In the Newspaper Room at the Public Library

From The Sun, January 29, 1915. By H. S. Haskins.

With travel stained feet
    Stands the lonesome youth
One hour long
    In the library booth.
Bending, homesick,
    All the while
Over a blessed
    Newspaper file.
Homely old paper,
    Looks to me;
Banal and trite,
    It seems to be,
But watch his eyes scan it
    Up and down,
Blessed old paper
    From the blessed home town.

Type is shabby
    And ink is poor.
Has a colored supplement
    For a lure;
Gives advice to girls
    And hints on dress,
Steers new married couples
    To happiness;
Yet in the trite sheet
    A vista lies
Of the Somewhere Else
    To those homesick eyes,
Of the Somewhere Else
    With its memories sweet
To the lonesome youth
    With the travel stained feet.