Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-08-12
pet GUEST Still
N NEWSPAPER GAME
oavo ~ Nae Not Ooeortod the
Ranks Of Wviters Of
News.


A~wspapoe a one of ite writers"
~ said Edgar A. Guest, known
And mentioned frequently "a the sue
Vespce oi James Whitcomb Riley and Of
Euosne Field.
And il appearances count for any
thins, Eddie" has decidedly tho hest
Of thr arc,mcnt insteed Of thc long hair
that n ordinarily associated with poets,
he haa = nice part on the side and gets
. regular Atty cent hair cut every other
week. He even wears . enappy little
bow ts, and when he talks, it is not
aboit The relative merits OF Keats and
ehelley, bat about the wife and kids
hoek home. In fact he looks very much
like sho reporter who r,ishee up after an
accident and sees How did il happenY"
a. asks "What did you men do in therc9'
after . conference Of executives.
To clinch the argument that he is
sill "in the game" Mr.. Guest lays down
che fact that he has been on the pay
roll of tho Detroit FIRE. Press ever since
ne was an once boy and that he still
writes \ column for that publication.
MY 6rst look nt a newspaper Office
was through the eyes Of the Office boy,
and the object OF greatest regard was
che assignment sheet. l committed
Il "a memory then, and l could recite
the regular assignments even today.
Crime WAS my particular hobby, and
Ionerd for the day when would he able
20 take the police court job. In those
days twenty five dollars = week was the
goal Of my ambitions, and l thought
II I ever reached that figure my worries
would BE- ended.
'Onc day my chance did come. The
police reporter was taken sick and
] Was given his assignment. | had
always looked upon the police reporters
with ave, and It was with not little
timidity that began my work. Their
] made the great discovery that they
wcrs human, and in six months found
that l was considered rs good rs tho
best.
"nut IL seems every goal reached Is .
diailluaionmcnt. After two and a hal
years from three in the afternoon &c
three in the morning on crime, l wa
ready for something else. The long hour'
Of waiting at police headquarters gav,,
me . chance to think, and began 10 loos
aheed 10 see what lay beyond reporting
II found that reporters became
either editors or special writer's, or tina
they left the newspaper business en-
tirely. Special writers were not a
hie in those days ~ they are toda,
and ther~ ARE few managing editor
ioh~. felt surc there was some wa,
out without leaving the newspaper busi
nees. While l wns struggling with tn
problem, Was moved from reportin
TO the exchange desk.
Tho promotion TO exchange cdito
Waa my introduction 10 verse. AmonI
my other duties | had 10 clip cleve
expressions, poems and tho like, iron
other newspapers 10 fill up q column
the Free Press was running. notices
there WAS much verse being printed
And concluded there must be demant
for il. ! soon realised that could writ
versr - we'll A. clip it, and that min
was nearly - good as that which
clipped.
No Rsspecter Of Muse.
"My firrt attempt at poetry wa
q few atansas in darkey dialcct. l pu
Il in the column and have had some
thing in the Free Pres almost ever
day incc. One day they came 10 m
and told me that in the future ! ws
90 ct out the column ench day and d
eprcial work. But what WAS muc
importont 70 me, Was to work day
instead Of nightA, and there was TO- {
morn pay in II. Only one who M
worked nights ~ l did for ten yea
appreciates what this meant.1 found tn,
could oven got married, and prompt
did 90, and on the magnificent salaT
Of twenty-five dollar a week.
III has been my experience that II
bepaks always come in punches. Whe
ooportunitv comes it falls in 40 man
forms that IL you Arc not careful
you viii pick up The wrong one. Son
es~seioe influence always decided tf
thing fos ma. Take for instance whe
The QUESTION Of syndicating my VOL
easna up. When the syndicatee d
cons 20 NJ, three Of them came with
= few days. delayed making d
eis,oo, and then one day George Mathe
Adams arrived in Detroit. Before
left we came 70 m agreement and the
heean Q business connection which
have not only never regretted, b.
positively enjoyed. Incidentally.
mieht BE- aid that have found all
nv businesu relations sources Of plcasur
ana I think much of my success is d'
20 The \nsu with whom ! had busine
deAhnR"
WHEN He Started.
Mr.. Guest 10 not one OF those poe
who believe that . visit of the muse
ncceaaaSy.
Il DO not believe in inspiratio
Some .days l find I can think lit
bstter o. . little morc clearly, b
NJ did nst 70 down 70 the office al
start 20 pound something out, my ver
would never be written. Old rn'
innpsraxion will never come uninvite
I know this little me pretty we
and l know that he viii not work unlt
he " forced 70 il. ! find that the bs
wpod cutter " the man who cuts eve
day"
circulation than those Of any Amerlc
poet. Mors than 200, 900 copies we
seld last yuar. The city of St. Lo'
alone buys each year from twenty
ofty thousand copies. In the first "
Of Ciusvts publication, only two cop
Of "A Heap Of Lvin' were sold
that city.
Louis Untermeyes, in an article
the Bookman Magazine, termed \
Guest ~ the foremost Of Americ
living laureate- His simple verse abe
the commonplace things OF life
fastened itself on the American peol
more firmly than any thing in recs
years. In his visits TO the differs
cities throughout the country, wh
communities have turned out to m
hlm. On HE first visit TO Denver
Colorado legislature adjourned In
honor There are l65 newspaper n
printing his verse each day, Ev'
Exenina hcins one of that numb