The Forrest City times., 1899-10-13
WAS it pretty? ?"

plowlng?
You don't understand. Don't you
catch the idea? Labor-the farmer at
work-plodding slong without an idea
sweating over his work"
"You just said he'd stopped to rest,
"Er-yes-but when you read it,
you'll see the splendid picture Markham
drew"
Excuse me, John; was Markham the
artist or was he the man who had the
hoe, or the man who just wrote about
it?"
HE was the poet, my dear; he wrote
the verse"
Il suppose he was paid for it, wasn't
hep"
81 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
farmer-the slavery of the toiler-the
-the-fetters-"
"Why, John Dobley, you know you
have often said you'd like to be farmer
because they have everything so easy.
Hoeing and raking is child's play, and
as for plowing it's just like riding
bicycle nowadays. You sit in sort of
a sulky and the horses know just
where to go. / suppose they will have
automobiles after awhile"
He spoke" went on Mr.. Dobley, "of
the emptiness of ages There's
grand thought. The empti-"
what did he mean by that?"
"Why-er-so much of that is meta
phor-you see. The main idea is that
the lot of the working man is hope
less. The Man with the Hoe was
poor wretch bent with toil-a farmer
whose life was"
"Why didn't he get one of the farm
hands to do the hoeing?"
He probably was farm hand him.
self working for pittance-"
well, he ought to have been glad he
was working. l think. The idea! What
did he want? A steam hoe?"
mo. 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 that!"
"Wait till you read the poem, Honora.
Markham calls him brother to the OK :"
what for?"
"The OK, you see, is the beast of bur-
den. When the poet spoke of the la
borer as the brother of the OK he placed
him as low in the intellectual scale as
it was possible TO get him. He asks:
Who blew out the"
"Gas-?"
Mono. Who blew out the light
within his brain p asks Markham.
"Well, who did?"
at was just metaphor-a figure of
speech"
why didn't he say what he meant?"
poets never do that, my dear"
well. what did he mean?"
That the workman was a miserable
creature, whose life was like an ami
mals-a-"
Don't he believe in men working?"
"Yes-but-"
Il suppose he likes tramps, then.
Those men that sit around the parks.
The Man with the Tomato Can would
be his idea of the ideal man.
Poets look at these things different
ly."
well, l think it is silly to pity a
man because he has job. Think of all
the men that can't get work. Suppose
you didn't work? Where would we be?"
"It's the idea of man earning his
bread by the sweat of his brow-the
curse of laboring for hire-for-"
"Why, this man with the hoe prob
ably had good, steady place on the
farm. Perhaps he owned it. He prob
ably had stopped to figure out the
crop. Maybe his wife took boarders
and they had plenty of money"
When you read it, my dear, you will
be able to-"
"Oh, pshaw! l might just as well
start in to idealize the cook and call
her The Girl with the Frying Pan or
The Woman with the Rolling Pin"
Really, my dear, think you will be
able to talk before the club, if you
keep on
''It's the very same thing! The cook
is laboring woman, but she's great
deal freer than l am. She has no So
cial obligations and no calls to make
or to receive. She doesn't have to spend
her time dressing and talking to folks
when she doesn't want to. She has
a comfortable home and Just as good
things to eat as we have. She has two
days off every week. Suppose / began
to weep over her sad condition apd
called her sister to the OK Why sbed
leave the very first thing"
"But poet would never write about
cook
''Well, a good cook is lot better than
I n -. L , -. L