All Songs, all Life
have roots from
yesteryears
On the morning of February 7, 1935 at Mason Hill,
Arthington, about 20 kilometres northwest of Monrovia,
Liberia there were no ditties or guffaws at the home of
Honourable Johnson Boto Mason, instead there were bowed heads and prayerful hearts. The anxious hearts were pleading fervently for God's benevolence, in the ushering in of a baby, thrusting her way into existence.
It had been a long, stressful night. No one had slept a wink in the large, American South-styled, frame house.
Pangs of pain had gripped Lilly Melissa Mason almost cruelly, all night, forcing tears to the eyes of her children. By morning, she had begun to groan, issuing intermittent shrills. Whenever waves of pain swept through her, she held the bedpost and women comforted her. The seeming, invisible hands around her neck made her eyes to pop out.
A life kicked
There was no question of rushing Lilly to a medical facility, as none was located at Arthington at the time.After brewing a mug of coffee for his wife and encouraging her to sip
it, Honourable J. Boto Mason sent for the town's midwife, Auntie Marie Wright, who was much respected for her skill. Her response had beer. prompt and her presence reassuring. At dawn, all was left in her hands anc those of God, too.
Some minutes before noon, Lilly, coerced by the midwife, gave a
desperate i}as p and a child leapt into the world, to behold Africa's sunshine. "It is a girl", Auntie Marie announced after saying a short, persona: prayer.
"Yes, she is so lovely", her assistant said, pointing at the baby's lovely
hair.
Gurgling with excitement. Honourable Mason swept into the room to see Lilly's laughing eyes. His father. Pa Johnson Mason Sr., a farmer who would pass into eternal glory 12 years later, followed proudly.
"We have another baby`. she told her husband, flicking a rivulet of sweat from her brow.
His spirit already overflowing with joy, he took a close look at his precious new born.
"She is as fair as I am and she's very beautiful", Honourable Boto Mason commented.
heart.
It was her sixth time of traveling the precarious road to motherhood. Each occasion had seemed perilous, requiring the bountiful grace of God Omnipotent, God Everlasting, to see her through. It was a fact that was much appreciated by her Christian mind. No matter how severely she was pummeled by pain, God always eventually rewarded Lilly with healthy. beautiful babies.
She was truly fortunate as pregnancies in the Africa of her time frequently spelt doom.

Although Lilly enjoyed good health helped in large part by her strong African physique, she was always conscious of the travails of childbirth.

What fueled her concern was the plethora of tragedies she had seen some of her friends suffer in their determined bid to be fruitful..

She blinked her eyes against the stream of joyous tears. God loved them both, immeasurably, Lilly told her husband who had nestled to her with his arm around her shoulder.

Honourable Mason Jnr smiled lovingly at his wife, amazed at how weak she looked. He considered Lilly a gift because of her resourcefulness and tender companionship. Sociable and self-assured, she complemented him and always gave unparalleled encouragement.

His own father drew closer. Honourable Mason noticed him touch the dome of his hat and Instinctively, nudged him to re-enact an activity that was indeed a family tradition.

A stir of enthusiasm whizzed in his father. Pa Mason Snr glanced at the baby, aware it was time to evoke God's blessings on his grand - daughter.

First, he quoted verses one and two of Psalm 9:
"0 Lord, I will praise you with all my heart, and tell everyone about the marvelous things you do. I will be glad, yes filled with joy because of you. I will sing your praises, 0 Lord God above all gods. "
Solemnly, he implored God to bestow bountiful mercies on the baby, now crying in the arms of the midwife. Her life, he said shall be as bright as the sun and as colourful as the rainbow.
Placing his hands on her, he pronounced more blessings on her life, saying she would ride the crest of good fortune, good health and long life.
In a deep, enthusiastic voice his invocation sounded like a recitation of C. P Cavafy's "Ithaka"
As you set out for Ithaka
Hope your road is a long one, Full of adventure, full of discovery Keep Ithaka always in your mind Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all
Better if it lasts for years.
So you're old by the time you reach the Island, Wealthy with all you have gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey
Without her, you wouldn't have set out She has nothing left to give you now
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you. Wise as you have become, so full of experience You'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
Later, the Masons warmly played host to their friends and -..<1 wishers, being well-known in Arthington, particularly along South Caro::-a Road, on Mason Hill, where they had put down roots.
They elected to name their new daughter, Opal. They also ca-,,-­her Amanda, meaning "worthy of love".
She did not like the name Opal for interesting reasons: "My parents thought the name was lovely. Opal is a bluish precious stone with iridescent reflections. Since I neither saw myself as precious nor as hard as a stone, I began to write Opral on my school notebooks. It took time, but I succeeded in imposing the name change. I doubt there is anyone else who goes by that name. Others end with the letter h, a good example being the famous Oprah Winfrey. "'
Opral's father, Honourable Johnson Boto Mason was born in the settlement of Arthington, Montserrado County, Liberia on December 1901 unto the union of Johnson Mason Snr. and Liberia Crump of Clay ­Ashland, Liberia.
Mason Snr. had accompanied his own father Scott, a freed slave of Rock Hill, South Carolina, United States of America in arriving Monrovia 1869.
Liberia to which Scott had returned with his young son Johnson
Mason was founded as the Commonwealth of Liberia in 1839 by the American Colonisation Society. The new country was on July 26,1847 constituted as the Free and Independent Republic of Liberia and first recognized by Great Britain and France.
Having been violently removed from Africa for several years, the call to return to the mother continent was one answered by those who placed human freedom above everything else.
Manning Marable, a widely read black political theorist and a foremost black socialist in America, employed the vehicle of poetry in documenting the nightmare:
We      bend
beneath another broiling sun
reaching, grasping
breaking the sweet brown stalks
                           drenched in our own bitter sweat
                          salt in our nostrils blood
                      upon our hands
We bend and cut
in carefully measured steps
row upon endless row
moving in unison
like dusty steel machines
 slashing cruelly at the earth
 burning the blossoms
 cursing ourselves.
We bend deep inside
Barely above the ground
 But a stone's throw from hell
Closely watched by the cap'n
 rifles above our heads
 we slash!
Africa offered the promise of a fresh start. With racial terroriz­absent, there were limitless opportunities for the immigrants in the mot),.,:­continent. They understood Ibn Rahel, the medieval Christian chronicle.­concept of freedom: "To have freedom is only to have that which is absolute. . necessary to enable us to be what we ought to be, and to possess what'.,,
to possess."
The young Mason identified with his descendants' heritage unyielding drive for self actualization. Stories he was told of their ordeal a­share-croppers, in the deep American South, strengthened his resolve launch into a "glorious life".
His parents, recognizing that a sound education was essential if the.­son was to be relevant in the scheme of things, in Liberia, sent Boto Mason -: a private school in Arthington. The first school was under the tutorship of h`.­Jimmy Bracewell while the second, Shaffer AME Day School, was under t~ t principalship of Reverend James Knight.
Finally, he completed his formal education at Lutheran Muhlenbe--­Boy's School in Millsburg.
Due in large part to the proselytizing he encountered in school. embraced the Christian faith at an early age and became a member of the hi: Carmel A.M.E. Church, Arthington. He would in later years serve as churc clerk, member of the board of trustees, superintendent of the Sunday SchG_ and member of the Choir.
His public career commenced when he was appointed one of three associate commissioners who administered the Township of Arthingtc in 1930, along with Mr. Isaiah Smallwood and Mr. Pohlman J. Bracewell He also served as Justice of the Peace for eighteen years, Local Secretan. the True Whig Party of Arthington and member of the local committee.
In the militia, he rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant in
Arthington Militia of the Fifth Regiment.
He had four sisters, vii: Mrs Lealer Ponder, Mrs Margaret Mason­

Lewis, Mrs Emma Mason-Grove, and Mrs Salome J. Mason-Moore and a brother Mr. George Scott Mason.
Fraternally, Honourable Mason was Past Master of the Order of United Brothers of Friendship, Past Noble Father and College degree worker of the Grand Order of odd Fellows. He was a founding member of the International Order of Good Templars.
On March 30, 1922 Johnson Boto Mason, who had identified himself with the Gola tribe was married to Miss Lilly Melissa Turkett of Arthington. Her own family had aligned with the Kpelle tribe.
Miss Turkett was born on August 10, 1902 unto the union of Mr. Moses Turkett and Mrs Melissa Bracewell Turkett both descendants of freed emigrants from Valdosta, Georgia, United States of America.
She was the oldest of three siblings, including Mr. Christopher Turkett, Mr. Andrew Turkett and had an uncle, Mr Philip T. Bracewell.
In quest of western education, Mrs Lilly Mason first attended a private school on Bracewell Avenue, Arthington, under the tutorship of Mr. Jimmy Bracewell, her uncle. Thereafter, she continued her studies at another private school conducted by her aunt, Rhoda Barr. Later, she enrolled at the Shaffer AME Day School in Arthington and was taught by the Reverend James Knight and his wife, Nellie Knight.
It was in this school, she met Boto Mason. She subsequently moved to Harrisburg where she lived for three years with her maternal aunt, Emma Harris and uncle Alexander Harris. At Harrisburg, she attended the Government Day School there. She completed her formal education at Suehn Industrial Mission.
Like her husband, she embraced the Christian Religion at an early age at St. Paul Baptist Church, Arthington, under the pastorate of the late Reverend Wicker. She was sixteen years old when she became a Christian.
After her marriage she transferred her membership of the Baptist Church to the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
A devoted and reliable church worker, Sunday school teacher and a member of the choir, She found time to participate in other church activities.
Until 1967, she was also a communion stewardess charged with the
responsibility of preparing the linen for the Lord's Supper.
In her fraternal associations, she was an active member o' Household of Ruth and rose to the position of Most Noble Governor. ~-K was Past Princess of the Sisters of the Mysterious Ten (SMT)., and P'a::: Vice Grand Princess of the Grand Temple of the same order. Also, she -.. W an officer and founding member of the Liberian National Red Cross Society, Montserrado county.
Much admired for her resourcefulness, she traded in a wide rangy .f goods. She also made bed quilts, for her friends and family.
She and her husband made great sacrifices for the education of tr.E-seven children, namely: The Reverend (Dr) James Benedict Mason. Y-­
Myrtle Bruce, Mrs Agnes Hoff, Dr. Melvin Mason, Mrs Lilly Mae Dunn, C'r.:i­(Mrs) Opral Amanda Mason Benson and Mr. Demosthenes Anthony Mason
Opral's father, Honourable J.Boto Mason was a very quiet man ~: tried to put negative emotions in check. His children rarely saw him angry. The impression he gave however was that despite his love quietude, he was capable of raising dust if he was pushed to it. His wife ~: zr= his opposite. Opral said of her mother: "She talked to us all the time, shove:z a lot of emotion and put everybody in check. She kept the house going cr,-­made sure we all did what we were supposed to do. My father was quiet, r'. mother was not. The two personalities complemented each other".
She believed that the `atmosphere' influenced her: "I learnt from mother how to be a hard worker. How to push forward and get things do•:
And from my father how to be calm in the face of provocation. How to tax things easy and not to exhibit anger. He taught me the need to cool do,..­
and let angry situations pass before actually dealing with them. My moth­called this letting things get out of hand. But my father always said, never act when you are angry".
One of seven children, it was not all the time that clothes were boug.-­for her. Being the last of four girls meant that her sisters usually handed do";­some of their dresses to Opral. She would say of getting new clothes:
"I was always pleased when I got anew item of clothing. The toc. that we lived in was very small. Clothes were not sold there. Ourparents ~,to travel to Monrovia which was the capital to buy such items. Whenever my mother came back from the capital city with new clothes for me, I felt excited".
New clothes were not the only things that made Opral happy, opportunities to accompany her mother on trips to Monrovia offered greater excitement. Accompanying her meant she could make her choice of clothes; more importantly, she would be able to see cars and beautiful houses.
When she was given the very first opportunity to travel to Monrovia with her mother, she felt very pleased, yet something happened that she has never been able to forget or live down: "On that day, we woke up at about 4 o'clock in the morning. We had to walk for about one hour in the dark from Arthington to Millsburg. In those days the roads had not been opened up and travel was by boat. Arriving at the boat-place shortly before 5.OOam, our items were loaded on the boat on St. Paul River. We set sail and passed three or four towns before arriving Monrovia- just when people were beginning to move about, and the early morning view was indeed very beautiful. At the boat-landing my mother left me alone and went to buy what we would eat before she made contact with the merchants who were mostly Lebanese ".
"What she often did was to bring certain items from our town and sell to the Lebanese who in turn, sold things to her, such as cooking utensils, plates, soaps, bedspreads and canned food. They were engaged, more or less, in barter trading. I sat on a nearby bench and waited. Unfortunately, she was long in coming. From being worried, I became afraid. It was in that state that I suddenly felt the urge to go to the toilet. Since I didn't know the people around me well enough, I didn't tell any one of my predicament. I tried to hold it, until she got back. But she stayed too long and I ended up letting it come and soiling my clothes and the bench. I really disgraced myself and ruined my first trip to Monrovia. Everybody heard about it and laughed at me. For a long time after the incident, my mother didn't take me along to Monrovia. However, I learnt from that incident that whenever you want to go and do what you consider important, you mustgo, no matter what other people are doing. You must learn to be brave".
Her grand father lived across the street and was fond of her. To demonstrate it, he always invited Opral over to share his meals. In calling

her, Pa Mason Snr adopted Bobo as her pet name. The name seemed exclusive to-him. Opral's sister Mrs Lilly Mae Mason-Dunn, who herself was called Kema Kope, a Gola word for one who doesn't care and who gets intc fights said she was known differently:
"Opral was known to lots of our older relatives as O.PD and to most of her friends and teachers as Sister Fox because of her unassuming attitude, her sharp mind and the fact one never knew what she was thinking about and what she could do next".
Of her other two sisters, Mrs Agnes Hoff who sang all the time had the sobriquet Yankee duloo, while Mrs Myrtle Bruce was known as Quee, meaning someone who positions herself like a princess, enjoys dressing beautifully and being waited upon.
In their later years they would call her Mother Superior, a tribute to her ability to hold her siblings together. She cherishes the name till date.
Their next door neighbour was her uncle, George Scott who occupied a unique position in the community. She explained this:
"One of my uncles was appointed the district Commissioner of the county by the central government in Monrovia. He used to travel to various hamlets carried by four abled-bodied men in a hammock. He collected taxes for the government, settled disputes, and acquainted the people with the central government's activities. As a result of his visibility in the community many parents gave their children to him, to bring up in his household. We had many such children in our own household as well. They became our foster brothers and sisters and adopted Mason as their surname. When we went to school, they went too. One of them Miatta became a matron in a large hospital, another became a reverend minister and administered to the congregation with my late brother, Dr. Benedict Mason. There was also Elsie who died young. She was doing very well as a dressmaker when death took her away".
Clumsiness was not encouraged in the Mason household, everyone was so productively engaged, that there were no dull, drab days.
"If a child lives with tolerance, She learns to be patient
If a child lives with encouragement He learns to have confidence., If a child lives with fairness, She learns to show justice., If a child lines with security, He learns to have faith He or she will learn to find Love in the world"
The fact that Opral was beautiful and had long hair as a young girl didn't stop her from being studious. Even at a tender age, she was identified as being very smart in school. She could memorize poems and recite them word for word. Opral was always able to remember everything in her school notebooks once she had read them.
Her brother. Dr. Melvin Mason thinks that what gave her the edge academically was because she was always reading.
Mrs Myrtle Bruce, who Opral lived with as a teenager described her as very intelligent and gifted.
There were times she used her intellect to exert revenge. Remembering one such occasion, Mrs Dunn said:
"We were not allowed to pass wind in public. If we did, we were supposed to apologise. One morning, during her turn to make the bed, she passed wind and did not apologise. But despite the stench, she kept on laughing. We quarreled over it, unaware that our mother was nearby and overhead us. She got hold of Opral and gave her a good whipping. I did suffer for that. Even though Opral was younger than me, I depended on her to help me at school, because she was much smarter. She accused me of causing her to be whipped. To show her anger, she did not teach me my lesson before I went to school the next day as she usually helped me out".
The Mason household placed high premium on tolerance and peaceful co-existence. Opral's father did not shy away from instilling discipline in his children. She recalled an occasion her father used her to make a point:

"One day, out of the blues my father called my sister and I and sa:~ he had heard us speak roughly to one another. He said, it was disresper.~.~ to call an older person a liar. My sister, Lilly Mae who was only two yea older than me, knew I wasn't paying much attention to what our father v. a.: saying. So, she waited. Just a couple of hours later, she told me somethi-:: that was clearly untrue. I accused her of lying again; that I didn't believe he­story. She went straight to our father and told him that I had alreac: disobeyed him, by calling her a liar. He invited me and gave me a severe beating. He said, he meant to be taken seriously. I felt that what my siste­did was mischievous on her part because she knew we had been calling eac­other liars for a very longtime. How were we going to stop so abruptly?".
Opral favoured light domestic work. Her sister, Mrs Dunn further reminisced:
"I usually helped Opral to do her chores as she hated to do rouge work such as fetching water from the creek or getting cooking wood. She would rather clean the lodgings, set the table at meal time, sweep the floor and do easier jobs. She would close up the house earlier as she was afraid'c' darkness".
It was difficult for Opral to understand the rationale behind some c' the reasons why she was punished, while growing up. She enjoyed cooking. To her, it was an effective way of making her parents and sibling Happy with her. But in her eagerness to please them she once incurred the:­wrath:
"Whilst I was still young, my mother told us that we should always respect our senior brother; that he was number one among us and we should do whatever he told us to do. At that time, I was just learning how to cook We used to take turns, in cooking for the family. One day, my senior brothe­brought home a chic from our grandfather's farm house . He said he was going to raise it to maturity. He had a little basket in the yard where he kept it He was always feeding it. I simply kept an eye on it. I knew I would use the chicken to make stew for the family and demonstrate to them how well could cook. By the time I felt the chicken had matured, I slaughtered it, whey. my brother had gone out. I made stew with it and everybody ate to their fit: They all commended my cooking but didn't know where the chicken had come from. They assumed it was one of those in our own yard. When my brother discovered what had happened, he raised an alarm: I had killed what he was nurturing into a special kind of chicken without his permission. My mother reacted by beating me black and blue. I didn't understand the reason for the furore. I thought, if they had all eaten the same chicken, why should I be beaten up".
Despite small problems here and there, her position as the youngest daughter of her parents made her to be indulged as a child. She became much closer to her mother, when her sisters all went off to boarding school. As Opral grew older, she began to resent being left home with her mother. She felt she needed room and opportunity to take her own decisions, live her life and be her own person. Besides, it was prestigeous to be sent off to boarding school.
Looking back at that formative period of her life, she thinks it was what made her passionate about wanting to be independent: "My mother wanted me to be dependent on her. I wanted to be independent from her. I think that the struggle and tensions they threw up contributed in shaping my life".   -
When Honourable Johnson Boto Mason died at the Cooper's Clinic, Sinkor, Monrovia, on Thursday September 28, 1967, the flag of the Republic of Liberia was, on the orders of President of Liberia, Dr. WVS Tubman, flown at half mast, on all public buildings in the settlement of Arthington from eight o'clock ante meridian on the day of his interment.
To lighten the effect of the bereavement on her sisters and mother, Opral played host to them in Lagos during the last quarter of 1967. Although, her mother's sight had become severely impaired by this time, she was nonetheless introduced to some dignitaries including Oba Adeyinka Oyekan of Lagos.
A bird passes this way, flies, dies, And the great cold comes,
The great cold of n fight, blackness. A fish darts by, passes this way, dies, And the great cold comes,
The great cold of night, blackness.

A woman is born, eats, sleeps,
And the great cold comes,
The great cold of night, blackness.
The sky bursts into flame, its eyes go out, The morning star shines The cold below, the light above.
A woman has passed this way, the prisoner is free The shadow has melted away ...
Sadly, less than a year after her father's transition, Opral's mother died on Wednesday, May 22, 1968. In recognition of her exemplar, Christian life, the funeral service over her remains held at Mt. Carmel A.M.E Church, St. Paul River, Arthington on May 28, 1968, was conducted by a host of Christian clergymen.
The President of Liberia, Dr. W.VS. Tubman felt unhappy he could not witness the ceremony. In a handwritten letter he addressed to Rev James Benedict Mason, he gave reasons why thatwas so:
"To my great disappointment, I was taken ill with malaria last nigh: and my physician directs that I remain in bed for two days. On this account. I will not be able to attend your mother's funeral, but I will direct my Aide-de Camp, General Daniel B. Warner to represent me at the funeral.
I extend to you and your family on behalf of Mrs. Tubman and myse:' profound sympathy and regrets for this irreparable loss which you hace suffered.
Kind Regards
Sincerely, W.VS. Tubman.
As was done for her husband, the Liberian flag was also flown at ha:= mast in her honour, on the day of her interment.