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

By James HerbertMorse

796 His Statement of the Case

“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,

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.

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.”