The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1900-02-16
IS he A p~LAGIARlSTf

IL VT. vi
with the Hoe" fame, a pIagiarist:
So declares emplatically Literary
Life ID a late issue, and quotes 10 ev.
ldence the following poem, contribu.
ted six years ago to the California
Illustrated Magazine by a lady sign
ing herself Cora A. Chase:
THE MAN WITH THE HOE.
o, peasant dciying in the stubborn soil?
What soIacc has this Mother Earth for thec7
Gaining thy bread through years OF bitter
toll.
Contented Ike the cattle just to be"
TIL" patience u the yolicd OK is thine
What chtIdIikn pathos in Thy wandering
eyes.
Oh, do they ever note the daisy.s shine,
Or turn they ever TO the vaultcd skies?
lfthou couid'st stand upon some lofty height
A great fair city lying Just below
And view our progress with its s,eam-2od's
Thou couldst not joy, because thou wouldst
IVA klllW
But. so bcwildercd by the pagcant's glare,
W0nIdstturn with ycarning to thy stubbIe
field.
And the familiar toll which awaits thee
there
While earth still keeps the secrets she
would yield.
o, knotted hand, ,aust thou not feel these
tcarsf
That thou art pltiabIe. thou dost no, know
Kind Mother Nature, guide the closing year,
OF this unlettcrcd child. and help him
grow.
After passing through the refining
process OF Edwin Markham's brain,
this Is the thing ''stolen." Let the
reader judge as to whether or not the
world has been benefited and Ameri-
can literature improved by the "Pla.
giarist"-I think IL has-Would
that we had more such literary
thieves.
hoh made man in Ills own image.
In the image Of God made lie him. Genesis.
Bowed by the weight OF centuries he leans
pom his. hoe and gazcs upon the ground.
The crpptincs> OF ages in his face.
And onhIs back the burden OF the world
Who made him dead to rapturc and despair,
A thing that gricves not and that never
hopes,
Stolid and stunned, Il brother to the OK?
Who l]ooSencd and let down this brutal law
Whose was the hand that slanted back this
brow;
Whose breath blew out the light within his
brain;
Is this the Thing the Lord God made and
have dominion over sea and land:
trace the stars and search the heavens
for power:
To feel the passion OF Eternity?
S this the Dream lie dreamed who shaped
the suns
And piilared the blue armament with light.
all the stretch OF He'll to It's last gulf
There Is no shape more terrible than this
lore tongued with ccnsure Of the worlds
blind greed
iore Allied with signs aud portents for the
soul
lore frnught with menace to the universe.
What gulf between him and the seraphin,
lave OF the wheel OF labor, what 10 him
re Plato and the swing OF Plciadcs?
What the long reaches OF the peaks OF song
rift Of dawn, the rcdd"ninq Of the roscF
through this dread shape the suffering ages
look;
ines tragedy Is IN that stoop:
Trough this dread shape humanity bctray-
ed,
numbered. profanc and disInhcritc1,
rlcs protest to the Judges OF the World,
protest that Is only prophecy.
masters, lords and rulers in all lands.
this the h%andiwork you give to God,
his monstrous thing distorted and soul
Qucnchcdf
"w viii you ever straIghten up this shape:
ouch 1t again with immortality;
We back the upward looking and the light:
'hul'd It In the music and the dream;
axe right the immcmortal iniamieS.
'rldlous wrongs. immcdicnble woes?
masters. lords. and rulers OF all lands,
VIII the Future reckon with this Mani :
Nv answer his brute question In that hour
hen whirlwlnds OF rebellion shake the
wOrldf
w viii 1t be with Kingdoms and with
kings q
It'll those who shaped him to the thing he
is -
non this dumb Terror shall reply to God, ,
ter the silence. of tho CrnturtesY -