The labor world., 1899-07-08

THE author of ''The Man With the
Hoe" Edward Markham, woke
up the other day, like Bryon, to
find himself famous. Mr.. Markham
was for ten years an educator in Oak
land, CAL, and is now principal of the
Tompkins Grammar School.
For many years he had contributed
to Eastern magazines poems of ex-
quisite beauty of form, and infused
with a broad and tender humanity.
Tut these poems, admirable as they
were, had somehow seemed to share
the fate of most magazine poetry, aPd
were only known to the cultured few.
To the great mass of the American
reading public, the public that knows
and loves Burns, Longfellow and Ten
! iryson, Edwin Markham's name was
practically unknown.
| All this has been changed as if by
magic. A few months ago there was
published a poem entitled ''The Man
With the Hoe.'' Newspapers all over
the land have been reprinting it, and
SO great has been the demand for it
on the part of their readers that the
papers have exhausted their editions.
Nor have the critics been less enthusi-
astic in their admiration of "The Man
With the Hoe Some of the latter
declare it is the most striking poem
Ethat has appeared in ehe last twenty
five years. =,
Henry A. Newberry, Of Oakland,
Cal, in writing Of him, says: Il Wis
tied the poet at his home on Nine
teenth street to learn at first hand
something of the genesis of a poem
that has so profoundly affected the
thought of thousands of Californians
to whom, a few weeks ago, Professor
Markham was a stranger. ( found a
man whose personality is as charm
iag as his poetry. Dignifed, cordial
and unaffected, his keen but kindly
eyes are alight with the lambent. flame
|cs gentle soul. That Professor
Markham it not only a poet but a
scholar as well is attested by the ap-
pearance of the room into which I was
llshered. Books are everywhere ranged
completely. around the room. His Ii
brary is splendid one, and reflects
its owners discriminating taste in po-
|et1y, philosophy and literary criticism.
"Mr. Markham I said, ''your
Friends and admirers would be inter-
ested. in knowing just how you came
to write .'The: Man: With the Hoe,''
the poem; that has made. California
rub her eyes and wonder what manner
Of singer tits to whose, voice she has
SO long been deaf ,r.?. "a
/ Mr.. Markham laughed. 'Well,". he
said, II have been surprised, and, L
hard ly need say, gratified, at the re-
ception which has been given the
poem, and I'll tell you how 1 came to
write it. f
81 was born man with a hoe. I
am child, of the furrow. All my
youth was passed on a farm and cat
tie range, among the hard, severe con-
ditions that go with that life. Of
course, T do not mean to say that
there are not happy phases OF farm
life. I enjoyed, as boy, the horse.
| rack rides on the long ranges OF hills;
the smell of the furrow was pleasant
to me; L knew and loved animals, the
horses and cattle; but with.all this
felt. too, the privations and scrapin9
poverty that are the frequent accom-
paniments of the farm boys life. SO,
:, when I write of the man with hoe,
IL write, to some extent, out OF my
own experience. In the second place,
man has always interested me. l
always had a sympathy with men and
women who are doing the hard work
of the world. I have always won
Gered whether the wisdom Of the wise
would not some day find a way for
giving the workers a greater equality
of opportunity in their struggle with
the world 1t always seemed to me
that the strong and the wise should
not use their God-given powers to eN-
plot or oppress their weaker breth-
rem. This is to me what religion
means. This is the principle of true
and practical fraternity, and frater-
1,itv is to me the holiest of all words,
being at once the essence of all gos-
pels and the fulfilment Of all revela-
tions. All religion and all culture