EDWIN MARKHAM - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 03/29/1902 - HFSID 79406

EDWIN MARKHAM
The poet penned and dated this letter to the editor of The Writer in 1902 in praise of clergyman and fellow writer Edward Everett Hale. This letter was written one year after Markham published his poem Lincoln, Man of the People.
Autograph letter signed "Edwin Markham". 1 page, 6x4 card. West New Brighton, New York. March 29, 1902. In full: "To the Editor of 'The Writer': Ever since Americans have had a coun-try there has always been a Hale to the front upholding the social welfare, speaking for the public good. But never before has there been a Hale so eminent as the many-sided Edward Everett Hale of today - minister, editor, author, civic saint. Prince of the spirit, our beloved Hale has ever stood in that noblest peerage of any land, the peerage of the spiritual aristocracy, those who are greatest among men because they choose to be the servants of all. America is honored in this faithful son. May it be long years before that promotion of the blest that shall take from us this friend of humanity, this man whose sweet thrift in well-doing 'has put God in his debt." This letter was written one year after Markham published his poem Lincoln, Man of the People. EDWARD EVERETT HALE (1822-1909, born in Boston, Massachusetts) was Pastor of the South Congregational Church in Boston (1856-1901) and Chaplain of the U.S. Senate from 1903 to his death. Hale, a prolific author of both history and popular fiction, is best remember today for his patriotic tale Man Without a Country (1863). EDWIN MARKHAM (1852-1940, born Charles Edward Anson Markham in Oregon City, Oregon) is an American poet and lecturer best known for his social protest poem The Man with the Hoe (1899). This poem is based on a painting by Jean-Francois Millet about a peasant. Markham used this peasant to represent exploited men and women the world over. He also wrote Lincoln, Man of the People (1901), which was almost as popular as The Man with the Hoe. Lightly toned, discolored, foxed and creased. Tape residue on verso (no show-through). Random ink stains. Folded once horizontally and twice vertically and unfolded. Light tears at left and right edge along fold. Otherwise, fine condition.