A HANDY GUIDE FOR BEGGARS
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
A HANDY GUIDE
FOR BEGGARS
ESPECIALLY THOSE OF
THE POETIC FRATERNITY
Being sundry explorations, made while afoot and
penniless in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina,
Tennessee, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
These adventures convey and illustrate
the rules of beggary for poets and some others.
By VACHEL LINDSAY
Author of “The Congo,” “The Art of The Moving
Picture,” “Adventures while Preaching
the Gospel of Beauty,” etc.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
PUBLISHERS MCMXVI
Copyright, 1916,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1916.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author desires to express his indebtednessto The Outlook for permission to reprint theadventures in the South and to Charles Zueblinfor permission to reprint the adventures in theEast.
The author desires to express his indebtednessto the Chicago Herald for permission to reprintThe Would-be Merman, and to The Forumfor What the Sexton Said, and to The Yale Reviewfor The Tramp’s Refusal.
The author wishes to express his gratitudeto Mr. George Mather Richards, Miss SusanWilcox, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ide and MissGrace Humphrey for their generous help andadvice in preparing this work.
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DEDICATION AND PREFACE OF A
HANDY GUIDE FOR BEGGARS
There are one hundred new poets in thevillages of the land. This Handy Guide isdedicated first of all to them.
It is also dedicated to the younger sons ofthe wide earth, to the runaway boys and girlsgetting further from home every hour, to theprodigals who are still wasting their substancein riotous living, be they gamblers or blasphemersor plain drunks; to those heretics ofwhatever school to whom life is a rebellion withbanners; to those who are willing to acceptcounsel if it be mad counsel.
This book is also dedicated to those buddingphilosophers who realize that every creature isa beggar in the presence of the beneficent sun,to