The Passing Throng

This balladist (not quite poet) of the Middle West, sort've a Herb Shriner or Will Rogers of his day, whose books sold millions of copies, seems very representative of the great sentimentality of Americans. He writes of plain, homespun home and hearth, Mother Son, Wife, Work, Nature and some are even quite amusing. Easy to read and appealing in a simplistic sort of way. A really terrible poet, yet Guest does manage very ably to convey the joys, sorrows, worries, of the common man. He shows these things to the masses, and if he is an artificial flower to Robert Frost's perfect rose, yet to many beauty often is such an artificial flower. Not even in the same world as Frost, but the library book I got was well worn and read. One poem, called "A Man Must Want" very succinctly sets down what I believe. Laughed aloud at some.