The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-11-08

ora. Markham calls him brother 70
the ox-'n
"what for?''
''The or, 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
1t was possible to get him. He asks:
"Who blew out:the-'p
"Gas-?''
'No-no: Who blew out the light
within his brain2' asks Markham.
"WeIl, who did?n
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?'
s.That the workman was a miserable
creature, whose life was like an ami
-mars-a"
Don't he believe in men working?"
"Yes-but-n
al 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, | think it is silly to pity a
man because he has q job. Think OF
al the men that can't get work. Sup
pose you didn't work? Where would
we be?"
''It's the idea of man earning hi
bread by the sweat Of his brow-th.
curse of laboring for hire-for-u
"Why, this man with the hoe prob
ably had good, steady place on ths
farm. Perhaps he owned 1t. He prob
ably had stopped to figure out tn,
crop. Maybe his wife took boarders
and they had plenty of money!
"When you read ii, my dear, you viii
be able to-"
"Oh, pshaw! 1 might just as well
start in TO idealize the cook and call hei
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 thingl The cook
is laboring woman, but she's a great
deal freer than am. She has no social
obligations aud no calls to make or 10
receive. She doesn't have to spend her
time dressing and talking to folks when
she doesn't want to. She has COM
Portable home and just as good things
to eat as we have. She has two days
off every week Suppose 1 began t.
weep over her sad condition and called
her sister to the OK Why she'd leave
the very first thing"
''But a poet would never write about
a cook"
"Well, a good cook is a lot better than
an old farmer who only hoes and looks
pathetic. Any one could hoe. Why, /
almost believe you could hoe"
~ haven't a hoe, my dear"
THAT'S another thing. Suppose the
man didn't have hoe? He'd have
been worse off, wouldn't he? A hoe
represents capital. Do you know, John
DObiey, it gets sillier every minute, 10
think OF all the sympathy that you're
wasting on that man. 1t is The Man
Without the Hoe you should be sorry
for"
"You are getting me round to your
way of thinking, Honora. Irecall now
the story of rich man who said that
he started in business picking rags, but
for week or two he nearly starved, be
cause he had no money to buy rag
pick with"
"What did he do?"
"He borrowed money enough, be.
lieve, aud twenty-five years after he
told the story Of the trouble he had get
ting some one to lend the money. The
funniest part Of it was that he said he
had never paid it back"
81 wonder IL that man really owned
the hoe, or had borrowed it,"
Perhaps that is what he was think
ing Of"
"He was probably too mean to buy a
hoe Of his ownl You know, John, i
think that man was no goOdr'
"Honora, your logic is 80 convincing
that l am beginning to agree with you
that The Man with the Hoe was con
siderable of gold brick IN. Y. Sun.