This queer old couple dragged to court.

Meekly they would have granted greed

All that it sought for—all its spoil;

Little they valued a forfeit deed,

Nor selfishly reckoned their years of toil.

Heartsick they while the lawyers urged,

Mute when the law vouchsafed their prayer;

—Courts soothe not such grief as surged

In the hearts of the old folks trembling there.

What though the jury’s word restored