V 3 ÉANTA CLAUS "LIVES Trns-y HIS DOUBLE 1 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 Dancers By ARTHUR CHAPMAN

He was Santa, he was a sea captain, he was King Lear

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