D.M. Stahlman's writings and engravings repeatedly center on two interrelated themes: he embraced his impoverished existence as essential to spiritual purity, a test of faith, and evidence of divine sanction, and he scorned people in the community who had not, in his words, "done their duty in God's providence for my support." In this engraving he addressed viewers directly, assuring them they would be divinely rewarded if they provided for him. Another rock engraving, Rock 6, presented his personal ledger of expected donations, with letters standing for people he knew and dollar amounts showing the money he expected from them. Recalling the autumn of 1912, Stahlman wrote that he suffered extreme privations and hardships, spent eleven weeks without a spark of light in the shanty because he lacked 6 cents to buy a half gallon of oil, and wore shabby, ragged clothes apart from a ministerial suit and good hat, while his best shoes were low cloth shoes worn out at the toes and patched with a worn out woolen sock.