I was scrolling through a post on the "beard weight" of poets (which I might talk about later) at work, when a co-worker and I came across this photo of Edwin Markham.
His words were appropriate enough to this pic that I thought I'd share them.
"Look at his eyes. This guy's seen some things. I mean, he's kind to his granddaughter, but he's seen some things."
So I looked at his eyes, and I can't help but agree.
Charles Edwin Anson Markham was born on April 23, 1852 in Oregon City, Oregon, the youngest of six children. His parents were divorced shortly after his birth, and Charles, as he was known for many years, saw almost nothing of his father. In 1856, Charles moved with his mother and only sister to a ranch in Lagoon Valley, northeast of San Francisco. By the age of twelve, he was doing hard labor on the family farm.
In 1898, after two failed marriages, he married Anna Catherine Murphy. That same year, Markham read "The Man with the Hoe," inspired by Millet's painting by that title, at a New Year's Eve party; the poem, which protested the plight of the exploited laborer, was soon published and became an instant success.
His prose work, Children in Bondage (1914), was a landmark in the crusade against child labor. (from here)
So I guess he would have been kind to his granddaughter. And he had a good beard. Another co-worker just came up behind me, saw the photo, and asked if I was editing my wikipedia page. He got a high five.
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