Mohave County miner., 1899-10-28
Mrs. Dobley on Markham's Poem.

VI might just as well resign at once!'
exclaimed Mrs. Dobley. 81 had no ides
that joining literary club meant that
one had to perform in public. l simply
can't do it."
"What do they want you to do, my
dear9" asked Mr.. Dobley. "A song and
dance, or a cake walk? I wouldn't
mind little thing like that You can
pick it up in no time"
ats nothing like that" said Mrs
Dobley, passing typewriter docu-
ment over the breakfast table. sand
you needn't maze any fun of the mat
ter, either. Just rnad it-read It'll" com
manded Mrs. Dobley, and her husband
read:
"Honora Coomb Dobley-Dear mad
am: At the next meeting of the lit
erary club the topic of discussion will
be Markham's poem, The Man With
the Hoe AS you have been selected
as chief speaker of the evening, you
will kindly be prepared to recite the
poem aud give short sketch of the
authors career. Also, to give your
opinion aS to the idea contained in the
work, as we'll as the general style and
literary construction of the poem"
swell, my dear.' said Mr.. Dobley,
trying to conceal the fact that he was
quite As perturbed as his wife by the
letter. "Well?"
"Well? Why didn't they select you?
What did they send that to me forY
What do know about farming?"
"You forget, my dear, that this is not
an agricultural club, but literary So
ciety. or course they refer to the fa-
nous poem"
"What poem?"
"'The Man With the Hoe He has
become one of the most typical Of
"What was the matter with him?
Why didn't he hoe? Where did it
happenY"
at began with a picture, my dear.
An artist made picture of man in a
field with hoe. The man had stopped
to lean on his hoe-the laborer in the
field, don't you see-typifying the
workman of the ages-the empty ages
Markham wrcte."
"Was it Markham had the hoe?"
"Oh, no. Markham was poet and
he saw the picture, and saw the poetry
in it. Then he wrote the poem and
called it "The Man With the Hoe"
"Was it pretty?"
at was magnificent idea-the fig
ure of that man as typical of the work
man-the patient slave plowing the
field"
"What did he have a hoe for, IL he
was plowing?"
"You don't understand. Don't you
catch the idea? Labor--the farmer at
along without an idea
over his work"
"You just said he'd stopped to rest.r
"Er-yes-but when you read it,
you'll see the splendid picture Mark
ham drew"
81 suppose he was paid for it, wasn't
he?"
III suppose SO, my dear"
"Then what was the trouble? Real
ly, John, l can't seem to understand
what all the fuss was about"
MARKHAM wanted to show the mis-
cradle condition of the hard working
slavery of the toiler-the
-the-letters-"
swell, he ought to have been glad he
was working, think. The ideal What
did he want? A steam hoeY"
"No, my dear, but the idea is what
did life hold for him? OF what was he
thinking as he stood there leaning on
the hoe-that humble implement of
toil?"
"Probably he was thinking of his
dinner. I'm not bit sorry for that
man. He had nice open-air work, and
he could stop to rest when he wanted
to, and probably his wife brought him
his dinner every noon time, and he had
nothing to do but to hoe. And he
wasn't even doing thatr'
"Walt till you read the poem, Hon.
ora. Markham calls him brother to
the OK"
"What for?"
fhe OK, you see, is the beast of bur
den. When the poet spoke of the Ia
borer as the brother to the nv ba