The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-12-05
AZ BE Appeared Before a Cultured
Evanston Audience.
aTaE MAN With THE HOE"
Something Of the Personnel of the
Man-1Easterly Dealing With So
cial Problems in a Hopeful Vein.
Improvement of Conditions Rests
with Humanity Itssls-eOd Helps
Those Who Help Themselves.

Special Correspondence OF lntenlgencer.
GLENCOE. Ills,. Dec. 2.-Edwln
Markham appeared last night before an
Evanston audience and talked of "The
Man with the Hoe. the Poem and the
Problem" 1t was one Of the UNIVERSE
~ Students course, and the great Meth
o.iist church audience chamber was fill-
ed. floor and gallery, with an audience
Of the elite of Evanston and the North
Shore towns; and that means the creme
de la creme: for you must understand
that Evanston is the Athens Of the
west,'-or believes It is-the intellectual
.,hubr around which lin the estimation
Of the Evanstonlan) revolVes the great,
dirty. proletarIan city of Chicago. 1t
is the headquarters OF the (MethodisO
Northwestern University. long the
richest institution Of the kind in the
northwest, but now overtopped by John
Rockefener's Standard oil protege, the
CBaptist) University OF Chicago, in the
southern part OF the city, which can
count on It's fingers besides other great
endowments, several millions extorted
By Rockefeller from the patient tribute-
paying American public, who are per-
mItted to buy their oil only from his
shop.
Emerson said in one OF Ms essays
Beware when God lets loose thinker
in the world" Well that is what hap
pened in the case OF Edwin Markham,
He had brooded for years over great
thoughts in obscurIty: but the voice
within him crying for a hearing at last
broke through the dead-walls that sur
round an unknown man, and he awoke
one morning TO find himself famous.
His appeal to the world in behalf Of hui
mainly ,"plundered, profaned and dis
inherited. which found expression In
this great poem. was heard; and, all at
once, as II II had been revelation, the
tremendous import of his utterauce
broke in full force on the American
public. Markham is thinker. You
realize 1t when he faces his audience
before he has uttered a word. A man
Of medium stature, very erect, with
dark hair and full beard showing the
iron-gray Of his forty-seven years; a
face rudy with health and yet tense
with the struggles of the teeming brain;
eyes dark and of singular brillIancy
when clearly seen, but so deeply set be-
meath the thoughtful brow that on the
stand under the shade of the lights
above, one could not distinctly catch
their import. Only when you are face
to face with him do you realize the
power and meaning of those wonderful
eyes, He dresses in rather uncoaven-
tlonal western way. yet all in harmony
with his looks. His luxurlant crown OF
hair. worn not long, nor yet cropped,
the line OF thought in the face, ana the
full beard. gives nobility and dignity
to the hlgn. thoughtful forehead, the
handsome features and the mobile face
as a whole A dark suit, including
frocl coat, o turned-dOwn collar, lit
tie red sof. silk tie. with the ends ilow-
ing at liberty to take care OF them
selves, completed the tout ensemble. as
Mr.. Markham stood gracefully. at his
case, before the critical Evanston au-
sdience tina: greeted his appearance with
round OF applause. Mr., Markham Is
new. i believe. TO the public lecture
platform. though his vocation cs a
teacher has doubtless contributed to the
, ease and iiuency that mark his speech
and bearing on the stand. There was a
lack Of seif-consciousness. presence
OF power and repose in his face and at
tItude. that told of great thoughts
awaiting opportunity TO make thcm-
selves known.
The first part Of the lecture was de-
voted to the poem Itself; to the circum-
stances tina. led to the writing Of Il; to
the Misrepresentation OF Its purpose and
purport that had found expression in
widespread. some OF It acrld. criticism
He had first seen the rough COPY OF
Millcts great painting and been power
fully Impressed by it. When the ofigl-
mai painting was exhibited in san
Francisco. he was enchanted by it. He
stood before It an hour, unable TO go
away from 1t. trying to realize it5 ire
mendous import; and in all the uni,
verse he could conceive OF nothing more
terrible than the story told by this de.
plction of human creature In whose
face was the ''emptiness Of ages" or
whose back the burden Of the world
a human beIng dead to rapture and
despair" thing that grIeyes not and
that never hopes" painting "tIme's
tragedy" In this dread shape" of Thu.
manlty betrayed, plundered, profuHed
and dIslnharited."
In gIvIng expression to the wors,
than agony he saw in this pleture--fol
even agony is not Sc. dead to despair
Mr.. Markham had no thought OF paint
Ing word picture OF the class thai
Yields the hoe as distinct from othcl
sufferers from the same lmmemOrin
Infnmles. II was a type Of all sucf
victims lls used Miilet's depletion as
representing distorted and soul-quench
ed humanity In whatever Of the worlds
Geids Of toll It is ground by life OF In
cessant labor, that has no outlet bu
toll. Mlllet had selected the French
peasant. IN his rough garb and sabots
the product OF centuries OF oppression
and deprivation. Tor The subject Of hi
pencil Markham quoted from Carlyle
and MIrabeau to show what this victim
Of centurlau Of wrong was like. Blu
in his preaentmeut OF what this picture
rr,nnnl To lin Me- Markham Ind Il