The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-05-31
THE Man "a with the Hoe"
CORA COCHRAN.

The man with the hoe is supposed to
be typical of class. Now there are farm
ers,-and again there are farmers.
Whatever Europe or Asia may produce,
that particular specimen that Edwin
Markham had in mind while writing his
famous poem. never yet disgraced the
soil Of America, much less that of Iowa.
We object to him as type. Our
American man with "a hoe is quite diff
ferent individual. He does not spend
all his time digging in the soil. nor lean
| ing on the hoe. Occasionally he varies
the monotony by laying down his hoe
long enough to teach term Of school,
or cast ballot that shall help to his
country's destiny, or yet, to pick up his
musket and intelligently defend her in.
terests. And he may, if the case be
urgent enough, permit his hoe to rust,
and his weeds to grow, while he serves
one or two terms as president of the
United States. The hoe is his badge of
labor. 1t is more than, that. 1t is a
badge of honesty and happy labor.
There are many people who believe
that happiness. and idleness are synono-.
nous. This. is not true, for it ls impos.
sible to possess the one and practice the
other.
Ask the men who are busy scheming
to accumulate fortunes to what they
look forward with such ardent expecta-
ton, and they will answer "Repose. y
They look with envy on those above
them whose every want ia supplied, and
who have nothing to do but enjoy them
selves. and their aim ia to SOME day be
like them.
Our man with the hoe is. happy now.
He is not reRretting the past, nor long
ing for the future. He is improving the
present, and he sings at his toll, for it is
honest and wholesome toll. His. aim is
mot to transfer unearned, to his own
pocket, the dollars of other men, but
rather to create wealth by the help o., Of
God, nature, and his own willing hands.
/ True, he must toll necessarily from
morn till night, for the common neces-
stiles of life, but his it is to feed the
world; to clothe the fields of earth with
wheat; to guard the cattle on athousand
hills; to subdue the forests and beauti.
flying the desert. He does his work
well, and is happy in the doing. The
free wind fans his brow, the sun and
dew work to his good, and the. birds
sing about his field. Do you sneer at
Attu OCCdubC yOu arc UcILCT dressed ,
refined in manner and speech, and ina
CINE because you love the more leisure,
that you are the more noble? Then
you, my friends, have mis-conceived the
spirit and tendency of our laboring men.
You are ignorant of their noble charac.
ter. You seem to have forgotten the
history Of your country. Her men OF
renown, have sprung from their ranks.
Her history is their history, and its pages
are bright with their emblazoned deeds.
Blot from its pages their record, and
there remains universal blot.
The sons of wealth drop back to the
level, and the sons Of toll spring upward
to renown.
Honor to the men who use tools and
use them we'll s->
One~of them disarmed the thunder;
Frightened the world, and won delight
nd honor from the mighty. His inn
press is left on our free institutions, and
its effects wall be felt till the last moment
of time, and yet, he was q candle-mak-
rs son, a printers runaway boy.
other left his rail-splitting to heal q
Il nation.
Savior used the saw and the pl J.