Book Review: The Path to Home

Title: The Path to Home

Author: Edgar A. Guest

Date: 1919

Publisher: Reilly & Lee

ISBN: none

Length: 178 pages of text, plus index

Quote: "Oh, there isn't any mansion underneath God's starry dome / That can rest a weary pilgrim like the little place called home."

Edgar A. Guest is probably best remembered for his observation that "It takes a heap o' livin' in a house to make a home." That line was printed in a previous collection of poems. The Path to Home promised readers more of the same general type of verse.

None of these poems has been identified by critics as great, nor has any of them contributed a byword to our language, but they would not have disappointed those who liked Guest's earlier books. All rhyme and scan fairly accurately. Some are funny; some are touching. Several are printed in midwestern U.S. dialect.

If you would like to complete a collection or give something to a collector of old books, I had one authentic 1919 edition in good condition: all pages intact, few creases or finger marks, no visible mold at the time of writing. Other editions are available now.