796. His Statement of the Case by James Herbert Morse. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

796. His Statement of the Case

By James Herbert Morse


“NOW half a hundred years had I been born—
So many and so brief—when made aware,
By Time’s blunt looks, of hoar-frost in my hair.
I turned to one of twenty, in the corn,
At husking time, that blissful autumn morn,	5
And said, ‘What if the red ear fall to me?’
I would not for the world have any see
The look, half doubtful, mazeful, half in scorn,
That grew through all degrees, then broke in laughter,
As she ran down among the beardless men.	10
I left the husking, nor returned thereafter,
That autumn morn, nor any morn since then.
But you shall see gray beards in a long row,
Upon the rustic roads where I now go.”