The stand by the road

In 'A Roadside Stand', Robert Frost writes about a poor rural family that has built a little shed by the side of a road, to sell things to the cars that pass by from the city.

They have put out wild berries, golden squash and other produce, and painted rough signs. They are not asking for charity. They want a little of the city money to come their way, so that their lives can expand and flower, the way people in the movies seem to live, and the way the government always promises.

But the polished traffic from the city rushes past, with its mind on other things. If anyone looks at the stand at all, it is with irritation: the badly painted signs, they feel, spoil the view of the landscape.

The family waits all day, with the window open, longing for a car to stop and ask the price of their goods. This, Frost says, is a childish longing, hopeless and sad.

The few cars that do stop only use the farmyard to turn round, or ask the way to somewhere else, or ask if they can sell them a gallon of petrol (gas). No one buys.