Transcriber’s Notes Misspelled words have been corrected. These are identified by ♦♠♥♣ symbols in the text and are shown immediately below the paragraph or section in which they appear. Details and other notes may be found at the end of this eBook. THE WEARY BLUES _by_ LANGSTON HUGHES _WITH AN INTRODUCTON BY CARL VAN VECHTEN_ [Illustration: logo] NEW YORK ALFRED · A · KNOPF 1926 THE WEARY BLUES COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC · SET UP, ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC., BINGHAMTON, N. Y. · ESPARTO PAPER MANUFACTURED IN SCOTLAND AND FURNISHED BY W. F. ETHERINGTON & CO., NEW YORK · BOUND BY THE H. WOLFF ESTATE, NEW YORK. MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO MY MOTHER I wish to thank the editors of _The Crisis_, _Opportunity_, _Survey Graphic_, _Vanity Fair_, _The World Tomorrow_ and _The Amsterdam News_ for having first published some of the poems in this book. INTRODUCING LANGSTON HUGHES TO THE READER _I_ _At the moment I cannot recall the name of any other person whatever who, at the age of twenty-three, has enjoyed so picturesque and rambling an existence as Langston Hughes. Indeed, a complete account of his disorderly and delightfully fantastic career would make a fascinating picaresque romance which I hope this young Negro will write before so much more befalls him that he may find it difficult to capture all the salient episodes within the limits of a single volume._ _Born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, he had lived, before his twelfth year, in the City of Mexico, Topeka, Kansas, Colorado Springs, Charlestown, Indiana, Kansas City, and Buffalo. He attended Central High School, from which he graduated, at Cleveland, Ohio, while in the summer, there and in Chicago, he worked as delivery- and dummy-boy in hat-stores. In his senior year he was elected class poet and editor of the Year Book._