Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. [Illustration: EDWIN MARKHAM ] GIANT HOURS WITH POET PREACHERS BY WILLIAM L. STIDGER Introduction by Edwin Markham To WHITE-SOULED EDWIN MARKHAM DEMOCRACY'S VOICE, HUMANITY'S FRIEND I DEDICATE THIS BOOK CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION. FOREWORD. AMERICAN POETS: I. EDWIN MARKHAM. II. VACHEL LINDSAY. III. JOAQUIN MILLER. IV. ALAN SEEGER. ENGLISH POETS V. JOHN OXENHAM. VI. ALFRED NOYES. VII. JOHN MASEFIELD. VIII. ROBERT SERVICE. IX. RUPERT BROOKE. LIST OF PORTRAITS: EDWIN MARKHAM. VACHEL LINDSAY. JOAQUIN MILLER. ALAN SEEGER. JOHN OXENHAM. ALFRED NOYES. JOHN MASEFIELD. ROBERT SERVICE. RUPERT BROOKE. INTRODUCTION In writing to the readers of Mr. Stidger's book I feel as though I were writing to old friends, friends who may have an interest in knowing some of the thoughts that I hold regarding questions of the hour and questions of the future. The Christian as he looks out upon the battling and broken world sees much to sadden his heart. Thinkers are everywhere asking, "Is Christianity a failure?" I hasten to assure you that Christianity has not failed, for Christianity has nowhere been tried yet, nowhere been tried in a large social sense. Christianity has been tried by individuals, and it has been found to be comforting and transforming. But it has never been tried by any large group of people in any one place--never by a whole city--never by a whole kingdom---never by a whole people. It is for this trial that the watching angels are waiting. Our holy religion is not a saving power merely for individuals; it is also a saving power for society in its industrial order. We have applied it to the individual in the past, but we have never made any wholehearted effort to make religion the working principle of society. Religion is always cooperative and brotherly, but we have not yet made any earnest effort to apply the cooperative and brotherly principle to business. We have tried to persuade the individual to express the ideals of the Sermon on the Mount, but we have made no earnest effort to urge society to express the ideals of the Sermon on the Mount.