The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-08
EDWIN MARKHAM's POEMS.

| ELI IN MARhHAA' $ POEMS. | To the Editor of the Journal and Courier: l wonder how many of the people | who are talking about Edwin Mark ham and his poem, "The Man With the Hoe" have ever read his other poems. So far, of all the persons with whom | have talked on this subject, although every one has read the poem which has made Markham famous, not one had seen the volume of poems, and very few seemed to understand the broad scope and deep meaning of his work. l should like to ask the attention of your readers to some features of his work which are not revealed to the casual reader of ''The Man With the Hoe.' Foremost among them is the clear un- derstanding of, and deep reverence for, his mission as a poet. And with this is coupled the genuine charity and sub- lime faith in humanity which accords all the glory and triumph, not to the mere singer, but to the one who lives the truth. Could anything be more ex- pressive of this noble thought than the following lines from his Song Made Flesh?"
 I have no glory in these songs of mine:
 If one of them can make a brother
 strong.
 It came down from the peaks of the di-
 I heard it in the Heaven of Lyric
 Song.
 The one who builds the poem into fact,
 He is the rightful owner of it all: The pale words are with Gods own
 power packed
 When brave souls answer to their bu-
 gle-call
 And so I ask no man to praise my song,
 But l would have him build it in his ., soul:
 For that great praise would make me
 glad and strong
 And build the poem to perfect
 whole. rt
 I cannot forbear comparing this charity with that of New Haven man who, having bought small article from poor woman on the street for the suih of twelve cents, gave vent to the fol- lowing burst of eloquence, q. would rather help poor creature like that with my last ten cents than write the grandest poem ever written and re- ceive the praise of all men," Thou sands of other persons who would have said and done the same thing have not only never donesanythng to alleviate the conditions which cause weak and often deformed women to be placed in such degrading positions, but are ab- solutely ignorant of these causes, and in their ignorance are daily helping to perpetuate them. Yet they consider the doling out of the bitter drops" of so- called charity far sublimer and more praise-worth act than the devoting of One's whole life to the uprooting of so- cial evils. The explana ton is that it is so much easier now, as in ancient days, to give something than to be 
 Whenever9 Nature is his theme, Mark ham shows such deep consciousness of the eternal grandeur and harmony in Natures realm, that one cannot read without responding to his sweet, sim pie joyousness. And the lessons he has drawn from Natures open book are so uuIlSIOuS anu SO pIdCliCdl llldl Olle cannot fail to live purer life for hay ing looked at things for a moment through the eyes of q pure man Markham knows no passion but the su- blime Social Passion" which includes all humanity in it's embrace. Through put his volume there are no ravishng owe songs, no appeals to the lower na- .ure of man, His home is on the heights to liim Men wage battle wierd and dim;
 Life Is a mission stern as fate, And song a dread apostolate'
 The unity, the immutabili of uni- 5ersal laws, often becoming the theme n his poems, imparts to them a stern | strength which, combined with their | purity and simplicity, marks their chief beauty. He cannot be contented with | he observance of external phenomena, | whether of nature and her harmonies, IT of men and their discords. He must ind the source, the cause, the law, and