Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.
By Francis BretHarte748 The Aged Stranger
“I
Said the farmer, “Say no more,
But rest thee here at my cottage porch,
For thy feet are weary and sore.”
Said the farmer, “Nay, no more,—
I prithee sit at my frugal board,
And eat of my humble store.
Of the old Ninth Army Corps?
I warrant he bore him gallantly
In the smoke and the battle’s roar!”
“And, as I remarked before,
I was with Grant”—“Nay, nay, I know,”
Said the farmer, “say no more:
Thou ’dst smooth these tidings o’er,—
Nay, speak the truth, whatever it be,
Though it rend my bosom’s core.
Upholding the flag he bore?
Oh, say not that my boy disgraced
The uniform that he wore!”
“And should have remarked before,
That I was with Grant,—in Illinois,—
Some three years before the war.”
But beat with his fist full sore
That aged man, who had worked for Grant
Some three years before the war.