of a summer vacation out of their Christmas orders." It was, generally felt in the studios that' Mnason was a "man of mystery." Outside of the few hints he volunteered as to hl-3. early life, little was known of him. Even the newspaper history of his career seemed to be incomplete. Questioning only m??de him ' more reserved. Nothing could darnp*n his cheerfulness, but behind his smile there was an element of mystery which the embodi? ment of Santa Claus maintained to the last,