The Plea of the Ordinary Reader

From The Seattle Star, October 21, 1912.
By Berton Braley.
 

 I feel I am needing a change in my reading;
   I weary of tales which describe
 The poor east side tailor who lives in his squalor
   Amid all the rest of his tribe;
 I also am weary of stories more cheery
   Which chiefly—yes, wholly—concern
 The beautiful heiress with gowns made in Paris
   And the youth who has money to burn.
 
 I long for narrations of people whose stations
   Are not so extreme either way.
 The people I meet in the office and street in
   The course of my business and play;
 I don’t care for stories of wealth and its glories
   Nor tales of acute misery;
 I long in my fiction to find the depiction
   Of commonplace people—like me!