Maude

Maude

Quote from: MVC Sabiduria ’07 (1907) pg. 51

Before us we have a picture of one of the famous statutes of the world, entitled “Maud: a Mystery.” And as Maud, the subject passed a life of mystery, so this statue erected to perpetuate her fame, presents an unsolved enigma.

No one knows what Maud really was. Some say she was a mule of extraordinary intelligence and humor, who featured in Sunday stunts for the benefit of the comic papers. Others say that she was a horse and passed a life of quiet and sedate dignity, drawing about the avocation (i. e., the milk cart) of Dr. Black, President of Missouri Valley College. The facts will probably never be known—nor will we ever know what master hand, skillful and capricious, in the still watches of last Hallow-e’en night, carved and fashioned this statue and left it on the stage of the old Chapel of M. V. C.

Of the boys who viewed the wonder the next morning, some looked surprised, others amused, a few self-conscious, and quite a number, guilty. The same night the gig, which served as Dr. Black’s “avocation” had disappeared from its place in the doctor’s stable. I mention these things merely as contemporary events and not as having any bearing on how the statue came to be.

X. Entric.