In the smoke and the battle’s roar!”
“I know him not,” said the aged man,
“And, as I remarked before,
I was with Grant—” “Nay, nay, I know,”
Said the farmer, “Say no more;
“He fell in battle,—I see alas!
Thou’dst smooth these tidings o’er,—
Nay: speak the truth, whatever it be,
Though it rend my bosom’s core.
“How fell he,—with his face to the foe,