The age-herald., 1901-11-19
Typical "Man With the Hoe" Stranded and Tells an
 Honest Story
FIRST TIME IN A CITY
Making His Way With Little Boy to Home of His Sister-Police Give Him Nights
 Lodging.

With dull but honest eyes, downcast manner and a form showing the oppres- sive weight of years of labor which had yielded no profit to him, Man With the Hoe'' walked into the office of Chief of Police Austin. He was an absolute stranger, had never been in city so large as Birmingham, was penniless and wanted a place for the little 6-year-old boy, held in his arms. to sleep. His name is Sam Channel and he comes from Win ston county.
 "I do not care so much about myself" he said. T could sleep almost any where, but I do not want to take this lit- tie boy cut into the night. I could go on into the country and find a place some where, but this child could not stand the walk"
 Tho every attitude of the form. the every information of the voice, the peculiar drawi of the speech, the clothing with which the body was covered and the very man himself, all seemed to force to mind Markham and his famous poem. And looking at the fellow as he stood in his honest oppressed ruggedness the lines of those verses came to the point of utter ance with striking sense of fitness. All adverse criticism of the poem fed and the full. powerful truth of Mark hams verses forced itself upon one. For before one stood man, an OK, to use the poets word. whose very soul and body fitted the lines as no artist could illustrate There was the Man With the Hoe" If not the original, an exact duplicate.
 A Dialect All Hls Own. When the chief of the city's police force had been pointed out to the stranger he told his story and made his request His words cannot be quoted, for they were of dialect all his own but the pathos they carried went straight to the heart of every listener. His story was somewhat as follows:
 "A policeman on the corner told me to come up here and see if you could not give me place to sleep. The, streets are crowded, 1t is nearly dark and I do not know where to go. I was never in a city like Birminghsm in all my life, and do not know what to do nor where to go, and my little boy here is tired and sleepy He cannot stand to walk. I cannot go on out in the country where I would feel at home to find place to rest. "The kind officer told me to come up here when was talking to him. All want is a place to sleep and permission to move on toward my destination fin the morning.
 'T am on my way to the only sister have fin the world. My wife !s dead and I have nothing but the clothes on my back and my boy. When get to my sisters I will be all right for I can then get along without any trouble and do some work. I cannot do anything or go any where in the city without help Doctor Sold Hlm Out.
 "A few weeks ago my wife died. We
 were living In Winston County and was
 working on Q farm. My wife's illness lasted some months, and after she was buried the doctor sold me out. taking everything in the world I owned. Then
 I thought of my only sister. and decided to go to see her.
 'I started. and have only reached this far with my little boy. We have walked and rode through. the country. Today we have come all the way from Horse Creek and tonight I have only 20 cents in my