The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-09-05


don't you see?-typifying the workman
of the ages-the empty ages Mark
! ham wrote"
WAS it Markham had the hoe?"
"Oh no. Markham was "a 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?"
| "lt was a magnificent idea-the figure
of that man as typical of the work
| man--the patient slave ploughing the
| field"
What did he have a hoe for IL he
was ploughing?"
! You don't understand Don't you
| catch the idea? Labor--the farmer AT
work -plodding along without an idea
sweating over his work"
You Just said he'd stopped to rest "
! 'Er-yes-bu. when you read it,
you'll see the splendid picture Mark
! ham 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"
II suppose he was paid for it, wasn't
| he?"
! II suppose so, my dear"
Then what was the trouble? Real
ly, John, I 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-fettprS---"
Why John Doblcy. you know you
have often said you'd like to be farm
er because they have everything so
easy. Hoeing and raking is child $
play, and as for ploughing it's just
like riding a bicycle nowadays. You
sit in a sort of a sulky and the horses
know Just where to go. | suppose they
will have automobiles after while. "
He spoke" went on Mr.. Dobley. "of
the emptiness of ages There's a
grand thought The cmpti---"
What did he mean bv that"
"Why-er-so much of that is meta
phOr-you see. The main idea is that
the lot of the working man is hopeless.
The Man with the Hoe was a poor
wretch bent with toil--a farmer whose
| life was"
hands to do the hoeing?"
"Hc probably was farm hand him
self working for a pittance---"
We'll, he ought to have been glad he
was working, think. The idea! What
did he want? A steam hoe?
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 hoc-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, Ho-
ora. 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 lab
Orer as the brother to 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-?'
"No-no, who blew out the light
within this brain?' asks Markham"
well, who dido"
1T was just a metaDhor-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 miserable
creature whose life was like an ami
mal's-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,I 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-"
ITS the idea of man earning his
| bread by the sweat of his brow-the
curse of laboring for hre-for--"
"Why, this man with the hoe proba-
| bly, had a good, steady place on the
| farm. Perhaps he owned it, He pro-
badly 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! I might just as we'll
start in to ideaize the cook and call
her The Girl with the Frying Pan or
The Woman with the Rolling Pin "
my / will
be able to talk before the club, if you
keep on"
IT'S the very same thing! The cook
is laborng woman, but she's a great
deal freer than ! 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. Sup
pose l began to weep over her sad con-
dition and called her sister to the OK.
Why she'd leave very first thing"
But 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, l almost believe you could hoe"
81 haven't a hoe, my dear"
That's another thing Suppose the
man didn't have a hoe? He'd have
been worse off, wouldn't he? A hoe
represents capital Do you know. John
Dobley, it gets sillier every minute, to
think of all the sympathy your vast
ing on that man. 1t is The Man With
out the Hoe you should be sorry for"