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.

"A Handy Guide for Beggars: Especially Those of the Poetic Fraternity" by Vachel Lindsay is a collection of poetic essays from the early 1900s, sharing travel stories and deep thoughts as the author journeys without money through several Southern states. The book serves as a manual on the art of begging, specifically written for poets and those struggling to get by, finding beauty and humanity in their hardships. Kicking off the book, Lindsay shares his ideas on begging through rules for those in tough situations, opens with a poetic look at Columbus' desire for wealth, and tells of his start in Jacksonville, Florida. The author shows his dream of living as a traveler and tells of meeting kind people who help him even though they don't have much themselves. These stories show, early on, that kindness and friendship can be found even when things are hard, setting a thoughtful and often dreamy tone for looking at what beggars and those who give to them experience.