"I've worked, heaven knows, like any slave, I've learned the lesson of scrimp and save,
"Kept a good horse, but dressed like a clown— And I've not a dollar to call my own.
"I'm beaten—well beaten; yesterday Everything went to Ned Brown from me.
"My woods, my meadows, my tasseled corn, The orchard planted when I was born,
"The old rose garden my mother loved, My chestnut mare—can't help feeling moved,
"For I'm a beggar, Nan, you see— Don't think me begging for sympathy.
"The world is wide, I don't care—much. Thank God, health's a thing the law can't touch.
"The happiest man I ever knew Was born a beggar, and died one, too."
Each sunflower, nodding its yellow head, Listened to every word that was said,
As Nan in her slow and easy way, In the farmhouse kitchen that summer day,